Feature: Egypt’s Aswan film festival supports women with over 50 films from 40 countries

ASWAN, Egypt, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) — Egypt’s glamorous city of Aswan by the Nile River is currently hosting dozens of artists and filmmakers during the 6th Aswan International Women Film Festival (AIWFF), which screens over 50 films from about 40 countries in support of women’s causes and rights.

The festival’s founder and president, screenwriter Mohamed Abdel-Khalek believes that both the cinema industry and women in Egypt have challenges, worries and creativities.

“The discrimination against women in the society casts its shadow on the cinema industry,” he said, calling for “an Egyptian cinema industry free from discrimination.”

Held on Feb. 23-28, the 6th AIWFF screens 12 feature films, 24 short films, eight films under a new category called Films with Impact, four films in the Egyptian film competition and five films in the workshop competition.

The feature films include As in Heaven (Denmark), Secret Name (France), The New Girl (Argentina), Quareer (Saudi Arabia), Peacock’s Paradise (Italy and Germany) and Lingui (Chad, France, Germany and Belgium).

The all-female jury for the feature film competition is headed by Romanian actress Cristina Flutur, and includes French actress and director Marilyne Canto, Egyptian actress Basma and others.

Basma said that it was her second time to participate in the AIWFF, the first was through a film of hers and this time through her jury membership.

She stressed that the festival doesn’t only support women’s causes but also women’s filmmaking.

Among the 24 contesting short films are Love Stories on the Move (Romania), Deaf (Spain), Good Thanks, You? (UK), Jeans (Morocco) and The Sea Bride (Bahrain).

The Egyptian film competition is joined by four films: Abu Saddam, Full Moon, Cream of the Crop and Back Home.

Funded by the European Union delegation to Egypt, the EU offers during AIWFF an award for the best film from EU and Mediterranean countries discussing women’s issues.

This edition of AIWFF has presented honorary awards to Somali women’s rights activist Hibaaq Osman, Egyptian film director Inaam Mohamed Ali, Egyptian actress Sawsan Badr and French actress and filmmaker Marilyne Canto.

“I was so touched by being invited to a film festival on women, and I am honored by being member of its jury,” Canto told Xinhua, noting it was her first time to be present in a festival advocating women.

The activities of AIWFF include symposiums on women and the cinema industry, workshops on filmmaking and art galleries on the role of women.

Lebanese actress Katia Kaady said that such a festival “gives women a push toward success not only in arts, but in everything in the society.”