The management of the Annual Film Association, headed by Director of Cinematography Mahmoud Abdel Samie, has formed a jury for the 47th and 48th sessions of the festival, which will take place from January 29 to February 5 at the Creativity Center at the Egyptian Opera House.
The jury include: film critic, Amal Othman, artist Bushra, director Tamer Mohsen, critic Rami Al-Metwally, director Adel Al-Aasar, producer Farouk Abdel-Khaleq, film critic Magdy El-Tayeb, director of cinematography Dr. Mohsen Ahmed, film director Mohamed Abu Seif, and finally Dr. Walid Seif, writer and film critic, along with the head of the cinema department at the Higher Institute of Art Criticism, the secretariat of the press jury, Neven Elzohairy and the artist, George Fawzy.
Mahmoud Abdel-Samie stressed: “ I always seek to manage the association’s choices for the jury to be perse in its members between the veterans and young filmmakers, be it makers or critics and writers, as this helps to enrich the discussions that last for hours among the members to reach the final results of the session”.
The Cairo Film Society Festival was established in 1974; it seeks to select a jury that presents its results with great credibility and impartiality, a factor that always distinguishes the results of the Film Association.
As part of our conversation, the scriptwriter, Bashir Al-Deek confirmed his happiness to be among this large constellation of distinguished filmmakers, writers and critics, and that he is happy since he has the ability to communicate with what young filmmakers present through the films that will be presented to the committee at the festival.
He mentioned with insistence that it will be his way to reach those young people who understand the concepts of cinema in their own way; this happens due to the openness experienced by this generation, stressing that his relationship with the Film Association began even before he started writing his first films.
He said: ”Since I arrived in Cairo from Damietta, when I attended its first events, I was happy with the idea of his ability to enter the interior of the film industry, through film screenings and seminars, which was always followed by it. It attracted me to that world of cinema greatly”.
In additional, the festival management had announced that the general referendum in which members of the association, critics, journalists and a number of filmmakers participated, to choose the best of the works that were shown during the year 2020, resulted in the selection of 5 films: “Yum W Leila” by director Ayman Makram, “Sondok El Donia” by Imad Al-Bahat, “Saheb El Makam” by Muhammad Jamal Al-Adl, “Tawaam Rohy” by Othman Abu Laban, and finally the movie “Hazr Tagawol” by Amir Ramses.
Those movies will be the films of the 47th session of the festival. As for the films of 2021, they are: “Waefet Regala” by Ahmed Al-Jundi, “Al-Arif” by Ahmed Alaa El-Deeb, “El Ens Wel Nems” by Sherif Arafa, “Moussa” by Peter Mimi, “200 Geneh” by Muhammad Amin, and “Bra Al-Manhaj” by Amr Salama, Nadine Khan's "Abu Saddam", and finally, "Kabel Lel Kasr".
Abdel Samie added as part of his conversation, that the festival seeks to evaluate the state of Egyptian cinema, along with monitoring what it presented through the works that were shown in Egyptian theaters every year.
Due to the conditions of the corona and the closure, a new mediator must be dealt with, which is the digital platforms. The festival management decided to add an item in the festival list that serves this. It stipulates the participation of films that got screened on these platforms of Egyptian production to compete for the festival awards. Since the closure period, platforms became an alternative to cinemas, where 3 films compete during 2020, along with two other projects during 2021.
As for the developments that got added to the festival, Abdel Samie continued , "We added a new item to the list of Arab feature films that were shown in Egyptian theaters, as a kind of referendum was conducted on by the members of the association, critics, journalists and other filmmakers, those who are about to be awarded a certificate from the festival authority as the best Arab narrative film.
The 6 films competing in the vote are: “Been El Ganna Wel Ard” by the Palestinian director Najwa Najjar, “Satamot Fel Eshreen” by Sudanese director Amjad Abu Al-Ala, “200 meter” by the Palestinian director Amin Nayfeh, and If you wish, as in heaven” by Palestinian director Elia Suleiman, “El Ragol Alazy Baa Dahro” by the Tunisian director Kawthar Ben Haniyeh, and the last movie titled by “Gaza Monamour” by the Palestinian director Arab Nasser.
The annual Film Society Festival is currently held under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and in cooperation with the Syndicate of Film Professions and the Cultural Development Fund.
The films in which the members of the association participate are chosen from among those exhibited during the previous year's festival. It is the only festival in which the festival's management chooses the films; film owners do not apply to participate in the festival, and the best films are chosen by members of the association voting on the top seven films exhibited. It is the only year-round festival that has been held on a regular basis for many years and has not been halted since its inception in 1975 by the Film Association, with the help of critics and specialized filmmakers.
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