The Cairo International Film Festival mourned last Friday the passing of Egyptian young director Nouran Sharif, whose death shocked the film community.
Egyptian artists expressed their grief and shock over the sudden death of the young artist at age 31 after experiencing an emergency health crisis.
Artists referred to Sharif on social media as an inspiration, beautiful, and pure, adding that her sudden death is sad, heart-breaking, and terrifying.
Many people expressed their shock and sadness, including film critic and Artistic Office Director at Cairo International Film Festival Andrew Mohsen, film editor Tamer Ezzat, and visual artist Nourhan Mayouf.
Film critic Nahed Nassr called Sharif a “beautiful girl who was always filled with so much life.”
“I do not know what to tell you. You left so early, leaving so many people who love you and think well of you,” said screenwriter Mariam Naoum.
“We used to chat a lot. I used to get annoyed with Nouran for repeatedly saying: ‘I want to make my own movies because I am not sure how long I’ll live’,” producer Mohamed Atef added.
Bushra Ahmed, an actress and co-founder of the El-Gouna Film Festival, mentioned that the last time they spoke, Sharif had ideas for projects that she wanted to implement, expressing her disbelief for the young artist’s passing.
Nouran Sharif was born in 1990 in Cairo. She studied art at the Faculty of Applied Arts and started her career as a visual and audio artist in 2010. As she became more passionate about video art and experimental movies, she focused on incorporating this art form into her creative practice. Her works incorporating video art participated in many art exhibitions in Egypt, the US, the UK, and Finland, among other countries.
While pursuing her passion for video and film directing, Sharif also worked as an interior designer.
From experimental movies, she turned to filmmaking, and made her first short movie, ‘Extra Safe’, which starred Salwa Mohamed Ali and Tharaa Goubail
She went on to work on her second short film, ‘CODE O’, and wrote her first feature titled ‘Aida’.
Sharif’s involvement in the film scene opened doors to work with the El-Gouna Film Festival in its first edition in 2017, where she was a CineGouna Bridge Programmer, followed by work with the Cairo International Film Festival in 2019, where she managed the Cairo Industry Days workshops.
