By Manal Abdel Fattah
The activities of the Bardia Wamda Cinema Festival will begin at 7 pm today, Wednesday, at the Tchaikovsky Theater in the Russian Cultural Center in Cairo.
The festival is headed by writer Abdel Rahim Kamal in its first session, which is named after the late director Atef El-Tayeb, under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture.
The Russian Cultural Center explained in a statement yesterday, Tuesday, that the festival’s activities extend from May 1 to May 7.
Writer Azza Abu Al-Yazid, founder and general director of the festival, stated that the guest of honor at the opening ceremony is the artist Sawsan Badr, while the guest of honor at the closing ceremony will be the artist Lebleba.
The festival committee is headed by writer Naji Abdullah, and the jury is director Magdy Ahmed Ali, musician Khaled Hammad, artist Muhammad Fahim, photographer Samir Faraj, and Syrian artist Firas Nana.
Abu Al-Yazid confirmed that the festival in its first session will include 16 countries and a rich program of people’s cultures. May 3 will be devoted to Russian culture and film screenings, and May 4 will be devoted to British culture. The festival will also devote May 2 to showing a panorama of the activity of the National Film Center, and May 5 will be dedicated to the Institute. Cinema and screenings of student films.
Azza Abu Al-Yazid indicated that the State of Palestine will be the festival’s guest of honor, and the day of May 6 will be dedicated to it.
A section will also be dedicated to honoring some of the deceased who left an impact on artistic life, namely Ashraf Moselhi, Ahmed Sami Al-Adl, and Nahid Farid Shawqi.
The festival will also honor journalist Salma Al-Shamaa, cinematographer Saeed Shimi, director Omar Abdel Aziz, director Hani Lashin, writer Nasser Abdel Rahman, poet Ibrahim Abdel Fattah, Father Boutros Daniel, Palestinian director Fayeq Jarada, and Russian orientalist Vladimir Beliakov.
The Director-General of the Festival thanked Murad Gatin, Director of the Russian Cultural Centers in Egypt, whom she met last month, and Sherif Gad, Director of Cultural Activities, for hosting the Russian House for the opening and closing ceremonies.
