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Qalaa Holdings, an African leader in infrastructure and industry, is sponsoring the 4th annual Luxor African Film Festival in Egypt’s ancient capital-Luxor. The event has attracted participants from 41 countries and will include directing and scriptwriting workshops headed by leading African filmmakers.
Qalaa Holdings is sponsoring an award for the best short film and a special workshop (the STEP Program) for long feature films as part of the company’s commitment to Africa and developing the communities in which it does business.
“Making a positive social impact in the communities in which we invest has always been a core value at Qalaa Holdings. By lending our support to the Luxor African Film festival we will be helping develop both talent and opportunities for hundreds of young African filmmakers,” said Qalaa Holdings Managing Director, Karim Sadek.
The Luxor African Film Festival(LAFF) running for the fourth edition now, from the 16th to 21st March 2015, is a homegrown idea born by Sayed Fouad a prominent writer to bring to the fore front African films in Egypt and encourage African film productions and partnerships among the African countries through strengthening the humanitarian and political ties between the peoples of Africa in general and African artists in particular.
The festival will feature competing countries including Uganda, Congo, Tanzania, Tunisia, Egypt, Senegal, Nigeria, Morroco, Sudan and Rwanda in a 3 category award : the Long Narratives Competition; the Long Documentaries Competition; and the Short Films Competition with three prizes each category ranging from $3000 to $1000 , a certificate of appreciation and Masks of Tutankhamen
Lined up under the Short Films are 17 movies of which the 19 minutes “Watch Over Me” is Ugandan, directed by Kennedy Kihire. The sad family story features Christie getting to know that she was adopted during her childhood, she runs away from home feeling that her so-called parents have been lying to her for a long time. While her guardian family starts to look for her, Christie goes into too many troubles.
Some of the other short movies are “City Drop out” –Rwanda; “Malakia Job”-Sudan; “Warda”- Tunisia; “Moment” -Egypt; “forbidden Fruit”-Morocco; “Motherland”-Senegal; “Matanga”-Congo; “Fish of the Land”-Tanzania.
Qalaa Holdings’ sponsorship follows a responsible investing approach that is governed by “The Double Bottom Line,” meaning the company prioritizes positive social impact and human capital development as key pillars. Qalaa Holdings holds Africa’s future in high regard and endeavors to invest in young talent and education, it runs Egypt’s largest private sector scholarship program through the Qalaa Holdings Scholarship Foundation, which has thus far awarded over 100 students with scholarships to pursue graduate studies in some of the world’s most prestigious universities. Scholarship recipients have studied a wide variety of disciplines including filmmaking, anthropology, art and human rights.
