Egypt has chosen The Stories (Al-Qisas), directed by Abu Bakr Shawky, as its entry for the 2027 Academy Awards. According to Misr Connect, which reported the decision on 19 September 2026, the committee of the Egyptian Film Professions Syndicate selected the film with the highest number of votes.
The Stories stars Amir El-Masry as Ahmed, an aspiring pianist in Cairo whose romance with his Austrian pen pal runs through a semi-autobiographical family saga that spans the late 1960s to the 1980s. The National describes the film as a nostalgic portrait of Cairo life.
The choice
The National reports that the committee voted in two rounds and considered 36 films. Misr Connect adds that another film, Life After Siham, was excluded because its listed nationality did not meet the eligibility rules.
This is the second time that Shawky has been Egypt’s choice for the Oscars. His first was Yomeddine in 2018, a film that competed for the Palme d’Or at Cannes in the same year, which gave Egyptian cinema a place in the main competition of the world’s best-known festival. That makes him one of the most internationally recognised Egyptian directors of his generation.
The film
The National calls the film a semi-autobiographical anthology drama, built from five stories. It follows a romance between an Egyptian pianist and an Austrian woman, and it weaves in family rituals and grief along the way.
El-Masry, an Egyptian-British actor known for Limbo in 2020, plays Ahmed. His pen pal is an Austrian woman called Elizabeth, known as Liz. The correspondence between them gives the film its emotional thread, and music gives it its sound.
A friendship by letter belongs to the decades the film covers, when air mail could take days or weeks to cross borders and a correspondence could last for years. Because the film is built from five stories, it is organised as a set of linked chapters rather than a single plot, according to The National.
The film is set across three decades, and the family at its centre lives through years of change in the city. It centres on daily life, on kitchens, rooms and rituals, rather than on public events.
A portrait of Cairo
The National describes Cairo itself as a protagonist of the film. A column in the same newspaper says that watching it prompted the writer to rethink their own family’s history.
Each country chooses one film to represent it in the international feature category, and Egypt has chosen an intimate story about a family, its music and its city.
Other Arab entries
Egypt is not alone. The National lists the Arab films submitted for the category this year, among them Jordan’s Sink, directed by Zain Duraie. It is a drama about a mother facing her teenage son’s mental health crisis, and it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2025.
The road to the ceremony
The Academy’s timetable is as follows, according to The National:
- Submissions close on 30 September 2026.
- A shortlist of 15 films is announced on 15 December 2026.
- Nominations are announced on 21 January 2027.
- The 99th Academy Awards take place on 14 March 2027 in Los Angeles.
Egypt’s film will therefore learn in mid-December whether it makes the shortlist. A place on that list of 15 is a significant step, since it brings a film to the attention of voters worldwide.
What is not yet known
Several practical details were not in the sources read. They include the film’s premiere festival, its running time and its release date in Egyptian cinemas. A search listing suggests a world premiere at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, but that has not been verified, and readers should wait for the producers to confirm it.
No statements from Shawky or El-Masry were available. The film’s producers are the people to ask for comment.
Why it matters
For Egyptian cinema, the selection of a film about music, family and Cairo sends a quiet message. It suggests that the country is putting forward a story that is personal and local, with a lead actor who moves between Egyptian and international productions.
For readers across the Gulf, where Egyptian cinema and song are long familiar, the film is set in a world many will recognise: a city and a household known to Arab audiences through the screen. Whether it reaches the shortlist will be known in mid-December, and until then it is a title to watch for in cinemas and on festival lists.
Sources: Misr Connect, The National, The National