Organized by the Independent Shabab Foundation (ISF), the Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF) was created by writer Sayed Fouad as an alternative to other Egyptian cultural events, most of which take place either in Alexandria or Cairo. Its aim is to encourage African productions and partnerships between the continent’s various countries. The Festival is supported by the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the Luxor Governorate.
The 7th festival took place from March 16th to 22nd. 110 films, short and long, were screened, and all were either produced or filmed in African countries by African directors, and dealt with African issues. All were made during 2017. There were four competitions within the festival: long narrative, long documentaries, short films (drama and documentary) and the international competition: Freedom films.
The Long Documentary jury consisted of Moroccan director Azlarab Alaoui, Mama Keïta (Senegal), Samir Auf (Egypt), Keith Shiri (Zimbabwe) and Rahma Montasser, an Egyptian production specialist.
This year’s festival paid tribute to Egyptian actor Gamil Ratib, an icon of cinema and theatre who has appeared in more than 50 films. He is particularly well-known for his role as Majid in the 1962 film “Lawrence of Arabia” and has already received a lifetime achievement award at the 2011 Dubai International Film Festival. The festival also paid tribute to Egyptian actress Ghada Adel and Senegalese director Moussa Touré. In addition, the Egyptian director Youssef Chahine was honoured, known among other things for giving Omar Sharif his first major role. Chahine had also received a lifetime achievement award at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival.
Other North African countries did well at the festival. Four Moroccan films were presented: two long films, Mohamed Bouzako’s “Abrita” and Mohamed Nabil’s “Silent Cells”, and two short, “Hug” by Siham Al Alaoui and “The Shoe” by Amira-Géhanne Khalfallah. In 2017 Morocco was the festival’s guest of honour for the development of its film industry. There were also three Tunisian films in the official competition: Sarra Laabidi’s “Benzine”, Kaouther Ben Hania’s “La Belle et la Meute” and a documentary entitled “Sisters Courage” co-directed by Latifa Doghri and Salem Trabelsi .
Sources: al bawaba, arabnews, 2m, réalités.com
