Sudan will be the guest of honour of the 10th edition of the Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF), said organisers of the festival, scheduled for 26-31 March. Although the preliminary choice of Sudan as guest of honour was announced in December, the festival management reiterated recently that Sudan's cinema will be celebrated through an extensive screening of films and attendance of filmmakers during the upcoming event. Sudanese broadcaster Tasnim Rabeh will open the festival at Luxor's Karnak Temple. Five films by Sudanese filmmakers will be screened during the festival, including A Handful of Dates (directed by Hisham Hassan) which will participate in the LAFF's official competition and Listen To My Dance (directed by Alia Sir Al-Khatim) screened in the festival's competition for short films. That is in addition to three films that will be presented as part of the Memory of Sudanese Cinema section: Antonov Rhythms; Blue Stars; and You Will Die at Twenty. Sudanese filmmakers Hajjaj Kouka and Talal Afifi will sit among the jury. They will be joined by a delegation of Sudanese filmmakers. The festival will host a major symposium presenting Sudanese cinema and its history. The African cinema workshop will be presented by Egyptian director Saad Hendawy. Sudan's heritage will be celebrated during the opening and closing ceremonies. LAFF's director Azza El-Husseini, said in a press release that "the choice of Sudan came as a result of the great awakening in Sudanese film production over the past few years, in terms of quantity and quality. The idea is also prompted by the efforts of the young generation of Sudanese filmmakers and their rich representation of Sudanese cinema in major festivals, such as the Berlin, Venice, Toronto, among others." Organised by the Independent Artists Youth Foundation, the LAFF is presided over by its founder, Egyptian scriptwriter Sayed Fouad, with actor Mahmoud Hemeida as its honorary president. "The LAFF represents a return and a celebration of our African identity through the seventh art, the screen that takes us to reality as it takes us to dreams.. We share human concerns and cooperate in realising our dreams," reads the festival's website. 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
