Last night was the opening ceremony of the 8th edition of the Luxor African Film Festival (Egypt) which will take place from March 15 to 21, 2019.
This edition will have as honorary president of actor Mahmoud Hemeda, star of the Egyptian cinema, and among the favorite actors of the great director Youssef Chahine. He had notably filmed with him in the films Le Destin (1997), Alexandria New Yok (2004), the other (1999)…
During this 8th edition, several tributes will be paid to cinema professionals: producer Dorra Bouchoucha (Tunisia), director Mahamat Saleh Haron (Chad), Director Fanta Regina (Burkina Faso), actress Lebleba (Egypt), actor Servia Yassin (Egypt), director Omar Abdel Aziz (Egypt) Amseeb (Sudan).
Each of these honored guests will see one of his films screened during the festival.
An important delegation of Tunisian cinema professionals (and more particularly representatives of the JCC, with the head of Ayed, the Gabès film festival and the Kélibia festival, and a representative of the CNCI) will be invited to participate in the various activities of the festival, since the guest of honor of this edition is Tunisia.
Three Tunisians will be members of three different juries: producer Dorra Bouchoucha, member of the jury of the Competition Fong Fiction, the screenwriter Tarek Ben Chaabane member of the jury of the Competition Fiens Documentaires and Insaf Ouhida, member of the jury of the short films competition.
Several Tunisian films are on the program, four films in official selection and six films in tribute to Tunisian cinema.
Three films in official competition:
▪ The feature film “Look at me” by Nejib Belkhadi,
▪ The documentary ” Ghzela ” by Hager Nefzi
▪ The short film ” Waltz of Aube ” by Emna Najjar.
An off -competition film: “The gift” of Latifa Doghri.
A selection of six most important films in Tunisian cinema:
- “L’Homme de Cendres” by Nouri Bouzid;
- “The magic box” by Ridha Béhi;
- “The desert bayers” of Nacer Khemir;
- “Hedi” by Mohamed Ben Attia;
- “La Belle et la Meute” by Kaouthar Ben Hania;
- “The silence of the palaces” by Moufida Tlali.
An exhibition of 20 posters of the most important Tunisian films will be organized.
A book “The Tunisian cinema of the third millennium” written by Tarek Ben Chaabane will be presented and distributed.
A round table, whose Tunisian cinema is, will also be organized.
This 8th edition of the African Film Festival will also pay tribute to the Malmo Arab Film Festival. The Palestinian film “Wajib”, which won the prize for the best feature film fiction during the 2018 edition at the Malmo Festival will also be on the program.
There will also be an exhibition of photos by the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman on the occasion of the centenary of his birth, organized in collaboration with the Embassy of Sweden in Cairo.
Neila Driss
