The activity of the Suwayda Short Film Festival, in its seventh session, was launched at the Palace of Culture in the city of Suwayda, which bears the name of the Egyptian international film director Youssef Chahine in recognition of his career creative and his significant experience in cinema. .
At the opening of the festival screenings, official events, directors, artists, writers, intellectuals, and a crowd of young cinema audiences interested in the government and abroad were present.
The festival, which is hosted by the National Foundation for Film and Television Production, in collaboration with the Directorate of Culture and the Governor of Suwayda and in coordination with the General Cinema Foundation, brings -include 33 films from Egypt, Yemen, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Jordan, Oman, Palestine, Iraq and Syria, selected from more than 150 nominated films.
The opening ceremony included a promo show on one of Egypt’s satellite station programs, which suggested the announcement of this year’s festival as directed by Youssef Chahine, and introduced the festival as a cultural event. annual that celebrates the participation of amateurs and professionals in the production of short films at local, Arab and international levels, giving us an insight into the personal and artistic life of the director and showing clips of the his speeches in many international television interviews.
The director of the festival, Issam Al-Dahouk, explained, “The festival is a civic cultural activity that aims to revive the art movement, support young talents, enrich the cultural and creative scene , the development of visual taste, and aims to spread love and happiness among the followers. “
The festival screenings opened with a film called “The Message,” out of competition, by director Issam Al-Dahuk, which symbolically depicts a state of longing for a time of love, romance and peace. getting the upper hand via text message.
This was followed by the Syrian film “Turquoise” by the director Ali Ibrahim, which symbolically talks about the number of texts and words between reality and representation and the inability to express the state of love between a director and an actress in the film.
It was followed by the Tunisian film “The Bus” by director Malek Majzoub, which is mainly about fighting poverty and raising awareness of the importance of reading for children.
This was followed by the Egyptian film “The Telephone” by the director Mohamed Gad, when he presented several cases, situations, and dramatic events connected by the telephone, calling, with the symbolism, for a return to humanity.
Then, the Yemeni film “Pail” by the director Adel Al-Haimi was shown, calling attention to heritage buildings by telling the story of an old Yemeni builder who spent his whole life working to maintain and attention to give archaeological buildings in Sana’a the use of simple construction tools, including shovels.
The presentations of the first day ended with the animated film “Stork Letters” by the Algerian director Antar Daadouche, who wants to take care of disabled children, take their hand, and take care of their talents.
The film screenings will continue over a period of five days, starting from six o’clock to seven thirty a day, until Thursday, the eighth of August, and will end with the publication of the results of the competition for the best film, best director, best actor or actress, best setting, best cinematography, as well as a special jury award.
