CAIRO – 23 February 2018: The second edition of Sharm el-Sheikh International Film Festival announced that the American independant movie “I, Tonya” will be the festival’s opening film.
“I, Tonya” revolves around Tonya who was forced by her abusive mother to ice skate since she was a child. The movie was first premiered at Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2017 and was first released in the United States on December 8, 2017.
The movie received three nominations at the 90th Academy Awards which were for Best Actress - Margot Robbie, Best Supporting Actress - Allison Janney and Best Editing. At the 71st British Academy Film Awards, “I, Tonya” earned five nominations, including Best Actress for Robbie and Best Supporting Actress for Janney.
Janney won the Best Supporting Actress award at the 75th Golden Globe Awards and at the 24th Screen Actors Guild Awards. The Festival announced that it will honour veteran Egyptian director Aly Badrakhan, renowned Egyptian actress Laila Taher and famed Egyptian actor Hassan Hosny.
The festival management decided to focus in this edition on the independent American cinema and invited a famous American director to talk more about this kind of cinema. The festival will host a group of seminars and will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the death of late director Youssef Chahine.
Famed director of photography Kamal Abdel Aziz will give a cinematography workshop as part of the festival's activities. The festival management previously announced that the second edition will be dedicated to late great cinema critic Aly Abu Shady who died on Friday, February 16. The Festival’s second edition is set to run between March 3 - 9.
The honorary president of the festival Egyptian star Laila Elwy suggested this dedication and the Egyptian journalist and festival head, Gamal Zeyada approved it. The festival chose famed Egyptian actress Rania Youssef to be one of the festival’s jury members.
Youssef stated in a press release on Saturday that she is eager to cooperate with the prominent Egyptian, Arab and foreign filmmakers who will participate in the second edition of the festival.
Zeyada previously announced that the festival's poster was designed by great artist Essam el-Mallah. The festival management aims through this poster to highlight all the characteristics of Sharm el-Sheikh, and its efforts in being open to the whole world politically, economically and culturally, according to Zeyada.
The poster design reflects the objectives of the festival, which seeks to establish a successful cultural event in a dazzling coastal city like Sharm el-Sheikh that shares the same features with Venice and Cannes which host two of the most prestigious festivals in the world; the Venice and Cannes film festivals. This edition will also witness the participation of films produced by students of the High Institute of Cinema.
The Awards of the Sharm el-Sheikh Film Festival are divided into two sections:
Awards for Arab and European feature films:
1-The GOLD DJED Pillar will be awarded to the director of the best film.
2-The SILVER DJED Pillar, the jury’s special award, will be awarded to the director.
3- The BRONZE DJED Pillar will be awarded to the director of the best 1st film.
Awards for Arab and European short films:
1- The GOLD DJED Pillar will be awarded to the director of the best film.
2- The SILVER DJED Pillar, the jury’s special award, will be awarded to the director.
The Djed pillar is an ancient Egyptian symbol for stability in the form of God Osiris's backbone.
Sharm El-Sheikh Film Festival is an annual event organized by Noon Foundation for Culture and Arts with the contribution of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture as well as public and private organizations in Egypt and Europe.
The festival aims to raise cinematic awareness and promote distinguished audio and visual works through the screening of nearly 60 international and Arab films, allowing filmmakers in the Arab world and Europe to establish a mutual dialogue, exchange experiences and open new markets for Arab, European and American films.
Noon Foundation aims to open channels of exchange in all cultural and artistic fields between Egypt and the world, and disseminate better knowledge of the other through the organization of cultural and cinematic events in Egypt and in different countries of the world.
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