According to The Hollywood Reporter, Egypt has selected Poisonous Roses (Ward Masmoum) as its submission to compete for the best international feature film award at the 2020 Oscars.

The film, based on a 1990 novel titled Poisonous Roses for Sakr, portrays the relationship between brother and sister Taheya and Sakr. The storyline follows the siblings living with their mother at the impoverished tannery district in Cairo, struggling to make a living. 

Poisonous Roses is filmmaker Ahmed Fawzi Saleh’s debut feature film; which is written and directed by him. The film’s starring Mahmoud Hemeida, Marihan Magdy, Ibrahim El Nagari, and Safaa El Toukhy. 

There was an intense competition on the country’s official selection for the category. According to Fil Fan, Head of Egypt’s Cinema Syndicate, Mosaad Fouda, that the list of considered films included El Feel El Azraa’ 2, El Mammar, El Kenz, E’yar Nary, Leil Khargy, and El Helm El Ba’eed.