Stills from Henet Ward [L] and Tuk-Tuk [R]
Two short films from Egypt, Tuk-Tuk and Henet Ward, will screen during the upcoming Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) in the US.
The PAFF’s 29th edition is scheduled to take place between 28 February and 14 March 2021 in Los Angeles, US.
This year the festival will take place online.
The 26-minute short Tuk-Tuk will take part in the Best Short Narrative (Animation or Live Action) competition. It is directed by Mohamed Kheidr, who also wrote the script together with Sherif Abdel-Hady.
The film looks into Egypt’s over 30,000 indebted female community.
“After her husband abandoned her, Walaa’s only way to secure an income for her family is to drive a tuk-tuk in a male-dominated environment. At the risk of being ridiculed and harassed while drowning in debt, she embarks on a fight for her livelihood,” the film’s brief reveals.
Still from film Tuk-Tuk
Henet Ward (Ward’s Henna Party, 2020) is directed and co-written by Morad Mostafa and Mohamed Ali Mansour.
The 23-minute film will screen in the Short Films section. It follows the life of Halima, a Sudanese henna painter living in Egypt.
“She goes to one of Giza’s neighbourhoods to prepare a bride for her wedding, and her seven-year-old daughter, Ward, accompanies her and starts to wander around and explore the place,” reads the film’s brief on IMDb.
Henet Ward stars Emad Goniem, Halima, and Hagar Mahmoud, among others.
The film won multiple awards in 2020 in various evens, including audience awards at the Africa in motion Scotland African film festival and AfryKamera African Film Festival. It also won best short film awards at IndieCork and the Literally Short Film Festival; best director at the Dreamanila International Film Festival; among other wins and almost 50 nominations for prestigious international awards.
According to the festival’s website, “Pan African Film and Arts Festival is America’s largest and most prestigious Black film festival. The Los Angeles based festival is normally held at the Cinemark 15 Theatres at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival will take place entirely online.”
The organisers added that this year, the PAFF saw 900 submissions from 83 countries.
The festival’s 29th edition will feature over 200 films, including 168 narrative films, 39 documentaries, and 159 short and mini short films from 45 countries and in 43 languages.
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