It has been almost a week since the start of the 6th International Arab Film Festival Zurich - which was established in 2012 by the Arab Film Association Zurich and founder and president by director Aida Schläpfer Al Hassani.
The festival has proved to be capable of being a cultural and artistic bridge that brings Arab visions and reality closer to the Western audience, especially the Swiss, who do not know much about Arab society except through Western media that provide information based on their agenda.
The edition was attended by many Arab filmmakers, whether from their Western countries or residences in these countries.
The festival added value and richness by organizing seminars devoted to discussing the conditions and challenges of Arab cinema.
The edition witnessed the screening of several Egyptian films such as May Zayed's documentary "Ash Ya Captain".
It was played several times during the festival, and even a day was organized to display it to school students.
"Ash Ya Captain" is a very special film because it highlighted the story of Captain Ramadan, who athletically adopts a group of girls in a simple place in Alexandria to train them in the sport of weightlifting.
The audience lived a journey mixed with love, tough love, and sometimes cruelty, to build them into athletes who can be depended on.
Captain Ramadan died during the film's shooting, but he remained alive through his athletics.
Among the Egyptian films that were shown at the festival was Mohamed Khedr's documentary film "Tuk Tuk".
The film explored an unusual story for Western audiences about a widow who was forced to work as tuk tuk driver to feed her family.
It highlighted the harassment, lack of acceptance, and violence the woman faced daily.
Egypt also participated with three animation films, Mohamed Ghazaleh's "The Pyramid", a 7-minute feature that shows the ancient Egyptian trying to build a pyramid, but it is an inverted pyramid.
The other animated film is "The Bubble", directed by Mohamed Hammad, which raises a philosophical question in three minutes: What if you find yourself stuck inside a bubble while the world outside you is collapsing?
The third film was “45 Minutes” by Ahmed Thabet. It is centered around Palestinian families who are forced to travel and cross borders on a journey that extends for hours of hardship to visit their families in Israeli prisons for 45 minutes.
Egypt's most major event was the presence of Mr. Adly Touma, CEO of Gemini Africa and Project Manager of CinemaTech.
The project won the first intellectual property rights in the world on the idea of linking entrepreneurship and technology.
It has already resulted in the birth of realized projects in reality and models from Egyptian youth who have already created technological applications that help develop the film industry, such as applying script writing development.
Touma, throughout meetings and a symposium, presented bright aspects of what his Egyptian company and the Gemini Africa project had achieved in a short period of no more than two years.
He voiced his readiness for all means of cooperation with Arab youth, whether in Switzerland or any other country as well as extended his hand to accomplish this achievement.
Touma noted that there are extended projects to develop the film industry via technology and associated with entrepreneurship such as his project with the Aswan Festival, a project that allowed women to express themselves through image and text.
Many axes were raised in the CinemaTech project that does not only help talents and youth on the financial level but also through training, ensuring sustainability, raising efficiency and development, i.e. on the level of the future vision, the further, this project plays a developmental role, not only technical or technological.
Many axes were raised by Gemini Africa's CinemaTech that not only help talents and young people on a financial level but also through training, ensuring sustainability, raising efficiency, and development at the level of the future vision.
The project plays a developmental role, not just technical or technological.
Contributed by Yara Sameh
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