The Aswan International Women’s Film Festival (AIWFF) is kicking off its fourth edition on Monday in the Upper Egypt's ancient Nile city, with its various activities to continue until Saturday 15 February.

The opening ceremony, which will be presented by Jasmine Taha Zaki and directed by Hisham Atwa, will introduce the heavy schedule of the annual event in addition to paying tribute to Egyptian actresses Nelly Karim and Ragaa El-Giddawy, as well as Nadia Lotfi and Magda, both of whom passed away recently.

After the ceremony, there will be a screening of the opening film Bi Elm Al-Wosool (Certified Mail), director Hisham Saqr’s debut, starring Basma and Mohamed Sarhan, which has participated in many festivals including the Gouna, Carthage and Toronto Film festivals.

The AIWFF, which is catching the attention of the people of Aswan with the screenings and the various filmmaking workshops being held, has produced subtitles for 20 feature, short and documentary films of various languages into Arabic to maintain its fan-base turnout.

The festival, which focuses on women’s issues and featured women in the film field, is also honouring women filmmakers and other figures for their impact on women’s causes, including Egyptian renowned diplomat and politician Mervat El-Telawy.

In the fourth edition, 31 films from 29 countries have been selected for its two competitions, including two that will have their international premier.

In the long film competition, 11 films are competing, including two documentaries and one animation, while in the short film competition, 20 films are competing, including six documentaries and four animation films.

The jury members are mainly women. The festival's competition for short films includes Egyptian actress Bushra as well as Swiss actress Ronit Hasson and Nigerian film director and producer Mildred Okwo.

The jury of the festival's main competition for feature films will include Egyptian actress Menna Shalaby, Dutch filmmaker Mijke de Jong, Tunisian actress Souhir Bin Amara, Romanian producer Alex Theodorsko and Filipino filmmaker Khavn de la Cruz.

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