After 12-year hiatus, ‘Sahar al-Layaly’ director returns for Eid with ‘Sukkar Mor’

Hany Khalifa, the director of the commercially and critically acclaimed film Sahar al-Layaly (Sleepless Nights, 2003), is returning to cinemas after a 12-year hiatus with Sukkar Mor (Sour Sugar, 2015), premiering this Eid weekend.

The controversial drama Sahar al-Layaly — whose all-star cast includes Mona Zaki, Ahmed Helmy, Hanan Turk and Khaled Abol Naga — followed the troubled relationships of four young couples in contemporary upper-middle class Egyptian society.

“Hany Khalifa made the film that speaks more than any other for his generation, a blend of American Graffiti and Sex, Lies and Video Tape, but with a unique Egyptian twist. And with mainstream commercial Egyptian cinema opting for lies with neither sex nor video, the film was a resounding success,” renowned film critic (and president of the most recent edition of the Cairo International Film Festival) Samir Farid said of Sahar al-Layaly in a 2007 article in the state-owned Ahram Weekly.

Sukkar Mor, like Sahar al-Layaly, follows the developing relationships between a group of men and women — played by Ahmed Al Fishawy, Haitham Ahmed Zaki and Ayten Amer, among others — as they experience the changes wrought on Egyptian society over the past few years.

The film's trailer went viral after it was released online on July 8.

The film is written by Mohamed Abd El Moaty, who has one other title under his belt — the 2014 production Al-Mahragan (The Festival), which tracked the rise of mahraganat music.

Khalifa also made a come-back to the small screen this year with the popular Ramadan series "Taht El-Saytara" (Under Control), but this time as an actor. He plays Hesham, the best friend and confidant of the show’s male lead.

The director’s long hiatus from the entertainment industry was briefly punctuated in 2010, when he co-directed the Ramadan television series "Al-Gamaa" (The University), which explored the lives of private university students in Cairo.

Before Sahar al-Layaly, Khalifa produced several shorts and documentary films, and also served as assistant director for Daoud Abdel-Sayed's Sareq al-Farah (The Wedding Thief, 1995) and Radwan El-Kashef's Arak al-Balah (Date Wine, 1999).