Director Akram Farid was actually a veterinarian, graduating veterinary school in 1995 before quitting medicine to pursue his love of film. He graduated from the High Institute of Arts- directing division in 2001, and shortly thereafter made a number of documentaries and small budget independent movies, including "3 Papers." After only 1 year since graduation, he was offered the opportunity to direct a big budget movie, thereby jumping to a position that normally takes his counterparts 15 years to achieve. He made several big budget "commercialized" movies as "Haha and Tofaha" "Omar and Salma" and "Love is Like That." Critics received him poorly, citing that these types of films lacked substance, despite being financially successful. Farid has recently attempted to break free of being type-casted as the "commercialized director" by taking on more deep films as "Mickey's Family."