Alexandria is hosting the Alexandria Festival of Francophone Cinema’s first edition from September 11th to the 16th.
The event was initially scheduled for June 2020, but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Directed by film critic Mohamed Atef and headed by Egyptian actor Samir Sabry, the festival will screen somewhere around 50 movies, representing a number of Francophone countries, with a focus on Tunisian-directed films as Tunisia is the festival’s country of honor.
This festival is the first of its kind to take place in the Arab world.
In a press release, Sabry said that the festival’s supreme committee includes a group of prominent writers and filmmakers, including writer Mohamed Salmawy, writer Sherif El Shobashi, the former president of the Cairo Film Festival, actress Lubna Abdel Aziz, Anwar Mogheeth, media professionals Sana Mansour, Salma Al-Shamma and others.
He explained that the festival began to receive films earlier this year, and that the festival management settled on the names of the honorees, and it was decided to honor three prominent cinematic personalities, one of which is French.
“I was pleased to cooperate with the Alexandria Festival of Francophone Cinema, as well as to coordinate the Tunisia celebration, the guest of honor of the founding session of the festival,” Ensaf Wahiba, the ceremonial official and representative of the permanent festival in Tunisia, said.
She added that the design of the celebration program is now in full swing, which will include special programs for Tunisian cinema, seminars on the film industry in Tunisia, and the most important institutions working on it and round tables through during which new initiatives for film cooperation between Egypt and Tunisia will be launched.
Festival director Atef, said that the historic visit of the Tunisian President to Egypt ignited the enthusiasm and belief of all Egyptians in the depth of Egyptian-Tunisian relations. He added that the festival’s management is currently coordinating with the concerned authorities in Egypt and Tunisia, so that the celebration comes out appropriately with the ancient artistic and cinematic legacy of both countries.
