Details of the 5thedition of the Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF), scheduled to run between 17-23 March, were announced in a press conference on 11 January.

To celebrate the 50thanniversary of the first Ivorian film, LAFF chose Cote D’Ivoire as the5thedition’s guest of honour.

This year’s Jury of the Long Narrative Competition will comprise director Flora Gomes (Guinea Bissau), director Moussa Touré (Senegal), actor Driss El-Rokh (Morocco), actress Sawsan Badr (Egypt) and director Magdy Ahmed Aly (Egypt).


Thirteen films are set to compete in this category, including Reveries of the Solitary Actor (Algeria) by Hamid Benamra; Without Regret (Cote D’Ivoire) by Jacques Trabi; Shadow of Madness (Mali) by Boubacar Gakou; Starve Your Dog by Hicham Lasri; The Unseen (Namibia) by Perivi John Katjavivi; The Missing God (Nigeria) by Ubaka Joseph Ugochukwu; Mona (Nigeria) by Anthony Abuah and the Egyptian film Nawara by filmmaker Hala Khalil, which will also be this edition’s opening film.

This year’s Jury of the Long Documentary Competition will comprise producer Pedro Pimenta (Mozambique), film critic Hans-Christian Mahnke (Germany), director Jihane El-Tahiry (Egypt), director Khaled El-Haggar (Egypt) and director of photography Wael Saber (Egypt).

The competition will include Funeral of My Father (Lorenzo Mbiahou & Milosine Tchetkou-Cameroon); Never Were They Not Children (Mahmoud Soliman-Egypt); The Last Fight (Jackie Lebo-Kenya); Duty to Remember (Mamadou Cisse-Mali); The Bread Road (Hicham Elladdaqi -Morocco); The Women of the Clock (Raja Sediki-Morocco); Sembene (Jason Silverman & Samba Gadjigo-Senegal); The Four Seasons (Mohamed Zran -Tunisia); Roundabout in My Head (Hassen Ferhani-Morocco); A Man for My Family (Thierno Souleymane Diallo-Guinea); Rendala le Mikea (Alain Rakotoarisoa -Madagascar); Rock Inspired (Nigeria-Famous Odion Iraoya); and The Siren of Faso Fani (Micheal Zongo-Burkina Faso).

As for the Freedom Competition,this year’s jury will be headed by American actor Danny Glover, and will also comprise film critic Olivier Barlet (France), actress-director Ahd Kamel (Saudi Arabia), director Ahmed Maher (Egypt) and novelist Ebtihal El-Shayeb (Egypt).

Competing in this year’s Freedom Competition will be Beasts of No Nation (Cary Jojy Fukunaga-USA); Towards the Forest of Snow (Robin Hunzinger-Cote d’Ivoire); Freetown (Garrett Batty-Liberia); Tentmakers of Cairo (Kim Beamish-Australia); Independence (Mario Bastos-Angola); Crumbs (Ghana); Visaranai (­Vetri Maaran-India); Gnonnou (Agnes-Maritza Boulmer-Benin); Little Go Girls (Eliane De Latour-France) and The Man Who Mends Women (Thierry Michel-Congo).

LAFF’s 5th edition will honour Egyptian actor Omar Sharif, Moroccan critic Mustafa Elmesnawy and Ivorian director Henry Duparc.

During its press conference, the Filmmakers Syndicate honoured actresses Layla Elwy, Ilham Shaheen and Lebleba, actors Fathy Abdel-Wahab, Hassan Raddad, Sabry Fawwaz and producer Mohamed Al-Adl, who, according to the festival’s Facebook page, “supported the festival from day one.”

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