THE El Gouna Film Festival (Egypt) announced yesterday some of the Arab films which will be in competition during the second edition of the festival which will take place from September 20 to 28, 2018.
As announced previously, will be screened in El Gouna, the Egyptian film Yomeddine by Abu Bakr Shawky. This feature film which had been selected in official competition at the 71st edition of the Cannes Film Festivaltells the story of a leper who on the death of his wife, decides to go in search of his roots. He leaves the leprosery in which he spent his whole life, and in the company of a little boy, will cross all of Egypt and face an unknown world.
The short film Fork and knife Adam Abdel Ghaffar will also be part of the selection. The project of this film had won the first prize in the competition organized by the company Tayarah during the first edition of the El Gouna film festival.
At least three Tunisian films will also compete in El Gouna:
– The feature film fiction Weldi by Mohamed Ben Attia. This film was released last May in Cannes as part of the Directors’ fortnight.
Synopsis:
Riadh is preparing to retire to a coaster at the port of Tunis. With Nazli, he formed a united couple around Sami, their only son who is about to pass the tank. Sami’s repeated migraines worry his parents. As Riadh thinks that his son is better, he disappears.
– The short film Sheikh watermelons by Kaouther Ben Hania
Synopsis:
Cheikh Taher is a pious and respected imam. He agrees to pray on the body of a woman he does not know, but his act of piety turns out to be the sin of too much that will precipitate the spoliation of his power by Hamid, his young Machiavellian and ambitious subfifre.
– and the short film The gift Doghri Latifa
Synopsis:
On the occasion of her first wedding anniversary, a young woman, Myriam, reserved and veiled, an educator in a kindergarten, decides to sew up her hymen and again offer her virginity to her husband Sabri, taxi driver. His naive and desperate gesture will paradoxically lead to a liberating awareness …
The festival management also unveiled a few days ago, the film projects that will compete in the Cinégouna Platform section created in order to supervise young Egyptian and Arab directors in order to help them find artistic and financial support. In 2018, the various winners will win prices for a total amount of $ 150,000 offered by the various sponsors and partners of the El Gouna film festival (60,000 dollars in 2017).
Out of 145 projects submitted, a committee of experts has selected 12 development projects and 6 post-production films. Selected projects and films represent 6 Arab countries (Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq and Sudan). They include 9 accounts of feature films and 3 documentaries in the development project category and 3 stories and 3 documentaries in the films in the post-production category.
Three Tunisian development projects were selected:
– Curfew Directed by Elyes Baccar
– Ride Directed by Mehdi Hmili and Abdallah Chamekh
– The man who sold his skindirected by Kaouther Ben Hania
Was also selected in postproduction the film Fatariaproduced by Walid Tayaa.
Good luck to all these films!
Neïla Driss
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