The Luxor Festival of the African Film (Laff) is preparing for its 15ᵉ edition, scheduled from March 30 to April 5, 2026, and has just officially opened its call for candidates, marking the start of a long process which will lead, in a few months, to a week entirely devoted to African cinema and its most vibrant voices. Created about fifteen years ago, the Laff won over editions as one of the unavoidable cinema meetings on the continent, welcoming each spring to Luxor, in the heart of high-egypt, filmmakers, criticisms, producers and passionate public.
This new edition will be placed under the honorary presidency of an actor who alone embodies part of the recent history of Egyptian cinema: Mahmoud Hemida. Emblematic figure, he will bring to this meeting a very special aura, recalling that the festival is not only a showcase for African cinemas, but also a place of recognition and dialogue between the generations of artists.
The founder and president of the festival, the scriptwriter Sayed Fouad, announced the opening of the applications for the four main competitions which structure the event. The first, that of the feature films, welcomes fictional, documentaries or animation works of more than sixty minutes. The second is devoted to short films, all kinds combined. These two competitions are exclusively reserved for African filmmakers. The third highlights the films of the diaspora, a category that allows African filmmakers installed outside Africa to offer stories turned to the continent, enriched by an international perspective. Finally, the fourth, singular and deeply rooted in the territory that welcomes the festival, is that of young people, intended for young filmmakers of the governorates of Qena and Luxor.
This last initiative takes on a particular magnitude thanks to the work of the founder and director of the festival, Azzza El Hosseiny. She announced that several months before the festival holds, a workshop will be organized to train young talents from Luxor and Qena to make short films without budget. The objective is twofold: on the one hand, allow these young filmmakers to develop technical and artistic skills, and on the other hand, offer them direct access to the Egyptian and African cinematographic landscape. But the project does not stop there: it will also materialize with the opening of a special competition for films from these two governorates, evaluated by a local jury. This system illustrates the will of the festival to register its action in a lasting dynamic, by forming and supporting the next generation in a region which, historically, has always been at the heart of Egyptian culture.
The 15ᵉ edition of the Laff will also have a strong symbolic dimension. She will be placed under the sign of a tribute to one of the greatest Egyptian filmmakers, Youssef Chahine, on the occasion of the centenary of her birth. The festival will adopt for the occasion the title “Youssef Chahine … An Egyptian story”, in reference to one of its most personal films. This choice illustrates the will of the festival management to pay tribute to a figure that has marked Egyptian and African cinema, but also to place its work in a context of transmission to new generations. Chahine’s inheritance, his look that is both intimate and universal, continues to inspire creators, and the fact that the Laff devotes its anniversary edition to this giant of cinema sends a strong signal: that of the importance of memory and history in the construction of the future.
Applications, open since August 20, 2025, will remain possible until November 25, 2025 via the official festival website. The films submitted must have been produced in 2025 and never have been screened in Egypt. These strict conditions guarantee that the Laff selections will offer a fresh look, turned towards the most recent and unpublished creations, thus strengthening the attractiveness of the festival with filmmakers as spectators.
The festival is carried by the Foundation of young independent artists for support and development, a non -profit civil organization. But over the years, he has managed to federate around him a vast network of institutions and partners, testifying to his cultural and diplomatic importance. The 15ᵉ edition is organized in collaboration with several Egyptian ministries – culture, tourism and antiques, youth and sports, as well as foreign affairs -, and benefits from the support of the Governorate of Luxor. It is also held under the patronage of the Egyptian Syndicate of Cinema, the National Bank of Egypt, Misr International Films and the Kemet Boutros Ghali Foundation for Peace and Knowledge.
By heading for this 15ᵉ edition, the Luxor festival of the African film thus confirms its central role: that of a space where Africa is told through its films, where its diasporas find a scene to dialogue with the continent, and where the new generations can be part of a heritage while forging their own voice. The 2026 meeting will not only be a celebration of an already rich course, but also an opening towards the next fifteen years, where African cinema will continue to reinvent itself, under the attentive gaze of Luxor, a millennial city which has become a modern crossroads of images and stories.
Neïla Driss
