Workshop
Egypt: Luxor Festival ends, culture against terrorism
The short-film category saw Egypt win with Sara Rozik (The left shoe, 2013) and Germany with Erik Schmitt (Rhino Full Throttle, 2013).
The festival, said during the award ceremony Greek actress Katerina Didaskalou, one of the jurors, ‘has represented a moment of dialogue and contact between the two shores of the Mediterranean and in particular among Egyptian youths and filmmakers present, both Egyptian and European’. Didaskalou, one of seven jurors who handed over the awards, said the week had shown that ‘the two shores are very similar and share the same feelings and values: love, beauty, freedom, happiness and hope’.
‘The participation of youths and women’ has increased from the first edition, said the president of the festival, Magda Wassef.
Organizers said the festival could however not ignore what was going on in the rest of the country. While the country’s main cities plunged back into violence, no clashes were registered in Luxor also on January 25, when people took to the streets to celebrate the third anniversary of the revolution.
The world of culture instead chose to launch a message of hope and ‘support to the Egyptian people, armed forces and general Al Sisi, against grim terrorism in all its forms. Egypt will make it, like it did in the past’, they said. The true victory, they warned, is the one against terrorism.