Mohamed Atef named artistic director of AFFF

CAIRO- 5 February 2020: Alexandria Francophone Film Festival management appointed film critic Mohamed Atef as the artistic director of the festival.

Atef announced that he felt honored because the festival president veteran artist Samir Sabri and the members of the supreme consultative body headed by the great writer Mohammad Salmawi chose him to fill this post.

The newly appointed artistic director explained that about 45 films will participate in the various programs of the festival.

Submission is still open for 2019 -2020 productions, which had not been screened in Egypt before for filmmakers from 82 Francophone countries, until April 10 through the festival's website.





Atef is one of the most influential film festivals' programmers in the Arab region. In addition to his role in Malmö Arab Film Festival, he is the programmer of El Gouna Film Festival GFF and a member of the selection committee for development and post-production grants for of CineGouna Platform (GFF industrial arm), and ‘Daw’ Competition for film support which is organized by the Ministry of Culture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Egyptian Film Critics Association.

Previously, Atef was the artistic director of many prestigious film festivals in MENA region, such as: Ismailia International Film Festival for Documentaries and Shorts, Luxor Film Festival for Arab and European Cinema, and the programmer of the Short Films Competition at Cairo International Film Festival.

He is also an ex-member of the Supreme Committee for Egyptian Festivals. Moreover, Atef is a prominent Egyptian film critic, and the author of "Raafat Al Mihi.. The Man of Cinema" (2014), "Mechanisms of Independent Film Financing in the Arab World" (2015), and "Hassan Youssef.. Al Imam" (2016).

The first edition of the Alexandria Francophone Film Festival is set to take place between 12-17 of June, 2020. France will be the festival’s guest of honor.