Egypt’s Minister of Culture Inas Abdel Dayem inaugurated the 11th edition of the Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF) last Friday in the presence of dozens of stars and officials from 35 African countries.
Uganda is the guest of honour in the festival that is running from 4 to 10 March. This year, the festival is honouring veteran artists Hussein Fahmy, Apolline Traoré, Moussa Touré, and Ferid Boughedir.
During the opening ceremony, Abdel Dayem praised the festival’s role and commended its team for their years of struggle to ensure its success.
She also thanked the Ministries of Tourism and Antiquities, Youth and Sports, and the governorate of Luxor for lending their support to the festival, stressing that this session represents a new stage for the specialised international festival, which has proven its excellence in its past sessions.
Furthermore, Abdel Dayem honoured a number of filmmakers, including Egyptian actor Hussein Fahmy, giving him a Lifetime Achievement Award for his stellar career.
Regarding the listed entries for the official international competition, they include six films from Egypt, Sudan, Uganda, and Burkina Faso.
The featured films are titled ‘Tourouni les Teresses’, ‘Kony: Order from Above’, ‘Nile Crocodile’, ‘Ebnaty’, and ‘Touby Lahon.’
In the same context, there are 15 short films set to compete in the short film contest. Additionally, there will be four competitions organised by the Foundation of Independent Artists.
Furthermore, the theme of the festival will be ‘Re-Exploring Egypt’, which will be dedicated to the beauty of Egyptian sites in cinema, especially on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the unearthing of Tutankhamun’s Tomb in Luxor.
