Egypt’s Film Editor Ahmed Hafez teaches a masterclass at Hungarian Society of Film

CAIRO - 3 October 2021: Egyptian Film Editor Ahmed Hafez held a masterclass about the art and techniques of film editing at the Hungarian Society of Film and Video Editors (HSE) inBudapest, last Saturday.

This marks the first time for an Arab editor to teach a masterclass at the society.

Ahead of the masterclass, the Hungarian Society held a screening for Clashfilm, directed by Mohamed Diab and edited by Hafez, who was granted 3 awards for his work on it from each of: Carthage Film Festival (JCC), Cairo Film Society Festival and the Egyptian National Film Festival.

In her Cannes review of Clash in The Hollywood Reporter,American film critic Deborah Young described Hafez’s editing style as “rapid-fire editing”

The masterclass was attended by several film professionals, students and editor members of the society including the society’s president László Hargittai and Vice-President Dávid Jancsó. 

During the master class, Hafez talked about his auspicious career that boasts over 40 films and TV series, including The Blue Elephant 1 and 2, Hepta: The Last Lecture, Paranormal and Every Week Has A Friday.

He shared his career experiences from the very beginning and discussed the editing techniques that developed as a result of the booming technologies.

talked about the editor’s role in applying the director’s vision and his own techniques that reflects on the final output. Moreover, he shared several examples from his works to demonstrate how editing can play a major role. This was evident in his film Clash that required an assistant editor to be present on-set due to the nature of the film, unlike the usual where an editor receives the filmed material and then start editing. 

Recently, Palestinian Egyptian film Amira, which marks the second collaboration with Mohamed Diab after Clash, reaped three awards during its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival within the Orizzonti competition. 

The film received many rave reviews and a lengthy standing ovation. The C.G.S'sjury described the film’s editing as “an effective editing with a fast pace”. The film stars a number of Arab stars including Saba Mubarak, Ali Suliman and Tara Abboud and will land its Arab world premiere at the upcoming edition of El Gouna Film Festival.

Also, the same festival will see the Arab world premiere of Amar 14 film, directed by Hadi El Bagoury and edited by Ahmed Hafez. The film features a wide array of stars, including Khaled Al-Nabawy, Ahmed El Fishawy, Ahmed Malek, Shereen Reda, Ghada Adel and Yasmin Raeis. Hafezalso recently edited the first episode of the American action TV series Cypher, directed by Tunisian director Majdi Smiri.

During Eid al-Adha season, his latest film Al Aref: Awdat Younis, starring Ahmed Ezz and Ahmed Fahmy and directed by Ahmed Alaa Ala El-Deeb was released. The film dominated Egypt's box office garnering over EGP 55 million. Hafez andthe director successfully pictured events that happened in 6 different countries throughout 10 years thanks to the smooth editing.  

Additionally, his musical play Coco Chanel directed by Hadi El Bagoury has been premiered to a great success onShahid VOD, marking the phenomenal performer Sherihan’scomeback to the theatre after a long hiatus.

About The HSE:

The Hungarian Society of Film and Video Editors (HSE) is one of the oldest communities in the Hungarian film industry. It was established 30 years ago in Budapest and has 78 members including active & retired editors & young assistants.

Famous editors of HSE members:

Judit Czakó (Lisa the faity fox, dir. Károly Ujj-Mészáros)

Károly Szalai (The story of my wife, dir. Ildikó Enyedi), 

Dávid Jancsó (Pieces of a woman, dir. Kornél Mundruczó), VP

László Hargittai (Wild horses - a tale from the Puszta. dir. Zoltán Török), President