In an atmosphere full of charm and fascination, the 6th edition of the Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF2017) started yesterday.
The ceremony began with a performance of the Egyptian singer Amira Reda who presented several famous songs in Arabic, French and English tongues. Soon after that, several folkloric troupes from Aswan, Nubba and Toshka presented shows from the traditional folklore. The audience were very excited by the show organized and directed by the Mr. Khaled Galal
Mr Hassan Khalaf, head of the minister of culture bureau addressed the speech of the Minister and announced the beginning of the 6th edition’s activities.
In his speech, Mr. Mohamed Badr the Luxor Governor said that this current edition of LAFF is very distinguished as it honors the memory of the late Egyptian megastar Mahmoud Abd El Aziz who was very devoted to support the festival during the previous editions. His son the director Mohamed Mahmoud Abd el Aziz attended the tribute ceremony and offered his father’s tribute to the Egyptian Army as his father used to do in all previous events
The ceremony included a speech for the festival’s godfather – the winning award filmmaker Haile Gerima who conducts the festival’s workshop for the 5th consecutive edition. Haile sent greetings to Sayed Fouad and Azza El Hosseiny who took a big responsibility on running this festival although all financial problems and major obstacles.
In this current edition the festival honors the Mauritanian winning award filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako, and the Egyptian filmmaker Youssri Nassrallah who addressed thankful speeches to the festival and their supporters along their careers.
After that, the presenter Jasmin taha zaki announced the names of the juries’ members of the four competitions of the festival who took memorial photos with the presence of the Governor and the Minister of culture representative.
The festival who started yesterday lasts till the 22nd of March, with different activities including workshops, seminars, and open discussions beside the shows that will take place in the Luxor public library, the conference hall, the cultural palace and the rowing club.
