Line up for LAFF

The Third Luxor African Film Festival welcomes Omar Sharif, Mahmoud Abdel-Aziz and Danny Glover

By Sherif Awad

The Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF) is cementing its place on the international festival circuit, with US movie star Danny Glover and Egyptian icons Omar Sherif and Mahmoud Abdul-Aziz making appearances on the red carpet this month. Featuring 80 films from 41 countries, LAFF runs March 18-24 with screenings around the historic city. The opening ceremony, taking place at the Luxor Conference Hall, features the Guinea-Bissauan drama The Children’s Republic, written and directed by Flora Gomes and starring Glover. The film is a futuristic tale of an African city ruled by children following a horrific and tragic civil war that killed their parents. Conflict arises when child soldiers from the outside enter this unusual community. [caption id="attachment_14396" align="alignleft" width="300"] Rock the Casbah, with Omar Sharif[/caption] Sharif is presenting his latest film Rock the Casbah, a Moroccan film written and directed by Laila Marrakechi. Co-starring Lebanese actress/director Nadine Labaki and veteran Palestinian actress Hiam Abbas, the film is an ensemble drama about a group of sisters gathering after the death of their father. Sharif is also receiving a special honorary award for his international career, alongside another tribute celebrating the decades-long careers of Abdul-Aziz and director Mahamat Saleh Haroun from Chad. After receiving more than 320 films from 46 African countries for consideration, festival organizers decided this year to split the long films competition into two categories: Long Narratives, with 14 films, and Long Documentaries, with 10 competitors. Representing Egypt in the Long Narratives competition is The Mice Room, an independent collaborative feature made by Alexandrian filmmakers Ahmed Magdy Morsy, Hend Bakr, Mayye Zayed, Mohamad El-Hadidi, Mohamed Zedan and Nermeen Salem. The film interweaves six plot lines, including the stories of Amr who comes back to meet his father in his death bed; Moussa who spends his day afraid of crossing the street; Dahlia who is worried on her wedding day; Rawya who starts to discover night life; and Maha who is packing to leave the country. The film’s entire cast and crew are volunteers. [caption id="attachment_14397" align="alignright" width="300"] The Mice Room[/caption] The Long Narratives jury is headed by Malian filmmaker Souleymane Cissé, joined on the panel by actress and director Naky Sy Savané (Côte d’Ivoire), veteran director Ahmed Rachedi (Algeria), actress Elham Shaheen and director of photography Tariq al-Tlemsani of Egypt. The Long Documentaries jury is headed by Mahen Bonetti, founder of the New York African Festival (Sierra Leone); with producer Pedro Pimenta (Mozambique); director Daoud Aoulad-Syad (Morocco); Peter Machen, artistic director of Durban Festival (South Africa); and Director of Photography Sameh Selim (Egypt) also on the panel. The jury voting on short documentaries and narratives is headed by critic Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda (Congo), joined on the panel by critic Mahrez Karoui (Tunisia), film curator Keith Shiri (Nigeria), scriptwriter Attia al-Dardiri and director Amir Ramses from Egypt. The festival also features a Freedom Films competition as a tribute to Egyptian journalist Al-Husseini Abudeif, killed while covering the December 2012 clashes at the presidential palace. The competition jury is headed by Egyptian novelist Youssef al-Qaeed, joined by South African professor Martin Botha, Tunisian journalist Fathi Kharrat, and actress Salwa Mohamed Ali and journalist Ahmed Fayek from Egypt. Seventeen countries outside of Africa are represented in the Freedom Films and other sections. [caption id="attachment_14398" align="alignleft" width="225"] The Children's Republic, with Danny Glover[/caption] LAFF was launched by Independent Shabab Foundation (ISF) in 2012 to support and encourage African film productions and partnerships between the countries of the continent. Through its film screenings, competitions and industry workshops, the festival helps strengthen humanitarian and political ties among the peoples of Africa and African artists in particular. This year’s festival poster honors late South African President Nelson Mandela, and there will be an exhibition of classic Egyptian and African film posters. et Long Narratives Bastardo (Tunisia) Battle of Tabato (Guinea-Bissau) Black Diamonds (Mali) Durban Poison (South Africa) Dust and Fortunes (Zimbabwe) Horizon Beautiful (Ethiopia) Rooftops (Algeria) Imbabazi (Rwanda) Kadjike (Guinea) Kampala Story (Uganda) Yam-Dam (Burkina Faso) They Are the Dogs (Morocco) Tall as Baobab Tree (Senegal) The Mice Room (Egypt) Long Documentaries Aliens (Somalia) Angola Ano Zero (Angola) The Devil’s Lair (South Africa) Emirs in Wonderland (Tunisia) Nana Benz (Togo) The River (Algeria) Small Small Things (Liberia) Touba (Senegal) Tough Bond (Kenya) William and the Windmill (Malawi)