Sharm al-Sheikh Film Festival’s third edition, set to take place from March 2 until March 8 2019, announced it would honor the late director Hassan al-Imam, who left behind a great impact on Egyptian cinema through more than 100 films.
General Director of the Noon Organization for Arts and Culture Gamal Zeyada announced that the festival’s third edition is on a new trajectory which will push the festival forward.
This includes honoring Imam, who the festival is preparing a book about as well as a seminar discussing his importance to Egyptian cinema. The festival will also be showing a selective collection of his movies, as well as testaments from cinematographers regarding the late director.
Zeyada also said that Imam was chosen specifically as the festival will coincide with the director’s birthday on 6 March.
Imam cemented his name in Egyptian cinema primarily through directing movies based on Naguib Mahfouz’s novels such as “Bein al-Kasreen” (Between two Castles) in 1962, “Kasr al-Shouk” (The Castle of Desire) in 1966, “al-Sokkarya” (Sugar Street) in 1973.
He is also well known for the romantic classic “Khalli Balak Min Zouzou” (Take Good Care of Zouzou), starring Soad Hosni and Hussein Fahmy, which became a huge success and became known as one of the most popular Egyptian movies of all time.
Born in 1919, Imam went on to direct around 101 movies throughout his career, as well as write around 38 films.
The second edition of the festival took place from 3-8 March 2018 and was presided over by esteemed actress Layla Elwi. The festival announces its message as aiming to raise cinematic awareness through subjecting audiences to different types of films from allover the world. Last edition screened over 60 Arab and foreign films.
The second edition of the festival took place from 3-8 March 2018 and was presided over by esteemed actress Layla Elwi. The festival announced its message to raise cinematic awareness through exposing audiences to different types of films from all over the world.
The last edition screened over 60 Arab and foreign films.
