HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH GOHER

  • EGYPT

    • /

  • ARABIC

    • /

  • 2025

    • /

  • 95 mins

Toha is a young maid who dreams of one simple thing: a birthday candle to make a wish. When her best friend, Nelly, the daughter of her employer, is promised a birthday party amid her parents’ looming divorce, Toha takes it upon herself to make the celebration happen. As she plans the party, she forms an unexpected bond with Nelly’s mother Laila, briefly blurring rigid social boundaries. When the family tries to send Toha away to prevent her attendance, her persistence exposes buried tensions. Confronted with rejection, Toha begins to question her place within a harsh and unforgiving class system.

ಯುವ ಸೇವಕಿ ತೋಹಾಗೆ ಒಂದು ಸರಳ ಕನಸಿದೆ — ತನ್ನ ಆಸೆಯನ್ನು ಕೇಳಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲು ಒಂದು ಹುಟ್ಟುಹಬ್ಬದ ಮೆಣಬತ್ತಿ. ಅವಳ ಉದ್ಯೋಗದಾತರ ಮಗಳು, ಅವಳ ಅತ್ಯಂತ ಆಪ್ತ ಸ್ನೇಹಿತೆ ನೆಲ್ಲಿ, ಪೋಷಕರ ವಿಚ್ಛೇದನದ ನೆರಳಿನ ನಡುವೆಯೇ ಹುಟ್ಟುಹಬ್ಬದ ಪಾರ್ಟಿಯೊಂದನ್ನು ಪಡೆಯಲಿರುವಾಗ, ಆ ಆಚರಣೆಯನ್ನು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಾಗಿಸಲು ತೋಹಾ ತಾನೇ ಮುಂದಾಗುತ್ತಾಳೆ. ಪಾರ್ಟಿಯ ಸಿದ್ಧತೆಯ ನಡುವೆ, ನೆಲ್ಲಿಯ ತಾಯಿ ಲೈಲಾಳೊಂದಿಗೆ ತೋಹಾ ಅನಿರೀಕ್ಷಿತ ಬಂಧವನ್ನು ಕಟ್ಟಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಾಳೆ; ಕ್ಷಣಮಾತ್ರಕ್ಕೆ ಕಠಿಣ ಸಾಮಾಜಿಕ ಗಡಿಗಳು ಮಸುಕಾಗುತ್ತವೆ. ಆದರೆ ಪಾರ್ಟಿಗೆ ಅವಳು ಹಾಜರಾಗದಂತೆ ತಡೆಯಲು ಕುಟುಂಬವು ಅವಳನ್ನು ದೂರ ಕಳುಹಿಸಲು ಯತ್ನಿಸಿದಾಗ, ತೋಹಾದ ಹಠ ಮೌನದಲ್ಲಿದ್ದ ಒತ್ತಡಗಳನ್ನು ಹೊರಗೆ ತರುತ್ತದೆ. ತಿರಸ್ಕಾರವನ್ನು ಎದುರಿಸಿದ ತೋಹಾ, ಕಠೋರ ಮತ್ತು ಕ್ಷಮಿಸದ ವರ್ಗ ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆಯೊಳಗೆ ತನ್ನ ಸ್ಥಾನವನ್ನು ಪ್ರಶ್ನಿಸಲು ಆರಂಭಿಸುತ್ತಾಳೆ.

Producer(s) or Production Company :

Ahmed Desuky, Ahmed Abbas, Ahmed Badawy, Jamie Foxx, Datari Turner

Screenplay :

Mohamed Diab, Sarah Goher

Director of Photography :

Seif El Din Khaled

Editor :

Ahmed Hafez

Music :

Mina Samy

Sound :

Gomaa Abdellatif

Cast :

Doha Ramadan, Nelly Karim, Hanan Motawie, Hanan Youssef

Awards - Winner :

Tribeca Film Festival (Best International Narrative Feature, Best Screenplay in an International Narrative Feature, Nora Ephron Award), São Paulo IFF (Best Performance)

Awards - Nominations | Screened | Official Selection :

Tallinn Black Nights FF (Official Screening), Tokyo IFF (Women’s Empowerment)

Sarah Goher is an Egyptian American writer and producer born and raised in the South Bronx who studied film and economics at NYU Tisch. Her work bridges the United States and Egypt through socially grounded storytelling. Her filmography includes producing CAIRO 678 (2010), CLASH (2016) and AMIRA (2021), writing and producing MOON KNIGHT (2022). Her work is character-driven and socially engaged. Her awards include the Nora Ephron Award, Best International Narrative Feature, and Best Screenplay at Tribeca, and selection as Egypt’s Academy Awards submission. HAPPY BIRTHDAY is her directorial debut feature.

