Egypt and Germany have bagged most of the awards at the inaugural Hurghada Youth Film Festival, which concluded on Monday in a ceremony that was attended by a number of Arabic and Egyptian artists, including Hani Salama, Sulaf Fawakherji, and filmmaker Mohammed Abdelaziz.
German film “Night Guard” won the Golden Award for Best Feature Film, while the Silver Award for Best Feature Film went to French film “Sons of Ramses”, which will represent France in the Best Foreign Film category at the Oscars 2024. Egyptian film “The Abbasid History” won the Bronze Award for Best Feature Film, and Croatian filmmaker Neven Hitrec won the Best Director Award for his film “The Diary of Paulina”.
In the short film category, Egyptian film “Letter from Unknown” won the Golden award, Syrian film “Photograph” won the silver award, while the Portuguese film “Anna Morphos” won the bronze award.
The concluding ceremony celebrated the 93rd National Day of Saudi Arabia and honored the Saudi delegation that included novelist Abeer Samkari and producer Abdullah Badib.
Festival President, scriptwriter Mohamed el Bassosy said he was delighted with the success the Hurghada Youth Film Festival. “Everything I dreamed of for the first edition has been accomplished, and I hope for more in the forthcoming edition. A few months ago, no one had imagined a youth film festival in Hurghada, but today, we did it,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.
He revealed that preparations are underway for the 2024 edition, saying the organizers were seeking broader participation and increasing the number of guests.
Bassosy thanked actor Hussein Fahmi, president of the Cairo International Film Festival, for signing a collaboration protocol with the Hurghada Youth Film Festival.
“It was an amazing surprise, and we must thank the ministry of culture for signing an agreement with an emerging festival. According to the protocol, we will be sending a number of the Hurghada festival young participants to train at the Cairo Cinema Center, while the Cairo Festival will provide us with prominent guests and foreign films,” he said.
