In about two weeks, the Egyptian city of Luxor will live to the rhythm of the Festival of the African Film of Luxor (Laff).
Combine culture and tourism.
Indeed, for seven days, the whole city of Luxor will participate in the course and the success of this festival and thereby try to reconcile culture and tourism, art and economy. In reality, the city will be at the service of the festival, which in turn will allow it to exploit and highlight its riches and its archaeological heritage.
In 2016 for example, the festival opening ceremony took place in the open air in a magical setting. The guests had been gathered in front of the pier, then led by Boat on the other bank of the Nile, and then by bus to the Hatshepsout templethe only pharaonne in the history of Egypt. Folk troops and musicians had animated the whole journey.
The site was very beautiful. On the whole journey of the return to Luxor, there were illuminations of the tombs, statues, the temple of Ramses II (the Rowing), of both Memnon colossi… It was really beautiful.
A gala dinner, hosted by songs and folk dances, had been organized in the Winter Palace gardens, the oldest and more luxurious hotel in the city.
Likewise, the American actor’s press conference Danny Glover had taken place in The Temple of Amonwhich had allowed to combine tourism, cinema and also propaganda for the city and the site, given the number of journalists present.
Throughout the duration of the festival, several excursions had also been organized to allow the various guests to visit the many sites and temples existing in Luxor.
To wonder bitterly: why is Tunisia, the JCC are not an opportunity to promote our cultural and archaeological heritage? Why are such excursions, for example, not organized for the hundreds of festival guests?
Tributes.
This 6th edition of the Laff, which will be held from March 16 to 22, 2017, will bear the name of fire Mahmoud Abdel Aziz (1946 – 2016) which left us last November.
She will also be dedicated to the Egyptian actress Taheyya Kariokka (1919 – 1999) and the Tunisian director Kalthoum Bornaz (1945 – 2016) which also left us tragically last September.
Tributes will be paid to the Egyptian actress Nelly Karim, to Egyptian director Yousry Nasrallah, to the Moroccan actor Mohamed Moftah, to the Mauritanian director Abderrahmen Sissako (who was the president of the jury feature films during the last edition of the JCC) and to the Congolese director Mwezé Nangura.
The guest of honor will be Morocco.
Two Tunisians members of the juries.
Among the members of the juries, two Tunisians: Nacer Khemir (Competition feature films) and Anis Lassouad (short films).
Nacer Khemir is a storyteller, writer, director, designer, sculptor and calligrapher. He made several films including in particular Desert tags (1986), Bab’aziz, the prince who contemplated his soul (2005) and Looking for Muhyiddine (2013).
As for Anis Lassouad, he is an assistant director and production director of several Tunisian and foreign films, he is also the founder of the Nabeul film buff and artistic director of the Maghreb Film Festival of Nabeul. Among his works Kairouan 1428 (2007), A summer in Sidi Bouzekri (2009), The opponent (2011) and SABBAT EL EID (2012).
Films, conferences, photos and books.
In addition to competitions, this edition will include several workshops, conferences, 3 photograph exhibitions and several publications, including two books: Yousry Nasrallah by critic Ahmed Shawky and Taheya Karikka by the critic Tarek El Shenawy.
580 films were submitted to the festival, which, according to Mr. Sayed Foued, president of the Laff, shows the importance that this demonstration begins to have. 126 films among them were selected to be screened, both in official competition (feature films fiction (12 films), documentary feature films (9 films), short films (21 films), freedoms and human rights (10 films)) and during the parallel sections (80 films).
The American documentary film The Republic of Nasser, birth of a modern Egypt(Nasser’s Republic: The Making of Modern Egypt) by Michal Goldman who had been scheduled during the 38th edition of the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) and whose The projection had been followed by a heated debate In competition will also be in this Luxor festival in the category Liberties and Human Rights. This documentary has just won the special jury prize for the best documentary at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles.
Four Tunisian films in official competition.
In the fiction feature-feature category:
– NHEBBEK Hédi by Mohamed Ben Attia, with in the main roles Majd Mastoura, Rym Ben Messaoud and Sabah Bouzouita. This film participated in several festivals and notably won the prize for the best first work and the silver bear for the best male interpretation at the Berlinale 2016.
– Thala my love by Mehdi Mhili, with in the main roles Najla Ben Abdallah, Ghanem Zrelli, Fatma Ben Saidene and Mohamed Dahech. This feature film had been selected in official competition during the 2016 JCC.
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In the documentary feature-films category:
– Zaineb doesn’t like snow From Kaouthar Ben Henia, with Zaineb Khelifi, Wided Khelifi, Wijdene Hamdi, Maher Hamdi and Haythem Khelifi in their own roles. In addition to the Tanit d’Or during the 2016 JCC, this documentary won the prize for the best documentary at the 2016 Cinemed Montpellier and the best documentary at the 2016 Medfilm Rome.
In the short films category:
– We are good like that de Mehdi M. Barsaoui with Nouri Bouzid and Sawssen Maléj in the main roles. This film also participated in several festivals and notably won the MUHR for the best film short film at the Dubai International Film Festival (Diff).
In March 2016, during the 5thth Edition of the Laff, the Tunisian short film Ghassra by Jamil Najjar had won the Nile Grand Prix for the best fictional short film.
Hopefully this year also, our Tunisian films will appear in the winners of winning films!
Neïla Driss
