Egyptian presence in Gabes Cinema festival in Tunisia (Photo: AlAhram Arabic news site)
Egyptian films and stars are making a strong presence at the Gabes Cinema Festival as it opens in Tunisia.
Six Egyptian films are participating in the festival’s competitions.
Participating in the long feature segment are Yomeddine by Abu Bakr Shawky and Poisoned Roses by Ahmed Fawzy Saleh.
Yommeddine has been garnering acclaim and awards worldwide since its selection for the Cannes Film Festival in 2018, marking the first time an Egyptian director's feature-debut has made the line-up.
Poisoned Roses had its world premiere at the 47th International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) where it received strong acclaim. It then garnered three awards during the Cairo International Film Festival last year; Best Arab Film, the Salah Abu Seif Prize (Special Jury Prize) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Award.
You Come from Far Away by Amal Ramsis and What Comes Around by Reem Saleh are both participating in the documentary films segment at the Gabes Festival.
You Come From Far Away unearths an unexplored history by telling the story of Sidki, who, like his Arab companions, believed in the universality of their struggle for social justice and democracy and thus left their countries on the eve of the Spanish Civil War to fight alongside Italian comrades.
What Comes Around participated in the Panorama section of the 2018 Berlinale and provides an intimate portrait of mutual support and solidarity among a community in Cairo’s Rod El-Farag district.
As for the shorts competition, Like the Sun by Hana Mahmoud and Fork and Knife by Adam Abdelghaffar are representing Egypt.
Like the Sun recently scooped the Jury Award at the Zawya Short Film Festival in Cairo, as well as Best Short Fiction from the 20th Ismailia Film Festival.
Fork and Knife was among the short films competing at El-Gouna Film Festival, and was screened in Cairo last week at Zawya cinema.
Egyptians on the red carpet included actresses Elham Shahine, Bushra and Mona Hala, director Ahmed Fawzy Saleh, storywriter Medhat El-Adl, producer Gamal El-Adl, as well as director Hala Lotfy, who heads the jury for the long and short fiction film competitions.
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