MostafaElKashef

Mostafa El Kashef is an Egyptian cinematographer, producer, and visual artist whose work has
premiered at leading international film festivals including Cannes, Berlinale, Venice, Tribeca, and
Clermont-Ferrand. His work is characterized by poetic realism, emotional precision, and a strong
sense of place, developed through collaborations across the Arab world, Africa, and Europe.

Most recently, El Kashef photographed Benimana, directed by Marie Clémentine Dusabejambo.
The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival in 2026 and went
on to win the prestigious Caméra d'Or, awarded to the best first feature presented across all
Cannes selections. The award marked a historic achievement as the first African film to receive the
prize. The success of Benimana marked El Kashef's fourth consecutive year at the Cannes Film Festival.

In 2023, he served as cinematographer and co-producer on Morad Mostafa's I Promise You
Paradise, which premiered in Cannes Critics' Week, winning both the Rail d'Or and the Valbonne
Audience Award. In 2024, he photographed Mo Harawe's The Village Next to Paradise, the first
Somali feature film selected for Un Certain Regard. In 2025, he lensed Morad Mostafa's debut
feature Aisha Can't Fly Away, which premiered in Un Certain Regard. In 2026, Benimana continued
this Cannes trajectory with its Un Certain Regard premiere and Caméra d'Or victory.

El Kashef's cinematography on The Village Next to Paradise received widespread international
acclaim. The film earned him the Best Cinematography Award at the 35th Carthage Film Festival,
Best Kamera at the Austrian Film Awards, and Best Cinematography at Diagonale – Festival of
Austrian Film, in addition to a nomination from the Austrian Film Academy. Following his Austrian
Film Award victory, El Kashef joined the Austrian Film Academy as a member.

Earlier in his feature-film career, El Kashef photographed Ahmad Abdalla's 19B, which received the
Best Artistic Contribution Award at the Cairo International Film Festival and later the Golden Jubilee
Award at the Cairo Film Society Festival. The film marked an important breakthrough and
established him among the leading visual voices of contemporary Egyptian cinema.

El Kashef first gained international attention as cinematographer on Anja Kirschner's
MODERATION, a British-Greek production filmed across Greece, Italy, and Egypt that premiered at
the 66th Berlin International Film Festival.

He subsequently built a strong presence on the international short-film circuit through projects
including Jaylan Auf's My Festival and Sharine Atef's Jebel Banat, which premiered at the Tribeca
Film Festival. In 2021, three films photographed by El Kashef premiered at the Clermont-Ferrand
International Short Film Festival: Ahmed Abdelsalam's CAI-BER, Morad Mostafa's Khadija, and
What We Don't Know About Maryam. These films enjoyed successful festival runs, with CAI-BER
winning the Gouna Star Award for Best Arab Short Film and Maryam earning El Kashef the Best
Cinematography Award at the Galichnik Film Festival.

A significant milestone in El Kashef's career came with I Promise You Paradise, on which he served
as cinematographer and co-producer. Premiering in Cannes Critics' Week in 2023, the film won
both the Rail d'Or and the Valbonne Audience Award before continuing to a successful international
festival run. For his work on the film, El Kashef received ten cinematography awards from festivals
in Romania, Australia, Georgia, Spain, Burkina Faso, Scotland, Italy, Japan, and India.

Recent credits also include Jawaher Alamri's The Last Dismissal, Joseph Adel's Enough Water to
Drown, Rasha Shahin's Nahar Aber, and Leart Rama's Life After a Lifetime and Endless Rebirths.
He also photographed Morad Mostafa's Aisha Can't Fly Away, which premiered in Un Certain
Regard after receiving the Jury Prize for Best Film in Post-Production at Venice Film Festival's Final
Cut.

Mostafa El Kashef