All what you need to know about MAFF

CAIRO – 5 October 2018: The eighth edition of the Malmo Arab Film Festival will kick off on October 5.

The festival will run from October 5 to 9, 2018. The Egyptian movie “Tale’ Senay” (Induced Labor) will be screened on the festival’s opening ceremony.

"Tale' Senay" was showcased for the first time in Egyptian cinemas on Tuesday, January 2. Released in 2017, the film revolves around an Egyptian couple that seizes the American Embassy in Egypt after being denied visas to enter the United States.

The feature film stars a group of talented Egyptian actors and actresses, including Rasha Gawdat, Maged el-Kedwany, Mai Kassab, Abdel Rahman Abou Zahra, Bayoumi Fouad, Horeya Farghali and Sayed Ragab. "Tale' Senay" is directed by Khaled Diab.

"Tale' Senay" was premiered on December 11, 2017, as part of the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF). The Swedish Ambassador to Egypt, Jan Thesleff, previously expressed his pride and happiness to sponsor such a big event related to the Arabian Cinema.

The ambassador further explained that Sweden is a diverse community, and therefore Sweden had always sponsored and supported all forms of creativity, arts and talents.

Mohamed Qablawy, the founder and manager of the Malmo Arab Film Festival, previously explained that the festival in its eighth edition is designed to be special, as the Egyptian cinema will be featured as the guest of honor.

Furthermore, Mosad Foda, the head of the Cinema Syndicate in Egypt, expressed his happiness with the festival management's decision to invite Egypt as the guest of honor.

Foda stated that screening Egyptian cinema works as part of the festival’s program will introduce the local cinema to Europe and the rest of the world.

This comes as part of the initiative “CreativeSweden2018”, encompassing several artistic and cultural events in Cairo, Alexandria and El-Gouna.

It is worth noting that four Egyptian films in different stages of production applied for receiving development funds from the fourth Malmo Market Forum (MFF) which will run from October 6-8.

MFF is one of the main activities of the eighth edition of the Malmo Arab Film Festival (MAFF) that will run from October 5-9.

Three out of the four movies are Egyptian-Swedish, which are 'Blood and Honey" produced by Egyptian producer Mohamed Siam and Swedish producer Christer Nelson, "Every day at 6 a.m" by Yasser Shafiey and William Johansson and "Omar Sherif" documentary produced by Mark Lotfy and Swedish producer Sigrid Helleday.

The fourth movie is "When We’re Born’’ which is a pure Egyptian film, directed by Tamer Ezzat Ezzat and produced by Moataz Abdel Wahab.

MAFF gives filmmakers the chance “to extend their networks and initiate new international collaborations and co-productions,” according to MAFF website.

In 2011, MAFF was established by its general manager and artistic director Mohamad Keblawi, and grew to become one of the largest Arab film festivals and an important platform for Arab culture.

It is worth mentioning that Siam was selected as a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences responsible for awarding the Oscar prizes along with other 11 Arab filmmakers. Siam was chosen to be a member in the documentary section.

Siam is an Egyptian feature and documentary films director. He studied in a number of global prestigious film institutions such as Sundance Labs, IDFA Academy, Doc Campus, Berlinale and Durban Talent Campus. Siam's first documentary was “Balad Meen” (Whose Country) which participated in a number of renowned festivals and was awarded a prize at the 28th edition of Carthage International Film Festival.

“Balad Meen” revolves around Egyptian police elements' work and daily lives, shedding light on a number of important reasons that led to the emergence of January 25 revolution.

In 2017, Siam garnered worldwide fame for his second movie “Amal” which was the opening movie at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.

“Amal” traces the life of a troubled Egyptian teenage girl during the January 2011 revolution and accompanies her on a six-year journey to search for her identity in a country going through a transition stage.

“Amal” received a number of awards such as Robert Bosch Film Prize, the AfriDocs prize at Durban FilmMart and Thessaloniki Docs-In-Progress award.

Siam is a member of a number of committees and associations of documentaries in the Arab region, and is a lecturer in universities in New York, Paris, Beirut and Egypt.

In his interview with Tess Magazine, Siam announced that he is currently working on his first long feature movie which will focus on police in Egypt, considering it the final chapter in the trilogy he started with “Balad Meen” then “Amal”.