The Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF) wrapped-up Thursday its eighth edition after screening dozens of movies, hosting many seminars and a number of art workshops.

The festival, that started last Friday, screened 385 films from Africa and other continents, and had 102 films competing in its various competition sections.

Press conferences were held for the makers of a number of films, including Egyptian feature 'Immobilia Crime Story' (2018) by Khaled El-Hagar, 'Night/exterior' by Ahmed Abdullah El-Said, Mozambique/Portugal's 'Mabata Bata' (2018) by Jorge Quintela, Tunisian documentary 'Ghzela' (2018) by Hajer Nefzi, and Moroccan short film 'Ales' (2018) by Ali Benjelloun, among others.

While paying a special tribute to Tunisian cinema, LAFF honoured filmmakers in several symposiums, including Egyptian actress Lebleba, Chadian director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Egyptian actor Asser Yassin, Burkinabé director Fanta Régina Nacro, Egyptian director Omar Abdel-Aziz and Sudanese singer Faiza Amseeb, Tunisian producer Dorra Bouchoucha, Malmö Arab Film Festival director Mohamed Qabalawy, and others, in addition to a special tribute for Egyptian actor Mohamed Sobhi and a celebration of late Egyptian-Greek musician Andre Ryder.

Under festival director Azza El-Hossein and president of honor Mahmoud Hemida, LAFF made a special press conference for African film festival presidents in addition to other seminars about African cinema making.

Lectures were given in various topics, including acting, criticism and film music, in addition to book signing events and a number of art exhibitions.

Many workshops were ran for kids and youth by prominent experts in the visual arts, including drawing, sculpture, ballet dancing, film directing (by Ahmed Rashwan) and scriptwriting (by Nasser Abdel-Rahman).

Founded by screenwriter Sayed Fouad and organised by Egyptian NGO, the Independent Shabab Foundation (ISF), LAFF is sponsored by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with exclusive media sponsorship by DMC TV Network, in cooperation with the governorate of Luxor, the Syndicate of Cinema and the National Bank of Egypt.

Under the guidance of Minister of Culture Enas Abdel-Dayem, Qena governorate shared the hosting of some of the festival's activities for the first time.

This edition was named after late Burkinabè director Idrissa Ouédraogo.

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