Film on British Arabs Wins Award

Sally El Hosaini
Ian Gavan / Getty Images for BFI

It took Welsh-Egyptian director Sally El Hosaini six years to make her new movie, "My Brother the Devil", but the time and effort put into the film paid off as the director won the prestigious "Best Newcomer" Award at the British Film Institute (BFI) London Film Festival.

One of the reasons it took more than half a decade for this film to be made was trouble getting the necessary funding to produce it.

"It wasn't easy getting funding for a British movie about Arab youth," Hosaini said.

Hosaini described what she called a consistent misrepresentation of Arab youth on film and TV, and she kept striving to make the film for years because of this.

She found one of her lead actors in James Floyd.

Floyd plays Rashid, a young man growing up in a council estate in London's East End who tries to keep his younger brother from getting involved with gangs the way he did.

Floyd, who recently played Freddie Mercury in a TV movie, said he signed on to the film because he thought "it was the best script he ever read." Award winning actress Olivia Coleman, who co-presented the "Best Newcomer" award along with "Avengers" star Tom Hiddleston said the festival jury's decision on the award was unanimous, and praised Hosaini's dedication and professionalism.

According to a BFI report on the economic impact of the U.K. film industry, independent British films like "My Brother The Devil" made up for more than 13 percent of box-office revenue in the country last year.

"My Brother The Devil" opens in U.K. cinemas on November 9th.