Egypt’s 10 th edition of Luxor African Film Festival announces its higher committee members

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Sun, 16 Aug 2020 - 03:42 GMT

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Sun, 16 Aug 2020 - 03:42 GMT

 

CAIRO - 16 August 2020: The scriptwriter, Sayed Fouad, founder and president of the African Film Festival stated that the festival’s tenth edition will be held from March 12-18 ,2021 under the honorary chairmanship of the great Egyptian actor Mahmoud Hemeida.

The Supreme Committee of the tenth edition will house a notable group of stars such as , Amani Al-Tawil, Major General Tarek Allam, producer Gaby Khoury, writer Youssef el Kaeed, writer Medhat Al-Adl, director Magdy Ahmed Aly,Ambassador Ezzat Saad, tourism expert Mohamed Osman and famed Egyptian artists Laila Alawi, Sabri Fawaz, and Salwa Mohamed Ali.

LAFF’s director Azza el Husseiny announced that the movies watching committee will include director Emad el Bahat and cinema critics Osama Abdel Fattah, Farouk Abdel Khalek and Marwa Abou Eish in addition to the festival head Sayed Fouad. 

The participation applications for the movies will be available on August 18.

The festival’s director said that famed actress Hend Sabri will be honored during the tenth edition of the festival.

South Valley university honorEd the honorary president of Luxor African Film Festival, veteran actor Mahmoud Hemeida on the sidelines of the ninth edition of the festival. 

The ninth edition of Luxor African Film Festival kicked of on March 6, under the slogan of ''African Cinema From The Globe''. 

A notable group of Egyptian, Arab and African filmmakers attended the opening ceremony such as international superstar, Jimmy Jean-Louis, African star Maimouna N'Diaye , the festival head acclaimed scriptwriter Sayed Fouad, the festival director Azza el Hosseiny, the festival honorary president veteran actor Mahmoud Hemeida, Zeina, Amr Abdel Geliel, Mostafa Shaaban, Rania Youssef, Rania Farid Shawky, Elham Chahine, Lebleba, among others. 

The ninth edition of Luxor African Film Festival celebrated the centaury of late great artist Farid Shawky. 

Jean-Louis and Maimouna N'Diaye received an honorary trophy at the festival's opening ceremony which was be held at Luxor Temple. 

Egyptian star Zeina was honoured in the festival opening ceremony, expressed her happiness to be honoured from a big Egyptian festival like LAFF. 

After receiving his honouring award, famed Egyptian actor Amr Abdel Geleil expressed his happiness with this honor, noting that this was his first award from a festival. 

The festival’s management has chosen the African star Maimouna N'Diaye to be paid tribute during the 9th edition of the festival for her lifetime achievements and contributions to African cinema, as well as being a member of the jury for the long narrative competition. 

Maimouna is one of the most prominent stars in African cinema, and one of the most talented actresses in the continent, she gained recognition for her role in “Eye of the Storm”, and was the only African member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival’s official competition, and she’s a multi-talented star, for she’s an amazing actress in France and Africa, as well as a documentary and narrative film director, and a social activist, especially for the issues of women and children. 

Maimouna was born in France to Senegalese father, she grew up in Guinea before returning to France to study medicine at 18 years old, and that’s where she was attracted to theatre and studied performing arts at Le Sorbonne, where she studied further into the field. 

Her real breakout in the world of theatre started in Côte d'Ivoire, where she joined the Yamako Tatary Company in 1995, a company that has a clear mission of spreading awareness towards health and social issues. She acted on stage and in film in Côte d'Ivoire for 10 years, before starting her career as a documentary director. She moved to Burkina Faso in 2005 where she continued her work in the field of theatre before breaking into film in Senegal, Guinea and Burkina Faso. 

Of her prominent plays “Butterfly Chasers” in 1992, “A Garden in Autumn” in 2005, “Movement” in 1997, “High School or Marriage”, as well as many short films including “A Plate of Love”, and a very prominent role in the film “Eye of the Storm”, which won many awards at FESPACO 2015, she was awarded the best actress for that film, and she voiced a character in the French animation film “Kirikou and the Sorceress” in 1998, which was translated to various languages including Japanese, and it gained over 20 awards from around the world, she has made several documentaries that are very prominent in her career including “Warbassaga” which covered the life of the Ivoirian Dancer “Warbassaga”, as well as “Slices of Life” in 2008, which portrayed different characters and images of the tragedies in Côte d'Ivoire between 2002 – 2004, she also directed the opening ceremony of the FESPACO in 2009. 

Jimmy Jean-Louis was chosen to be the guest of honor for the 9th edition.

Two of Jean-Louis' s films were screened as part of the festival’s program, “Desrances” from Burkina Faso, directed by Apolline Traoré, which participates in Long Narrative competition, and “Rattlesnakes” from the United States in the Diaspora section. 

Jean-Louis held a press conference at Luxor Temple, and took a Nile cruise in Luxor and Aswan to promote tourism. 

Jimmy Jean-Louis lived in the slums of Haiti until the age of 12 until he moved to Paris. 

He worked for three years in a musical theatre in Spain La Belle Epoque before embarking on a successful modelling career in Europe. 

He moved to Los Angeles in 1998 to pursue acting. His filmography includes ''Tears of the Sun'' with Bruce Wills, ''Hollywood Homicide'' with Harrison Ford, ''Monster-in-Law'' with Jane Fonda and Jennifer Lopez, ''Phat Girlz'' with Oscar winner Mo'Nique among others. 

He also starred in some famous TV series such as ''Heroes'' , ''Heroes Reborn'', and Joy with Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, and Robert DeNiro. 

He is currently a regular on the number drama of the summer Claws which has been screened at TNT since 2017. 

His most important role to date is playing the title character in ''Toussaint Louverture'', for which he won the best actor at the Pan African Film Festival and a nomination at the Africa Movie Academy Awards in 2012. 

Jimmy Jean-Louis was named Ambassador at large to Haiti by his Excellency President Michel Martelly In 2014. 

The Egyptian film ‘’Wonder Box’’ was the festival’s opening movie. The movie revolves around four different tales. ‘’Wonder Box’’ highlighted the relentless attempts of the characters to balance between Cairo as a city and themselves, each in their own way. 

The events happen simultaneously in one of the nights in Cairo , the extreme power and absurdity of Cairo will be shown in these tales, highlighting the effect of its merciless, inhuman and oppressive pace on the individual’s dreams. 

‘’Wonder Box’’ staring Khaled el Sawy, Salah Abdallah, Bassem Samra, Rania Youssef among others. The movie is written by Emad Elbahat and Osama Habashy, and directed by Elbahat. 

In October 2019 the Malmö Arab Film Festival recognized LAFF as one of the most important festivals specialized in African cinema.

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