Festival honors films on women

ASWAN, Egypt－French movie Good Mother, by Hafsia Herzi, was named the best film in the feature film competition of the sixth Aswan International Women's Film Festival, as announced on Monday in upper Egypt's Aswan city.

It tells the story of Nora, a housekeeper, whose son is arrested in a gas station robbery and she does everything she can to help him as he remains in custody awaiting trial.

The feature film competition saw the contest of at least 11 films from different countries.

Notably, both the best actor and best actress awards went to actresses, as exceptionally decided by the judges, who explained onstage that female characters in the competing films were not "used as decoration" but they played major roles that outperformed those of male characters.

The two best acting awards went to Sabine Azema for her role in the French film Secret Name directed by Aurelia Georges, and Karam Taher for her role in Farha, directed by Darin J. Sallam who won the best director for the same film.

Farha tells the story of a 14-year-old girl who is left behind by her father in Palestine in 1948, and she watches from a locked cellar as catastrophe consumes her home and changes her dream from seeking education in the city to survival.

"It's important to have festivals that address women's issues because it puts their causes under the spotlight," Sallam says.

In the short film competition, where 24 movies contested, Spanish film Deaf was named the best, while Canadian actress and director Marianne Farley was named the best director of short films for Frimas.

Although Egypt did not join the international competition for feature films at the festival, two Egyptian feature films received awards under the Egyptian film competition. Full Moon, by Hadi El Bagoury, was awarded the best Egyptian film tackling women's issues, and Back Home, by Sarah Shazli, was named the best Egyptian film representing women's creativity.

The AIWFF was founded in 2017 by Egyptian screenwriter Mohamed Abdel-Khalek, and is held in partnership with Egyptian ministries and NGOs.

Held on Feb 23-28, the sixth AIWFF screened over 50 films from about 40 countries and regions in support of women's causes and rights.

"The awarded films won the votes of the jury members, yet all the competing films were inspiring," Abdel-Khalek, the festival's president, said during the closing ceremony. "I thank them all for attaching importance to, and interacting with, the festival."