Special Discussion With Female Filmmakers at Alexandria Photo Week Tomorrow

Under the theme "Women Behind the Cinematic Image: Scenes and Stories", a discussion is to be held tomorrow, Saturday, February 3rd, at 11 AM at the Jesuit Cultural Center in Alexandria, within the proceedings of Alexandria Photo Week, in collaboration with the Embassy of the Netherlands in Egypt and a promising film production company, in the presence of director Nada Riyad, Maggie Morgan, and cinematographer Haya Khairat.

Producer Aya Dawara will be the moderator of the discussion. She pointed out that this discussion is regarded as the first activity of the production company about women in the film industry. Dawara will interview the participating female filmmakers about their films, stereotypical portrayal of women in cinematic works, how these portrayals look like, what photos behind the camera look like, and other details.

Concerning the main idea of the company, Dawara stated, "It is a production company -but with a unique concept- founded by actress Mona Zaki and entrepreneur Mai Abdul Azim. It aims at producing films that shed light on society from the viewpoint of female filmmakers in the Arab region. 

I worked with them and presented the company's first event; a film incubator in collaboration with the Embassy of the Netherlands in Egypt. This incubator aims at developing and producing a group of short stories for young female directors and Egyptian writers". 

She added, "That incubator is currently working on developing 20 short films with a huge team. Additionally, a competition will be held for the 20 films that will reach the development stage to select 3 short films to be produced under the "Her Stories" umbrella".