Two Egyptian filmmakers received post-production awards during the Amman International Film Festival (AIWFF). The awards went to associate producer Mohamed Atef for his film “Journey of Eternity”, and producer Kismet Elsayed for her film “This is Cairo”.
The second edition of Amman Festival was held on 23-31 August.
The Egyptian, American, and Iraqi co-production film, Journey of Eternity, won the Creative Media Solutions award, Film Branding Services, in the post-production category. The Film Branding Services grant is $10,000.
The film was directed by Frank Gilbert, a writer and producer, known for Buffalo Bill Rides Again (1947), Lighthouse (1947), and Tattletales (1974).
The Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed Atef participated in producing the winning film, working with producers Cecile Cinco and Shar Yonan.
The feature narrative film talks about an Iraqi music professor named Esho who is engaged to an Iranian lady. The professor finds himself entangled in a difficult political situation in Iraq in the 1980s, Atef told local media.
“The film protagonist’s story reflects in some ways the circumstances that surrounded the character of Roman Polansky’s The Pianist [2002],” Atef says without going any further into the plot details.
The IMDb synopsis of the film reveals that while Esho finds himself in prison, “he witnesses the unjust execution of three activists who become heroes in their martyrdom for defending the human rights of the indigenous Assyrian people in the Middle East. Upon his prison release, Esho vows to honour the martyrs’ courage and sacrifice by journeying the world to share their stories. Ultimately, he gains international attention when he meets an American journalist William Cooper, a representative of the United Nations Human Rights Organisation.”
The cast features mostly Iraqi and American-Iraqi actors. Atef also adds that American actor Eric Roberts is among the film’s cast, playing the role of the UN representative.
Mohamed Atef is an Egyptian film producer. He is also an artistic director of the Alexandria Festival of Francophone Cinema which first edition will launch on 11 September. Atef serves as a programmer at El Gouna Film Festival and Malmo Arab Film Festival. His previous posts include Programme Director at Cairo International Film Festival (2017-2018), artistic director at Ismailia International Film Festival (2016) and artistic director at Luxor Arab and European Film Festival (2015-2016).
As for “This is Cairo” film, it was produced by Kesmat Elsayed. She was awarded the SAE post-production facility valued at $21,000.
The film was directed by renowned Egyptian filmmaker Hala Galal.
Kesmat Elsayed is a producer and co-founder of See Media Productions, an independent production company based in Egypt. The company’s first international production was entitled “Althawra…khabar” (The Revolution … A news story). It premiered at the Berlinale 2012.
She founded a production company to produce creative feature documentaries and narrative films that have social relevance and transcends country borders.
See Media Production has produced documentaries under the Seera Films brand that have screened in cinemas in Egypt and were launched online according to Elsayed’s biography on IMDb.
Born in 1966, Galal directed several documentary films, including Women’s Chitchat, for which she received a silver award for best documentary at the 4th Arab Film Festival in Rotterdam in 2005. Galal also directed Time Out, The Cities Choose Her Death, Unusual Garden, Journey, and People’s Affairs. She also produced a number of films, including Colours of Love, directed by Ahmad Ghanem; The Door, directed by Abdel-Fattah Kamal; and Beirut Take-1, directed by Ahmad Rashwan.
Galal is also a co-founder and executive director of SEMAT Production and Distribution.
The AIFF, which primarily targets the audiences in Jordan, provided a unique opportunity to watch 51 films from 26 countries in three locations: the drive-in cinema in Abdali area, the open-air theatre of the RFC and TAJ Cinemas; public safety measures were taken into account and ensure a safe environment for guests and the public. Additionally, the AIFF expanded into the governorates as screenings were also organised in Irbid, Salt and Wadi Rum, in addition to online streaming on the Istikana platform to reach a larger audience across the Kingdom.
This is the second time that Egyptian productions have won support from the Amman Festival. Two Egyptian producers and directors were awarded the production award during the festival’s inaugural edition in August 2020.
The 2020 winning films were: “Home There. Cinema Here” directed by Nidal Al-Dibs, produced by Mostafa Youssef (Syria/Egypt), which was granted an award of $7,000 from Rum Pictures (Jordan) for colour grading services. The other one was “The Lottery” directed by Karoline Kamel and produced by Mai Saad (Egypt), which granted participation in the MAFF Market Forum – Post Production Platform from the Malmö Arab Film Festival.
