51 films from 34 countries participate in the 26th session of the Ismailia Documentary Film Festival

The administration of the Ismailia Documentary and Short Film Festival, headed by director Hala Galal, announced the participation of 51 films from 34 countries in the main competitions of the 26th session of the festival, which is scheduled to be held during the period from 5 to 11 next February.

The president confirmed Festival director Hala Galal said during a press conference held this evening, Wednesday, at the Creativity Center at the Cairo Opera House, that she made a great effort with the festival management to choose… The films participating in this year’s festival session in order to enjoy the cinema industry, which includes films from India, Egypt, Europe, Latin America, and Asia.

Hala Jalal explained that the feature documentary film competition, headed by Marwan Amara, includes the participation of 10 films, from Including a guerrilla film from Palestine, and an Egyptian film, in addition to the short documentary film competition headed by Maggie Morgan, which includes 24 films from 20 countries, including 12 films from Egypt and the Arab world within 2,300 films were submitted to participate in the competition.

Hala Jalal, head of the festival, indicated the creation of the “Ismailia Forum” In the current session, which aims to open the way for production companies to meet with documentary film makers to support new talents.

She praised the documentary channel, which is an essential partner of the festival, pointing out that the channel will award an important prize for the New Stars competition, and the winner will have the opportunity to make a film. Through the channel.

Director Hala Galal noted that it was decided to name the new session of the festival after the documentary director Ali Al-Ghazouli, and he will be honored, and the festival will also honor director Farouk Abdel Khaleq and Maher. Rady, director of photography, and director Tahani Rashed. Director Hala Galal pointed out that the festival this year holds many different surprises at the level of various competitions, whether official or parallel programs.

Hala Galal added: “We worked under very difficult circumstances due to the very small budget. But we were keen to present a different session, which we hope will be felt by all attendees of the festival.”

The Ismailia International Documentary Film Festival includes a student competition. "New Stars" Headed by documentary film director Ahmed Nabil, which includes 19 films from Aswan, Alexandria and Cairo, in addition to a film competition from the world outside the official competition, headed by Hanan Rady, which includes 25 films from several countries and whose duration ranges from 5 to 70 minutes, in addition to the “A Look at History” program. ;, which aims to show films that have not been shown before.

The festival administration revealed the jury committees, as the film competition jury is headed by The feature documentary is by Cameroonian director Jean-Marie Teno, Egyptian director Nadine Salib, and Brazilian producer Rodrigo Bern.

While the short documentary and animation competition committee is chaired by French director Solong Boulet, actor Mohamed Hatem, and German director Carlotta Keitel.

While the New Stars Competition is chaired by Tunisian film researcher Ansaf Wahiba, Egyptian director Islam Kamal, and Egyptian director Bassam Mortada. Finally, the Union Competition Committee The Ismailia Festival for Documentary and Short Films is organized by the National Film Center, and is considered one of the most prestigious festivals in the Arab world, and one of the first festivals specialized in Documentary and short films, the first of which was launched in 1991.

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