CAIRO - 8 February 2019: The acclaimed American- German actress Barbara Bouchet was chosen to be the guest of honour of the third edition of Aswan International Women Film Festival.
Minister of Culture Inas Abdel Dayem discussed with the delegation of the Aswan International Women Film Festival on Feb. 3 the final preparations for the festival’s third edition which will be held from February 20 to 26.
Abdel Dayem confirmed the keenness of the Ministry of Culture to present the festival in the best manner possible, especially that the festival has achieved a good reputation on the international level and that Aswan is considered the icon of the African continent after President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi chose it to be the City of African Culture.
Inas Abdel Dayem - Egypt Today
Abdel Dayem further affirmed to the delegation that the ministry will provide the festival’s management with all the necessary support to present a successful edition.
The delegation expressed their deep appreciation to the minister of culture for her efforts in supporting all artistic activities and film festivals in particular.
The delegation reviewed some features of the festival's opening ceremony which will be attended by the minister and a number of local and international dignitaries, affirming that the festival’s third edition will witness the presence of important names in the world of cinema and those interested in women's issues.
The festival's management announced that veteran artist Mohsena Tawfik and star Mena Shalabi will be honored during the festival’s opening ceremony, along with five female names that influenced the Egyptian cinematic heritage.
Aswan International Women's Film Festival (AIWFF) announced the formation of two judging committees for the long and short film competitions during the festival's third session, which will be held from February 20 to 26.
Hala Galal, the manager of the AIWFF, stated that the jury of the long film contest will be headed by Egyptian star Laila Elwi, who has previously chaired several international film festivals, such as the Abu Dhabi International Environmental Film Festival and Carthage Film Festival in Tunisia.
Elwi is an Egyptian actress. She has starred in more than 70 movies and has been honored at Egyptian and international festivals for most of her roles. She has also been the head – or member – of several jury committees for local and international festivals.
Recently, she has received an award for her lifetime achievements along with Egyptian actress Safia el-Emary, South Korean actress Yun Jung-Hee, American actor Richard Gere, and French actress Juliette Binoche during the opening of the 34th Cairo International Film Festival.
Galal clarified that the judging panel of the long film contest will also include a French producer, the founder of Tripoli Film Festival in Lebanon Elias Khlat, a female producer from Holland and Souad Hussein from Djibouti, the former director of the film program of the Francophone Organization.
Galal further exposed that the judging panel of the short film contest will be led by French director Julia Mirezova. The other members of the judging panel include Egyptian star Yosra el-Lozi and Jordanian director Yahya al-Abdullah
It is worth noting that the poster of the AIWFF's third edition has been recently released. It was designed by the Alexandrian artist Hisham Ali. The poster is colorful and eye-catchy, as it illustrates the distinctive colors of African nature. The poster was based on highlighting a number of important elements that reflect the nature of the festival in the form of a women’s face.
The basic element of this poster is derived from the face of a girl whose features resemble the faces of Egyptian women with distinctive features, and also portrays the environment in Aswan, most notably the color of the Nile.
Hisham Ali is a 26-year-old graphic designer and visual artist. He received a number of awards in the field of design, including the Best Design Award in Alexandria from the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in 2010.
Aswan International Film Festival for Women’s Cinema is the first Egyptian film festival specializing in offering workshops for youth in Aswan.
So far, 125 young males and females have been trained in film making workshops by Egyptian and international professional film makers.
These workshops produced five documentary films screened during the final ceremony.
The Aswan International Women Film Festival announced holding a number of workshops during the third round of the festival.
Manager of the festival's workshops, Sayed Abdel Khalek, said "The workshops will be held on February 13-19, 2019.
They aim at enhancing youth's role in the society via giving them the opportunity to express themselves and their visions through cinema as one of the modern means of expression.
Children and youths, who are living in Aswan and aging from 7 to 35 years old, are encouraged to apply for the workshops."
"The third round of the festival will present a workshop by screenwriter Wissam Soliman," Abdel Khalek added.
Soliman wrote a number of films including "In Heliopolis Flat", "The Best of Times" and "Factory Girl". The workshop aims at training youths to write a screenplay from scratch until the final draft.
The projects will be discussed during the concluding session of the workshop.
"The festival will also organize a documentary workshop by director Mahmoud Soliman who directed and produced a number of short films and documentaries that were awarded more than 65 prizes in various film festivals around the world.
His films include "We Have Never Been Kids" that was awarded 16 prizes. His workshop will aim at training youths on documentary film making from scratch until producing a short or long documentary," Abdel Khalek continued.
Also, the festival will hold an animation workshop by Professor Ashraf Mahdy. The workshop aims at training youths, from 16-35 years old, to implement a number of techniques on the paintings of a pioneer Egyptian female painter, According to Abdel Khalek.
Additionally, the festival will hold another animation workshop, organized in cooperation with Jesuit Animation School of Cairo and held by producer, director and founder of Jesuit Animation School Ibrahim Saad. The workshop aims at training children, from 7 to 16 years old, to make animation films through special and simple techniques.
The workshops also include another documentary workshop to be held by young director Aida el-Kashef. The workshop aims at resuming projects that started during the previous round of the festival.
The festival is organized under the auspices of the ministries of culture and tourism as well as the National Council for Women and the Cinema Syndicate.
Comments
Leave a Comment