The French-Armenian short documentary Storgetnya, directed by Hovig Hagopian, received positive feedback on Saturday from filmmakers and critics attending the 22nd edition of the Ismailia International Film Festival for Documentaries and Shorts, where it competed with 13 other films in the same category.
“With a very limited budget, it took us seven days of shooting under tough conditions of the COVID-19,” said the film’s French producer Astrig Chandèze-Avakianat at the seminar, held after the screening at the Ismailia Cultural Palace, where most of the festival’s activities are being held.
Astrig Chandèze-Avakian, producer of 'Storgetnya', talks during a seminar at Ismailia Film Festival, Saturday 19 June 2021
“Hagopian came with the full of vision of the idea. He was supposed to come to Ismailia with the film before the event was rescheduled,” she added at the seminar run by Egyptian critic Rami Elmetwaly, praising the filmmaker and speaking about the process and her responsibilities during the production
The producer received praise from attendees, including veteran Egyptian cinematographer Samir Farag, who hailed the cinematography and the sound-design.
Storgetnya is competing in the short documentaries contest at the festival, which runs until 22 June.
The film was edited by Lucie Brux, and produced by Astrig Chandèze-Avakian and La Fémis.
Director Sebastian Mulder speaks about the film-making of 'Naya - the Forest Has a Thousand Eyes' competing at the short documentary category of the Ismailia International Film Festival, Friday 18 June 2021
In the same category, another seminar was held on Friday for Naya - Der Wald hat tausend Augen (“Naya - The Forest Has a Thousand Eyes”), directed by Dutch filmmaker Sebastian Mulder, which focused on the shooting of the first wolf in Belgium in a century. Mulder was previously known for Nature: All Rights Reserved (2016)
Lebanese filmmaker Nicolas Khoury speaks about ‘A City And A Woman’ at the seminar ran by critic Nahed Nasr, Thursday 17 June 2021
On Thursday, Nicolas Khoury’s A City And A Woman stirred sympathy for war-torn Lebanon, as well as praises and debate over the film’s classification as a documentary. Khoury said “everything is fiction”, explaining his vision behind the film that is a cinematographic interpretation of a French poem written in 1992, with shots of a woman among devastated buildings and deserted streets in Beirut after last August’s explosion.
Other films screened in the same category include Polish Między Nami (“Between Us”), Slovak-Afghani Orchester z Krajiny Ticha (“Orchestra from the Land of Silence”), and Hugary’s Nanu Tudor (“My Uncle Tudor”) among others.
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