All You Need To Know About The 13th Edition Of The Malmö Arab Film Festival
Held every year at the Swedish city of Malmö, the festival is known as one of the biggest Arabic film festivals in Europe and is the only one of its kind in Scandinavia. Since April 28, the Malmö Arab Film Festival has made a comeback for its 13th edition that will continue on until May 4.
This year, the festival is going all out with its eclectic range of features, short films and documentaries from all across the region that will get screened throughout the week. Competitions will also ensue including the feature film and short film competitions that will see big names like Egypt’s “19 B”, Syria’s “Nezouh” and Iraq’s “Hanging Gardens” battle it out for the top prize.
With the festival kicking off on April 28, it decided to start off on a high by screening Palestinian director Maha Haj’s Cannes winner “Mediterranean Fever” as the festival’s opening film. The film dives into the life of Waleed (Amer Hlehel) a middle-aged man living with his wife and kids who aspires to become a writer but faces many obstacles due to suffering from chronic depression.
Beyond that, the opening night was quite special as the legendary actor Hussein Fahmy was honored with a lifetime achievement award for his contribution to Egyptian cinema and television. As the festivities continue throughout the week, we will get to see Egyptian film “Hamlet from the Slums” participating in the festival’s subsidiary event known as Malmö Industry Days among 13 other film projects.
In that competition, each of these new film projects will be competing to nab a grant programme as well as cash prizes. With “Hamlet from the Slums”, we will get to see Ahmed Dash playing a character who lives in a Cairo slum that is under the threat of urban renewal.
With the festivities in full swing, be sure to check out their entire program through Malmö‘s official website as well as their Instagram page.