  1. 1. DJ AHMET
  2. 2. SENTIMENTAL VALUE
  3. 3. SOUND OF FALLING
  4. 4. MY FATHER'S SHADOW
  5. 5. NO OTHER CHOICE
  6. 6. WHERE THE WIND COMES FROM
  7. 7. IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT
  8. 8. RESURRECTION
  9. 9. A POET
  10. 10. MAGELLAN
  11. 11. SIRĀT
  12. 12. FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER
  13. 13. THE MASTERMIND
  14. 14. LATE SHIFT
  15. 15. AMRUM
  16. 16. CASE 137
  17. 17. SKIN OF YOUTH
  18. 18. WE BELIEVE YOU
  19. 19. BETTER GO MAD IN THE WILD
  20. 20. FATHER
  21. 21. MORTICIAN
  22. 22. TO THE VICTORY!
  23. 23. DREAMS
  24. 24. THE BLUE TRAIL
  25. 25. MOTHERTONGUE
  26. 26. A SAD AND BEAUTIFUL WORLD
  27. 27. FIUME O MORTE!
  28. 28. THE THINGS YOU KILL
  29. 29. YOUNG MOTHERS
  30. 30. THE MYSTERIOUS GAZE OF THE FLAMINGO
  31. 31. CATANE
  32. 32. PROMISED SKY
  33. 33. CHRISTY
  34. 34. I ONLY REST IN THE STORM
  35. 35. THE PUPIL
  36. 36. COMANDANTE FRITZ
  37. 37. IMPATIENCE OF THE HEART
  38. 38. STRAIGHT CIRCLE
  39. 39. DRY LEAF
  40. 40. A USEFUL GHOST
  41. 41. SLEEPLESS CITY
  42. 42. OUTCRY
  43. 43. MY UNCLE JENS
  44. 44. THE LOVE THAT REMAINS
  45. 45. KONTINENTAL '25
  46. 46. JANINE MOVES TO THE COUNTRY
  47. 47. DIVINE COMEDY
  48. 48. A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT
  49. 49. THE DISAPPEARANCE OF JOSEF MENGELE
  50. 50. GOD WILL NOT HELP
  51. 51. TÊTES BRÛLÉES
  52. 52. REEDLAND
  53. 53. DEAD DOG
  54. 54. NINO
  55. 55. BEFORE THE BODY
  56. 56. LOVE ME TENDER
  57. 57. THE LAST AMBASSADOR
  58. 58. CARAVAN
  59. 59. WHAT DOES THAT NATURE SAY TO YOU
  60. 60. AS WE BREATHE
  61. 61. TALES OF THE WOUNDED LAND
  62. 62. HALF MOON
  63. 63. THE PORTUGUESE HOUSE
  64. 64. FOLLIES
  65. 65. THE DEVIL SMOKES
  66. 66. VANILLA
  67. 67. BLUE HERON
  68. 68. KOKORAS
  69. 69. DRAGONFLY
  70. 70. KIKA
  71. 71. MAYSOON
  72. 72. BEACHCOMBER
  73. 73. WIND, TALK TO ME
  74. 74. BROKEN VOICES
  75. 75. RENOVATION
  76. 76. HAPPY BIRTHDAY
  77. 77. HUMAN RESOURCE
  78. 78. NOMAD SHADOW
  79. 79. THE DREAMED ONES
  80. 80. TWO PROSECUTORS
  81. 81. CLOISTERED SISTER
  82. 82. ORENDA
  83. 83. DE TAL PALO
  84. 84. MILITANTROPOS
  85. 85. RIVERSTONE
  86. 86. OSLO: A TAIL OF PROMISE
  87. 87. MAHIMA
  88. 88. BELÉN