The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

(Image credit: Aswan International Women Festival)

The Aswan International Women Film Festival (AIWFF) returns with its fourth edition from the 10^th to the 16^th of February, 2020. The AIWF will honour actresses Nelly Karim and Ragaa El Geddawy, along with filmmakers NahedFaridShawki, RahmaMontasser, and Laila El Sayes.

The judging panel includes Dutch director and screenwriter, Mijke De Jong; Tunisian actress, Souhair Ben Amara; Filipino producer and director, Khavn De La Cruz; Romanian producer, Alexandru Teodorescu, and Egyptian actress, Menna Shalaby.

The Note Forum for Women’s Issues will continue discussing important female topics by delving into child marriage within the fourth edition of AIWF. “Aswan has become a bridge between Pharaonic, African, Arab, and global cultures. Through the momentum and passion for creativity, art, and cinema, created by the Aswan International Women Film Festival, allows cultures from all parts of the world converge to showcase their cinematic creativity and effective engagement in dialogues and forums to foster minds and thinking for creative actions that go beyond the spatial and temporal boundaries that focus on women,” the forum’s director, AzzaKamel said on AIWFF’s Facebook page.

She added, “The Note Forum raises several issues this year on the global, Arab, and African levels, including the issue of child marriage, and how it was addressed in films and social campaigns that contributed positively against this issue. [It will also raise] the challenges presented by women working in the filmmaking sector, and challenges related to stereotyping in the film sector, as well as showing positive models for women working in the film industry,” she added.

Workshops will be running parallel to the festival and will take place from the 1^st to the 20^th of February. Director Nadin Salib will lead a filmmaking workshop for beginners for people without any prior experience between the ages 18-40, and the participants will film a documentary. Another filmmaking workshop for beginners, in collaboration with HalaLotfy, requires previous experience, along with theoretical and practical knowledge of documentary filmmaking.

A scenario workshop will be led by Wessam Soliman, and participants will submit a one-page story that will be transformed into a film. There will also be a kids’ films and animation workshop, in collaboration with Jesuit Animation School, led by the director Ibrahim Saad. Producer and director, Ashraf Mahyd will lead another animation workshop.

If you’d like to apply, email your one-page CV with a recent photo, along with contact number, to sayedali@aiwff.org. For inquiries, call +2 0111 4688093 from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM.