Under the slogan of “Cinema in the Face of Terrorism,” Culture Minister Abdel Wahid al-Nabawi and film critic Amir Abaza are opening the 31st session of the Alexandria Film Festival in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina on Wednesday evening. The session is dedicated to film star Mahmoud Yassin.
The festival will present 300 films from 33 different countries and the operetta “120 Years of Cinema” will be played during the opening ceremony.
The ceremony will also introduce the juries, as well as the prizes for the Mamdouh al-Leithy contest for best script. Egyptian, Arab and European artists will be honored during the festival, including actress Sawsan Badr, director Mohamed Abdel Aziz, producer Farouk Sabry, Colombian actor Lou Castel, Russian director Shakhnazarov, French script writer Philip Jalad, Algerian critic Ahmed Bedjaoui and Moroccan director Mohamed Al-Sarem.
Fifteen Arabic feature films will be competing for the Nour El-Sherif prize worth LE50,000. Other screenings include 11 long documentaries from 10 Arab countries, 23 short documentaries from 17 countries, 24 short films from 17 countries and 20 films by young directors from Alexandria.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
