The films including “Between Two Seas” and Oscar shorts like “Ave Maria” and “Nocturne in Black” will be screened during the artistic and cultural events at the book fair.
The 51st edition of the Cairo International Book Fair is screening 11 films distributed by MAD Solutions during their artistic and cultural events in collaboration with the Egyptian Film Center, Alexandria Short Film Festival, and General Organization of Culture Places. The book fair began on January 22 and will go on till February 4.
Among the films screened, I Have A Picture by Mohamed Zedan, a documentary about Motawe Eweis, who has worked as an extra in about 1,000 Egyptian films since the 1940s, was shown on January 23. Between Two Seas by Anas Tolba, which sheds light on different societal issues faced by women, especially in rural areas, will be screened on January 28.
Apart from these two, Oscars Shorts Programme, which includes five short films, will be screened on January 28 at 2 pm. Ave Maria, by director Basil Khalil, is a 14-minute comedy that tells the story of an order of Palestinian nuns living in the middle of the West Bank wilderness.
Ayny, by director Ahmed Saleh, follows two young boys who run away from home to play music with the instrument they always dreamt to own. Nocturne in Black, by director Jimmy Keyrouz, is inspired by a Syrian young man who continues to play his piano under threat of persecution in the midst of his country’s civil war.
The Rifle, The Jackal, The Wolf, and The Boy, by director Oualid Mouaness, is set in a mountain village in Lebanon, where two brothers use their dad’s rifle behind his back, unaware of the consequences of their action. Bahiya & Mahmoud, by director Zaid Abu Hamdan, tells the story of an ageing married couple, Mahmoud and Baheya, who have fallen into a monotonous lifestyle. But things change when Mahmoud wakes up one day to find his wife Baheya gone.
The Stars in Shorts Programme will be screened on February 3 and includes four Arab short films. The Parrot by Darin J Sallam and Amjad Al-Rasheed tells the story of the Mizrahi Jewish family, who emigrate from Morocco, trying to settle into their new life in Haifa, Palestine in 1948.
Submarine, by Mounia Akl, talks about Hala, a wild child inside of a woman who refuses evacuation during the threat Lebanon’s garbage crisis. Five Boys and A Wheel by Said Zagha is set in Jordan and is about a father who must help his son out of a petty conflict with the neighbours, which puts the values of the father to test.
Kindil El Bahr by Damien Ounouri follows Nfissa, a young mother who during a beach trip with her family is drowned by a group of young men while swimming offshore.
