No Result
View All Result
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
23 °c
Tripoli
24 ° Sat
24 ° Sun
  • Advertising
  • Contact
LibyaHerald
  • Home
  • Libya
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Magazine
  • Advertising
  • Login
  • Register
SUBSCRIBE
  • Home
  • Libya
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Magazine
  • Advertising
  • Login
  • Register
No Result
View All Result
LibyaHerald
No Result
View All Result
Home Local News

Benghazi hosts Arab film festival

bythomwestcott
February 2, 2013
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A
Benghazi hosts Arab film festival

The third Arab Screen Independent Film Festival will be held in Benghazi (Photo: Ahmed R...)

By Ahmed Ruhayem. 

The 3rd Arab Screen Independent Film Festival will be held in Benghazi (Photo: Ahmed Ruhayem)

Benghazi, 1 February 2013:

This month Benghazi will host the 3rd Arab Screen Independent Film Festival (ASIFF).

The five-day festival will . . .[restrict]show local and international films and will also offer training workshops to young Libyan film-makers.

Founded by film director Mohamed Maklouf, ASIFF offers young Arab filmmakers around the world a platform for their work, without government censorship and manipulation.

RELATED POSTS

“Made in Libya” exhibition to be held in Benghazi from 10 to 13 August

Libyan Italian Forum concludes with the signing of 98 MoUs

Maklouf spent 38 years in exile, where he directed the short film The Cage. After returning home, he decided to organise an ASIFF in Benghazi, a project which has been six months in the planning.

Osama Sherif, a member of Benghazi local council, said that when Maklouf approached the council with his proposal in July, it quickly recognised the benefits such an event could have in promoting the city.

He also recognised the value of training and network opportunities the festival promised to offer up-and-coming young film-makers.

“During the revolution, Benghazi saw a surge in media activity, with youngsters making contributions to support the revolution,” Sherif said. “The council especially approved of the number of training workshops and the documentary nature of the film festival.”

ASIFF will be split into two parts, with mornings sessions dedicated to workshops. The evenings will be reserved for film screenings at the Feel Cinema which seats some 200 people.

Four awards will be presented at the Benghazi ASIFF festival:

  • Best Documentary
  • Best Short Fiction
  •  The Jury’s Special Prize and
  • The Martyr Mohammed Nabbous Best Libyan Film.

The jury will include Essam Tarkhan, Director of Cinema and Theatre at Benghazi University and two foreign film experts.

One highlight of the festival will be the participation of Koutaiba Al-Janabi, a British-Iraqi filmmaker. Janabi is the writer, director and co-producer of the award-winning film Leaving Baghdad which is about Saddam Hussein’s cameraman and his attempt to escape to the UK.

Benghazi has special significance for Janabi because his family lived in the city for four years in the 1950s where his father, an Iraqi officer, trained Libyan army officers. He said his mother had fond and happy memories of Benghazi. Sixty years later, he will follow in his father’s footsteps, but running workshops to train young Libyans to be film-makers, rather than officers.

One of the Libyan films that will be shown is Fathi Daud’s feature Zahrat al-Sbar (Cactus Flower). The film’s title refers to the many years cacti can live without water and not flower, a metaphor for Libya’s years of dictatorship. It is about national unity, and follows two young men from different parts of the country before their deaths just two days before the fall of Qaddafi’s military barracks in Benghazi. Although the film was shot on location in Benghazi, scenes reflect everyday Libyan life.

Six short documentaries called the Benghazi and Tripoli stories will also be shown at the festival. They are the result of workshops run in 2012 by the Scottish Documentary Institute (SDI) and organised by the British Council.

Everyone involved in the making of the SDI documentaries were young Libyans, including the directors, editors, and cameramen. The three Tripoli stories are about the Libyan revolution while the Benghazi stories focus on the daily lives of ordinary people with metaphors about the current political situation.

The trailers for the participating films show that the judges will have difficult decisions to make. Each film approaches the revolution from a very different angle and there are also powerful and thought-provoking human stories.

Events such as ASIFF are important economically and can give rise to a promising film industry, as well as contributing to the city’s cultural and economic diversification. They might also provide desperately-needed employment opportunities.

Benghazi local council will be assessing the overall economic and cultural impact of the film festival on the city and will consider making the festival an annual February event.

Although the council is the main financial sponsor, Sherif also expressed his appreciation for the Libyan Business Union’s significant financial contribution to the festival. The media sponsors are Al Kalema and Akbar Benghazi newspapers.

The Benghazi ASIFF will run from 19 to 23 February.

  [/restrict]

Tags: Benghazicinemaculturefeaturedfilm festivalLibya

Related Posts

Libyan trade delegation participates in 5th French Arab Economic Summit 2024 in Paris, 11-12 December
Local News

Libyan trade delegation participates in 5th French Arab Economic Summit 2024 in Paris, 11-12 December

December 13, 2024
Serraj, Hafter, Saleh and Sewehli invited to mini-summit in Brazzaville in AU push on dialogue: report
Libya

Serraj, Hafter, Saleh and Sewehli invited to mini-summit in Brazzaville in AU push on dialogue: report

September 4, 2017
Libya

Egypt tells Hafter it supports his agreement with Serraj; Gatrani concurs

July 27, 2017
Local News

Armed gang attack jail in Zliten

February 21, 2016
Local News

Two women die of henna poisoning in Marj

October 24, 2015
Local News

Ghat Municipal Council looks to improve services

September 11, 2015
Next Post
Libyan rugby hits its stride

Libyan rugby hits its stride

Two injured in Sirte fuel clash

ADVERTISEMENT

Top Stories

  • Libya Development and Reconstruction Fund signs contract with Turkey’s Ankamenia for maintenance of Benghazi University’s medical colleges

    Libya Development and Reconstruction Fund signs contract with Turkey’s Ankamenia for maintenance of Benghazi University’s medical colleges

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • BP to reopen office in Libya, Shell discusses prospects for cooperation in oil field development‎

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Libyan olive oils win gold at Anatolian, Berlin and Japan 2025 international olive oil competitions

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • China to resume implementation of its stalled railways projects in Libya

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • All imports into Libya must be paid for through official bank transactions

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
ADVERTISEMENT
LibyaHerald

The Libya Herald first appeared on 17 February 2012 – the first anniversary of the Libyan Revolution. Since then, it has become a favourite go-to source on news about Libya, for many in Libya and around the world, regularly attracting millions of hits.

Recent News

Three Fisheries officials temporarily suspend from work by Administrative Control Authority suspected of corruption

UK Minister visits Tripoli – agreement signed to improve quality of English teaching at Libyan educational establishments

Sitemap

  • Why subscribe?
  • Terms & Conditions
  • FAQs
  • Copyright & Intellectual Property Rights
  • Subscribe now

Newsletters

    Be the first to know latest important news & events directly to your inbox.

    Sending ...

    By signing up, I agree to our TOS and Privacy Policy.

    © 2022 LibyaHerald - Powered by Sparx Solutions.

    Welcome Back!

    Login to your account below

    Forgotten Password? Sign Up

    Create New Account!

    Fill the forms below to register

    *By registering into our website, you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
    All fields are required. Log In

    Retrieve your password

    Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

    Log In
    No Result
    View All Result
    • Login
    • Sign Up
    • Libya
    • Business
    • Advertising
    • About us
    • BusinessEye Magazine
    • Letters
    • Features
    • Why subscribe?
    • FAQs
    • Contact

    © 2022 LibyaHerald - Powered by Sparx Solutions.

    This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.