CFC Selects 15 Projects to Participate in 8th Edition

The Cairo Film Connection (CFC), which is held within the framework of Cairo Industry Days (CID) and Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF), selected 15 projects to participate in the event's 8th edition, CFC announced on Tuesday.

All selected projects are narrative features and documentaries, in addition, they are in the development and post-production stages.

In an official statement, CFC revealed that the selected projects were shortlisted from 110 projects to 15 which marked a new record in the history of CFC since its launch.

“This year we received a record number of submissions with very high-quality projects and the majority came from debut filmmakers. This reflects the richness and urge of the youth in the Arab world to tell their stories.” President of the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) Mohamed Hefzy, comments.

Chadi Zeneddine, Cairo Film Connection Manager added that “more than a third of the 2021 selection is composed by first-time filmmakers, joined by acclaimed directors working on their second project, and filmmakers making their first feature narrative debut after establishing themselves within the documentary world, such as Tamara Stepanyan, Sara Shazli and Nameer Abdelmassih. We’ve decided to take risks in our choices and shine a light on new and eclectic talents.”

Moreover, the majority of the featured projects are directed by women, as the number of female directors inducted into the list is eight.

Also, there are five projects submitted by first-time directors and three feature narrative projects were executed by award-winning directors.

There are five projects from Egypt, three from Tunisia. In addition, each of the following countries is represented by one project: Algeria, Lebanon, Palestine, KSA, Iraq, Morocco, and Syria.

The list of the narrative features in development includes "The Leftover Ladies" (Egypt), "My Driver and I" (KSA & UK), "Life After Siham" (Egypt & France), Nour (Egypt), In the Land of Aram (Lebanon & Armenia), Ravens of the City (Egypt & Sudan), and Aicha (Tunisia & France).

On the other hand, the selected documentary films include three in-development projects "Bullets do not kill. Silence Does" (Tunisia & France), "American Dream" (Egypt), and "Bye Bye Tiberias" (Algeria, France, Belgium & Qatar).

Furthermore, the list includes 3 feature narrative film projects in post-production; "A Summer In Boujad" (Morocco), "Alam - The Flag" (Palestine & France), and "Nezouh" (Syria).

In addition, two documentary films in post-production will take part; "Mohsen of Iraq" (Iraq & Costa Rica), and On The Hill (Tunisia).

It is worthy to mention that the upcoming edition of CIFF will take place between November 26 instead of December 1, and it will be concluded on December 5, instead of December 10.