Egyptian filmmaker Sameh Alaa has been selected Tuesday among a six-member jury for the short films and Cinéfondation film school competitions of the upcoming 74th Cannes Film Festival, taking place between 6 and 17 July. Alaa, a 2020 winner of the Palme d'Or for the short film 'I'm Afraid to Forget Your Face', will be part of a jury consisting of three men and three women filmmakers, that also include fellow Arab filmmaker Tunisian Kaouther Ben Hania, of Oscar-nominated feature 'The Man Who Sold His Skin'. The other four members of the jury are Tuva Novotny of Sweden, Alice Winocour and Nicolas Pariser of France and Carlos Muguiro of Spain. The judges "will be awarding the Short Film Palme d'or to one of the 10 films in Competition, and the three Cinéfondation prizes to the best of the 17 selected films by film school students" reads a statement on the prestigious event. Jury members for the short films and Cinéfondation film school competitions of the upcoming 74th Festival de Cannes, taking place between 6 and 17 July. Selected from 3739 short films, the 2021 Short Films Competition comprises 10 films, from Brazil, Denmark, China, France, Hong Kong, Iran, Portugal and for the first time in Official Selection Kosovo and Macedonia. The 24th Cinéfondation Selection has invited 17 directors: 8 women and 9 men. The 13 live-action and 4 animated shorts have been chosen from among the 1,835 submitted by film schools all over the world. Egyptian director, writer and producer Alaa, who studied German literature and filmmaking techniques at the Academy of Cinema Arts and Technology, had worked as an assistant director on various commercials and feature films before moving to Europe in 2012. There he studied directing at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU) in Prague before moving to Paris for a master's at the International Film School of Paris (EICAR). 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
