MAFF 3rd Day: Screenings, Discussions and Activities Continue, Arabian Nights in Two Cities
Malmö – April 30, 2023
The third day of Malmö Arab Film Festival (Sunday, 30 April) witnessed many activities directed to the audience of Malmo and to the Arab and Scandinavian filmmakers attending the festival.
At the Scandic Triangeln Hotel, the pitching sessions for the projects taking part in the 9th Malmö Industry Days (MID) continued with five projects competing for the short film development fund. They were pitched to the jury: Amal El Gamal (Egypt), Ali Alsumayin (Saudi Arabia) and Amjad Abu Alala (Sudan).
MID also witnessed several important sessions, which started with a presentation of the Jordanian film fund by Wajdi Mansour, Fund Coordinator, followed by a presentation of the Red Sea International Film Festival Fund, presented by Salman Almusaad, Fund Cycle manager and both Reem Almodian and Mohamed Mohammad Jastaniah from the fund team.
Then, a case study about the Lebanese film “Riverbed” took place. Speakers included director Bassem Breche and actress Carole Abboud, moderated by Egyptian film critic Mohamed Tarek.
After a lunch break, One-to-One meetings started between the projects and representatives of the most prominent companies, institutions, festivals, and funds, with the aim of each project obtaining the maximum possible benefit from its attendance at MID.
The Malmö City Library witnessed the main masterclass of this year’s festival, given by the Egyptian super star Hussein Fahmy, who received a lifetime award during the festival opening. Fahmy talked about his career that spans more than half a century, and his various experiences as an actor and film director, a filmmaking professor at the Egyptian cinema institute, and the president of Cairo International Film Festival, in addition to the various humanitarian and administrative positions he held, the Egyptian critic Ahmed Shawky moderated the session.
The masterclass was followed by a signing ceremony for the book “Women, The Future of Arab Cinema” by the Lebanese critic Ibrahim Alariss, which was published by the festival this year in continuation of its role in spreading the culture of Arab cinema and presenting it to readers all over the world.
“Make your film in five days” and “My Film Project” workshops continued, organized by the festival in cooperation with the Saudi Film Commission to train 14 young talents. The day expert was Souad Houssein, Founder of Pan-African Audiovisual and Cinema Observatory.
In Panora Cinema, the day began with the children workshop by educational expert Wafaa Suleiman, which included coloring and storytelling, then screening the short film “Searching for Three Thousand Egyptian Pound” by Hozifa Abdelhalim.
Three feature film competition titles were screened in the evening: “The Last Queen” by Adila Bendimerad and Damien Ounouri (Algeria), Hyphen by Reine Razzouk (Lebanon), and Nezouh by Soudade Kaadan (Syria).
From Films Worth Watching program the Palestinian documentary “Three Promises” by Youssef Srouji was screened, as well as a special screening of “Apy Between Life and Death” by Mehdi Saleki and Firas Razak.
The night also witnessed two parallel events of the Arabian Nights program in two different cities, each started with a reception of Arabic music and food. In Malmö, the Lebanese film “All Roads Lead to Rome” directed by Lara Saba was screened, while the Grand Theatre in Copenhagen hosted the screening of the Saudi movie “Al-Hamour H.A.” Directed by Abdulelah Al-Qurashi
