HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH GOHER

  • EGYPT

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  • ARABIC

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  • 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.

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.