Ahmed Hafez

With over 25 years of experience across local and international film industries, Egyptian
editor Ahmed Hafez has crafted the final cut of more than 50 films and series, in addition to a
vast number of commercials and music videos. Hafez has earned over 25 national and
international awards for his work and is a member of the prestigious American Cinema
Editors (ACE). He also contributed to major global productions, including Marvel’s Moon
Knight directed by Mohamed Diab.
In 2023, Hafez’s notable projects included Under Guardianship (Taht El Wesaya), a
Ramadan drama series starring Mona Zaki and directed by Mohamed Shaker Khodeir, for
which he won Best Editing at the 2nd Cairo Drama Festival. He also edited Inshallah a Boy
by Amjad Al-Rasheed, which became the first Jordanian film to be officially selected at the
Cannes Film Festival (76th edition), where it screened in the Semaine de la Critique and
won both the Gan Foundation Award and the Rail d’Or for Best Feature. The film was
Jordan’s official submission to the 2023 Oscars for Best International Feature.
Hafez also worked on the Oscar-submitted Egyptian film Voy! Voy! Voy! by Omar Hilal and
producer Mohamed Hefzy, the musical film Sugar (Sukkar) produced by MBC Studios and
Aroma, directed by Tamer Mahdy, the action film Shamarikh starring Asser Yassin and
Amina Khalil and directed by Amr Salama, and the short film 60 Pounds, which opened the
6th Gouna Film Festival, also directed by Salama. He edited The Giza Butcher (Saffah El
Giza), a thriller series that streamed on Shahid, starring Ahmed Fahmy, Rakeen Saad, and
Bassem Samra.Born in Cairo in 1982, Hafez graduated from the Faculty of Foreign Trade but began editing
as early as 1998 during his high school years. His journey began with TV commercials in
collaboration with director Hadi El Bagoury. He kept pace with evolving editing
techniques—from classic celluloid and raw formats to the digital revolution and modern
editing applications.
A Dynamic Duo
One of the most iconic collaborations in modern Egyptian cinema is the ongoing partnership
between Ahmed Hafez and director Marwan Hamed. Their work includes The Blue Elephant
(2014), where Hafez embraced creative experimentation, earning a Special Jury Prize at the
Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival. They followed it with The Originals (El
Asleyeen), which won four awards, then the critically acclaimed Diamond Dust (Torb El
Maas) (2018), which Hafez considers his most personal work and for which he won Best
Editing at the Arab Cinema Awards. The Blue Elephant 2 (2019) became the highestgrossing Egyptian film at the time, grossing EGP 102 million, before being surpassed by
their next hit Kira & El Gin, which made EGP 118 million and set a new Egyptian box office
record.