Two Egyptian films, Photocopy and El-Naht Fel-Zaman (Sculpting in Time), will be screened at the first edition of the Arab Cinema Festival when it opens on 28 June at the Institut du Monde Arabe. Sculpting in Time is a documentary by Youssef Nasser on the life and work of prolific artist, set designer and puppet maker Nagy Shaker, whose career has spanned 50 years. The film will be screened on 3 July. Photocopy is an award winning feature film directed by Tamer Ashry and starring Mahmoud Hemeida, Sherine Reda, Aly El-Tayeb and Ahmed Dash. The film centres on a man in his late fifties who runs a classic photocopy shop as he watches the world around him develop to modernity and threaten his simple life. When he learns about the extinction of the dinosaurs, it sets off a series of events that will give his life renewed meaning. The film won the Gouna Star for Best Arab Feature Narrative at the first El-Gouna film festival where it premiered last September, as well as the Best Feature Narrative Award at the Tripoli Film festival in Lebanon. It will be screened on 8 July. The festival is directed by Palestinian actress and director Hiam Abbass, and presents a selection of nearly 80 documentaries, shorts, and features, all directed and produced by Arab filmmakers. Facing off in the official competition will be 13 recent Arab films. Among the jury is Egyptian producer Mohamed Hefzi, Moroccan actor-director Faouzi Bensaïdi, Saudi actress Fatima Al-Banawi. The opening film will be the critically acclaimed and Cannes-award-winning Capernaum by Lebanese director Nadine Labaki. It will be screened out of competition. For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture
