The Supreme Committee for Festivals, headed by Dr. Nevin Al-Kilani, Minister of Culture, approved the launch of the Hurghada International Youth Film Festival, headed by writer and screenwriter Mohamed El-Basousy, as the first specialized film festival for youth films in September 2023. The event includes several competitions for first films by author or director and graduation projects for specialized students of institutes and film academies.
The Hurghada International Youth Film Festival is sponsored by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture and is organized by the Arts Foundation for Culture and Media, headed by writer and screenwriter, Mohamed El Basousi, former head of the National Center for Cinema, and the owner of numerous cinematic and television works as an author and producer. Managers of the festival include many filmmakers and professors, critics, and journalists, and its first session will be held in September 2023.
President of the festival, Mohamed El-Basousy said that different cultures meet on the land of Hurghada because it is a first-class tourist city, and is well-populated, which makes it one of the most appealing cities for all kinds of art festivals, including the Hurghada International Festival for Youth Cinema.
El-Basousy added that the Hurghada International Youth Film Festival is the first qualitative festival for films of promising young generations of filmmakers, explaining that the festival includes competitions for feature films, long and short documentaries, and graduation projects for students studying in colleges and specialized film institutes.
For his part, journalist and writer Qadri Al-Hajjar, director of the festival, stated that there is a whole week of various cinematic activities arranged by the festival for its audience and visitors. That includes cinematic screenings, various seminars, and film-making workshops that discuss, analyze and accentuate promising talents aiming to transfer and exchange cinematic experiences.
Al-Hajjar indicated that the festival will launch a platform to support cinematic ideas and projects that deserve to be brought to light through a jury to select these works and provide financial support for their production through multiple contributors and sponsors.
