The 3rd Gabès Film Festival was held from April 20th to 26th. Its goal: to revive the city’s film culture. It took place in the Agora Gabès, a new cultural space inaugurated for the event. Festival chairman Mahmoud Jemni emphasised that the festival’s scope has broadened since the “Gabès Arab Festival” became the “Gabès Film Festival”. This change of focus was reflected in a new category, “World Cinema”, which ran simultaneously with the official competition, screening 7 European films.
There was also a new competition, “Young Camera”, aimed at encouraging young directors: ten scenarios by film students were presented during a script-writing workshop led by Belgian scriptwriter Mathieu Reynaert and Egyptian Waaleed Sayfeddine. The two best scenarios received the “Young Camera Award”, given by TV5 Monde. The aspiring film-makers will continue their projects in a workshop run by Tunisian producer Dora Bouchoucha, Sud écritures.
The official competition had several sections:
- Features (9 films including two Tunisian)
- Long documentaries (8 films including 1 Tunisian)
- Shorts (8 films including 2 Tunisian)
- Film school films (8 films including 1 Tunisian)
The winners will receive a cash prize of between 5,000 and 15,000 dinars, according to category.
Source: rtci.tn
