The founder and president of the Malmö Arab Film Festival, Mohamed Qiblawi, welcomed the guests who attended the fourteenth session of the festival, which began in cold weather in Sweden at the Royal Cinema Hall, in the presence of the city’s mayor, Catherine Yamah, who gave a welcoming speech to the cinematic audience and expressed her happiness at the great success of this ancient festival in the city of Malmö. She welcomed the festival guests and thanked the Malmö Festival and its founder, Mohamed Kablawi, expressing her happiness at presenting this session. She said, “The festival was launched in 2011 and has developed into the most important festival for Arab cinema outside the Arab region.” She praised the festival’s support for women’s voices and the promotion of the culture of diversity and equality that the city cares about, and added, There is no doubt that the festival has become part of the city’s culture.
A large number of movie stars, film makers, guests, sponsors, the press and the large public were also present, who will attend the events, which extend until April 28.
In his speech during the opening ceremony, the Malmo Festival’s administrative and artistic advisor, director Mohamed Kablawi, said: “During the next seven days, we invite everyone, whether guests or audience, to enjoy a wonderful experience with the latest and best productions of Arab cinema,” and stressed that it has become the Malmo Arab Film Festival. An annual center in southern Sweden for meeting and communication between Arabs and Europeans interested in cinema, where knowledge is discussed and exchanged, and important and fruitful cinematic partnerships are formed.
The festival president thanked the city of Malmo and the Swedish Film Institute for their great support for the success and continuity of the festival. He also thanked all the sponsors and supporters who contributed to the success of the 14th session, led by the Saudi Film Authority, the Jordanian Film Authority, and others.
He said in his speech: “We are very pleased that the Malmö Festival is able to bring the latest productions of Arab cinema, which the Swedish audience in general and the audience of Malmö and the province of Skåne in particular have not been able to see before, and we hope that these films will be admired by the diverse audience in the city, which reflects Its cultural diversity, and the selections are distinguished by the fact that most of them are co-produced by several countries, including Sweden, through the Film Industry Days portal at the Malmö Film Festival.”
At the opening ceremony, the distinguished Egyptian director Khairy Bishara was honored, who attends the festival activities with a large number of artistic names. He said that he was supposed to do his graduate studies in the city of Sweden in his early youth, but fate had a different opinion, as he chose the Blonde city of Warsaw in Seeb. Jealousy of his partner! He added, “When I arrived in Malmö, I went back in time to 21 years ago because the city reminds me of all my memories at this age in 1968. I love you, Malmö.”
At the opening, the festival also honored the Palestinian composer Muhammad Habash and the Syrian designer Maher Mozouq for their contribution to developing the festival’s music and logo.
The activities of the fourteenth session of the Malmo Arab Film Festival kicked off in Sweden, with the participation of 26 films.
The organizers chose for the opening screening the Sudanese film (Goodbye, Julia), directed by Mohamed Kordofani, who won several international awards.
The festival includes two competitions: feature films, which includes 12 films, and short films, which includes 14 films. It also displays four Saudi films in the “Arabian Nights” section, in addition to two films from Egypt and Iraq.
After the opening film, the festival guests and invitees moved to the City Hall to attend the dinner, where they were received by the Deputy Mayor of the City and Chairman of the Culture Committee of the Municipality of Malmö, Jan Grönholm, who welcomed the festival guests.
In parallel with the ongoing screenings until April 28, the Malmo Film Industry Days will be held, which offers cash and in-kind prizes for film projects in the production and development stages.
On Tuesday morning, April 23, the tenth edition of Malmö Film Industry Days, which is the festival’s program dedicated to supporting the Arab film industry and encouraging joint production between the Arab world and the countries of the North, was launched. 38 projects from 16 countries were submitted to participate in the grant program, and the festival chose 14 projects representing 14 countries to compete. In three categories: short film development, feature film development, and post-production. Films compete for 10 valuable financial and in-kind prizes.
The festival, which was launched for the first time in 2011, is one of the most prominent artistic events linking the Arab region and the Scandinavian countries in Northern Europe.
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