“Happy birthday“, a gem from Tribeca Film Festivalhas a real chance to be first film was chosen by Egypt to be on the Oscars shortlist Best international featureand IndieWire has an exclusive look at the film’s trailer.
The drama about an eight-year-old girl who desperately wants to share a birthday wish with her best friend Nelly, despite circumstances far too complicated for children their age, serves as the directorial debut of Sarah Goherwho was most recently a consulting producer on the Marvel Cinematic Universe limited series “Moon Knight” starring Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke.
In addition to winning the awards for Best International Narrative Film, Best Screenplay in an International Narrative Film and the Nora Ephron Award, intended to honor an exceptional female filmmaker who represents the spirit and vision of the legendary filmmaker and writer, “Happy Birthday” is being produced this year at Tribeca by the Academy Award-winning actor. Jamie Foxx.
“Our hope is that more and more people will see this powerful film. It’s masterful storytelling by a fresh new voice on film,” Foxx and his producing partner Datari Turner, president of Foxxhole Productions, told IndieWire in a statement. Some of their company’s recent successes include the dual documentary “Number One on the Call Sheet,” the Netflix blockbuster “Back in Action,” the Sundance favorite “Luther: Never Too Much” and “They Cloned Tyrone” from debut feature director Juel Taylor.
“Happy Birthday” was written by Goher and her frequent collaborator Mohamed Diab, whose own film “Clash” was submitted by Egypt for Oscar consideration in 2016. Based on her experience visiting her grandmother in Egypt, the film addresses the subjects of class, empathy and the fragile bonds that bind us, through the eyes of a young domestic worker in Cairo. It has also earned the film the Audience Award for the Mind the Gap section at the Mill Valley Film Festival and the Grand Narrative Prize at the Heartland Film Festival.
While Egypt has submitted films for consideration in the Best International Film category since 1958, starting with Youssef Chahine’s “Cairo Station,” which is in the Criterion Collection, “Happy Birthday” would be the first film from the North African country to make the shortlist, should all go in its favor in December.
Watch the trailer for “Happy Birthday,” an IndieWire exclusive, below.
“Happy Birthday” premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival. It is currently seeking distribution in the United States.
