The General Union of Palestinian Women, Egypt Branch, is set to launch the 8th edition of the AlAwdah International Film Festival, titled “South Africa Edition,” at 7 pm on Thursday, August 1.
The opening ceremony will take place at the Palestinian Women’s Union headquarters, located at 119 Ramses Street, next to Al-Gomhoria newspaper.
The Cultural Committee of the Palestinian Women’s Union organizes the event. It will feature a screening of Haitham Abdullah’s film The Sultana and a performance of Palestinian traditional and national songs by the Sunflower Choir band.
Notable guests expected to attend the opening ceremony include Palestinian actor and director Osama Al-Khalidi, Palestinian film director Fayeq Jarada, the head of the Palestine TV office in Cairo, and Egyptian writer and film critic Kamal Al-Qadi.
The eighth edition of the festival will showcase 93 films from 31 countries. All of them address Palestinian national issues, with a focus on Jerusalem, refugees, and prisoners.
The festival is scheduled for August 1 in Australia, Cairo, Morocco, the West Bank, and among the displacement tents in Mawasi Khan Yunis.
The festival aims to provide an international platform despite Palestine’s challenging circumstances, fostering cultural and intellectual exchange while attracting creative actors, directors, writers, and filmmakers from both inside and outside the Arab world.
The event offers an opportunity for these individuals to showcase their artistic and creative works, compete for the Key of Return Award, and highlight Palestinian national issues.
Several awards will be presented at the festival, including the Return Key Award for the best film addressing the right of return, named after Nelson Mandela; the Return Key Award for the best film on the issue of prisoners, named after the martyred prisoner Walid Daqqa; the Return Key Award for the best film focusing on humanity, named after Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations; and the Return Key Award for the best film highlighting the issue of Jerusalem, named after the late Faisal Husseini.
