CAIRO: Over 350 media students submitted films relayed their aspirations for the future as well as the challenges that face Egyptian youth and children today in the first edition of the Universities’ Movie Festival for Youth and Children.
The festival, which aims at supporting university students and recognizing their work, is organized by the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM), Egypt’s National Child Rights Observatory and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and is supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation (SIDA) and the Italian Cooperation.
Films were submitted under three categories; documentaries, short films and public service announcements in the competition titled “What do you see for tomorrow?”
Runa Alarian, from the American University in Cairo (AUC), won the first prize in the public service announcement category for her film "The Drive to Safeguard the Spirit of the Square.”
“We have seen the amazing way Egyptians interact together in Tahrir Square, eating and cleaning together, we want this not to be bound only in the square but in our everyday lives and raise our children with the spirit of the [18 days] which must be engraved in every Egyptian,” explained Alarian.
As her graduating project for the media convergence class, Alarian, a communitive media art student, said her choice of the topic was triggered by the events in Imbaba where a church was burnt down amid sectarian clashes.
“With all these sectarian clashes, I felt people needed a wake up call and needed to remember Tahrir Square,” she recalls.
Alarian, who aspires to be a director, has been working as an assistant director for the past two years and said the prize was a boost to her career. “I wanted to know whether I’m on the right track and know whether I’m as good as I want to be to get into advertising,” she said.
“I was extremely impressed with the students’ work,” said professor of mass communication Naila Hamdy, Alarian’s professor.
“I felt that they were exceptionally engaged with the course material because it was so closely related to the events in the country and to their personal beliefs,” Hamdy said in a statement.
The second prize in the public service announcements also went to AUC for "Think for Yourself," an integrated marketing campaign in which a group of students worked on posters, internet, flyers and TV commercials for their website fakarbnafsak.com.
The website compiles a list of all the candidates running for the parliamentary and presidential elections, including their resumes and previous experiences, “so that people can nominate their candidates on rational basis,” explained Mohamed Abdel Bary, one of the group members.
Abdel Bary finds the University Movie Festival extremely motivating to young people. “I think this is a very important time for youth development, and hence it’s very important to hold such events,” he said, adding that “Winning such an award could help our social campaign be adapted into a bigger project, with bigger funds.”
"The film was beautifully produced and the idea was highly creative, they did everything from A to Z by themselves," Abdel Bary’s professor Sherine Fahmy said.
“University students should bring projects into the light, and such events are very important in doing that,” noted Abdel Bary who is currently searching for funding for the campaign, in order to apply it and raise awareness for it.
Ten Egyptian universities participated in the festival including Cairo University, Assuit University, Modern Science and Arts University, Misr University for Sciences and Technology, the American University in Cairo, Ain Shams University, Helwan University, October University, University of Alexandria and Faros University.
“The festival is a positive and successful start as it integrates young people in building cornerstones and developing the principles of media work. The festival also utilizes the youths’ abilities and energies to create innovative and modern messages, which would raise awareness,” said Minister of Health and Population Amr Helmy during the award ceremony.
“In the past few months we have witnessed numerous illustrations of the vitality and engagement of young people and their desire to play a more active role in shaping the future of Egypt. The youth who participated in this festival presented not only their own thoughts and aspirations for the future but they also reflected on challenges children and youth are currently facing and the related issues of rights and responsibilities,” said Philippe Duamelle, UNICEF representative in Egypt.
The students presented 63 films addressing various issues such as, the role of the youth in the January 25 Revolution, political participation and education, challenges facing persons with special needs, child’s rights and the role of the media.
“When we talk about children and youth we talk about tomorrow; the dreams and hope. This is reflected in the title of the competition ‘What do you see for tomorrow?’” said NCCM Secretary General, Lamiaa Mohsen, adding that “despite this critical phase Egypt is undergoing, our country still considers the priority of children and youth rights issues. No one can be more capable of expressing children’s and youth’s rights and views more than the children and youth themselves.”
