The Ismailia International Film Festival for Documentaries and Shorts (IIFFDS) directed by Cinema Critic Essam Zakaria has selected Russia as the 22nd edition’s Guest of Honor.
The festival screened a 9-film-panorama dedicated to Russian cinema. The selected films wandered between documentaries and short features.
The selected films were: Alarm – Brain. Evolution – Butterflies - Dead Season - Don’t Speak - Mama Pitfall- We Played the Gardener – Wandering.
On his side, the Director if the National Center of Cinema Mohamed El Basossi welcomed all Russian guests at the festival including the deputy head of the Russian Cultural Center in Cairo Arseny Starkov, and the Director of the Cultural Activity at the Russian Cultural Center in Cairo Sherif Gad.
Next, El Basossi hailed the strong cooperation between the IIFFDS and the center.
In the same context, a seminar dedicated to the Russian animated film “Scariest” was held and it was chaired by Director Tarek Rashad.
It revolves around how a friendship between a buffalo and a bird existed, and how this friendship changes him.
Pavel Nikiforov, the film’s director who is specialized in children’s animation and holds a degree in Architecture and Art (Department of Graphic and Computer Animation), said that the technique was used in the film was closer to drawings. In addition, he expressed that the production of this film took two years as he made several edits to the scenario.
The director highlighted that this film was awarded two international awards one of them the Critics award, and the other was a jury award.
On his side, Gad expressed that IIFFDS has a good acceptance and fine reputation among Russian cultural spots; moreover, it used to participate in the festival’s editions since its founding.
He thanked Ismailia Governor Sherif Beshara, the Minister of Culture Dr. Enas Abdel Dayem, Minister of Culture’s Advisor for Cinema Dr. Khaled Abdel Galil, the Director of the National Center for Cinema Mohamed El Basossi, and Cinema Critic Essam Zakaria who is popular in the local cinema scene.
Starkov asserted his sincere happiness for visiting the beautiful Ismailia, IIFFDS’ selection for Russia as a Guest of Honor, and watching well-made features from Egypt and other countries. He also expressed his intention to visit Ismailia once again with his family.
Contributed by: Rana Atef
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