Set in the beautiful city of Ismailia, surrounded by the crossroads Suez Canal bridging, virtually, three continents, this year's international festival edition of documentary and short films celebrated its 20th jubilee in a magnificently grandiose style. "The name of Ismailia city had always been linked with Suez Canal that is linking the peoples of the whole world at the cultural and economic levels. The festival, held for the 1st time 27 years ago, is making its way as one of the most important festivals specialised in documentaries and short films at the regional and continental levels" are the opening words of the Minister of Culture, prof. Enas Abdel Dayem.

Showcasing several film sections of about a hundred new short fiction, animation, documentary and long documentary film works from around the world screened in the cinemas of the impressive, recently-built Ismailia Cultural Palace – as the central ceremony and meeting festival place, Donia cinema, Misr Public library and open-air cinemas in Sheikh Zayed Park and Tree Park, and judged by several international and national juries, the programme was further enriched by various discussion panels, master classes, vibrant after-film Q&A's sessions, and diverse side-bar events, all orchestrated by a dedicated festival management and an army of charming, devoted and enthusiastic young volunteers (a random pun includes, also, the actual army personnel conscientiously guarding all of us, festival guests).

This already vivacious and dynamic festival atmosphere was made more exceptional and enchanting by the Golden Programme of additional screenings of all the awarded films in the past 20 years, with the presence of most international and national past winners at this special festival edition. Coupled with exhibition of posters and photos of the festival's previous editions, publication of a book about the festival's previous editions, this impressively unique gesture is symbolic of the new festival motto, "the memory", as explained by the Festival President Esam Zakaria: "The festival will host a number of filmmakers and jury members who participated in the past editions in which all generations who reflect all artistic styles and techniques will be represented in the 20th edition to show a short history of the festival, as well as documentaries and short films in the past 25 years."

The festival has undergone many changes and variations to reach this epic momentum. The first edition of the international festival was launched in 1991 simultaneously with the 14th national festival, marking the first one in Egypt's cinema history. According to the words of Hashim El Nahas, the Founder of the Ismailia Film Festival, "this was a very late move with regard to the history of the Egyptian cinema that started at the beginning of the twentieth century. With the new international section, the festival ran for six days instead of three. Consequently the number of the screenings and prints doubled, and the event became increasingly more diverse."

This year's edition was also made special by its introduction of an International Film Critics jury and a new competition of student films, in close cooperation with the Egyptian Film Critics Association. It also paid a special tribute to film criticism by honouring film critic Ali Abu Shaidi, who headed the festival for ten years and helped shape the identity of the festival, and through a seminar dedicated to the work of film critic Samir Farid. A special tribute was also paid to the Swiss-Iraqi director Samir Jamal Eldin as a cumulative prize for his impressive film opus of about 50 films in four decades.

If good films have become somewhat of a genre lacking at many European film festivals (rare are new European films that take one's breath away), Ismailia Film Festival showed its excellence by its meticulous and extraordinary film selection., which made it all the more difficult for many international and national juries to make their final decisions. The film subjects range from the current economic and political crises in many European countries, relating to the harsh realities of immigrants, alarming effects of the rising right-wing/fascist politics on the society as a whole and hopelessness and futility felt by the younger generations, to the world-wide and local modern day slavery (e.g. poor or non-existing working conditions), violence, religious hypocrisy, problems of (estranged) family break-ups and difficult decisions, daily life struggles of ordinary people in war-torn countries, especially in Palestine and Syria, the indifference of the international community, the alienation, uniformity and robotisation of decaying capitalism to more direct depictions of war realities. Among many remarkable film achievements, some had to remain prizeless, and one of them is extraordinary short fiction film "Disruption", by Feyrouz Serhal, a female author from Lebanon The film subtly conveys a day in the life of Beirut's ordinary citizens, when the football World Cup is about to kick off and the signal of the first match is disrupted by strange audio-waves, leading to frustrations of passionate fans, unaware that an ominous event affecting all their lives is about to happen, announced by deafening roaring noise of bomber planes and, later, by red leaflets urging for sheltering civilians. Sophisticated and nuanced camera work displays panoramic shots of families gathering on rooftop terraces having meals and eagerly preparing for TV broadcast matches, adjusting antennae or sipping tea, a love couple having an argument, a married couple involved in daily chores, kids cheerfully playing or fooling around, women preparing meals, with the camera continually peeping unobtrusively but never zooming in through the curtains of various households. This rich visual narrative powerfully builds the rising tension of the evil about to happen and "disrupt" The World cup and people's lives in the most brutal and terrifying way possible. Except for the female protagonist wearing a bright red dress roaming around the streets of Beirut with headphones on, as a leitmotif or a meta-narrative omnipresent foreshadowing of the bloody event which will occur, there are no close-ups, no full faces shown, no protagonists, just silhouette-like hinting or suggesting the spontaneity and rituality of every-day life, completely unsuspecting of the destruction that will take place. This masterfully developed tension focuses in totality on the visual power, while the only sound heard is that of people's distant voices and murmurs, the background sound of innocents laughter or sighs of frustration at menial things, with the loudest and most annoying sound dominating all others being the lost TV signal, indicating, as the title suggests, an irremediable "disruption" in people's lives and their ensuing horrors. Such refined filmic devices condemn the absurdity of all war and violence, contributing to the overall feeling of authenticity and making the film seem as a fictional documentary or documentary fiction.

Maja Bogojević

{niftybox background=#dff178, width=360px} Awards

The main international jury, composed of Hamid Basguit, Nicolas Munoz, Urmas Joemees, Claudia Nunes, Goran Radovanovic, Heba Yossry, headed by German Oscar-winning film author Pepe Danquart awarded the following films:

Best Film prize: "Sharp Tools" by Nujoom Al-Ghanem from the UAE.

The Jury Prize: Hungarian film "A Woman Captured" by Bernadett Tuza-Ritter.

A special mention: Austrian/Slovenian documentary "The Family" by Rok Biček,

In short Documentary Competition the Best Film award: Serbian film "The Same" by Dejan Petrović

The Jury Prize: "Arabic Secret" by Julia Groszek from Poland

In Short Fiction Competition the Best Film award: "The Ticket" by Haris Stathopoulos from Greece

Jury Prize: "Facing Mecca" by Jan-Eric Mack from Switzerland.

In Animation Competition Best Film award: Kuwaiti film "Naqla" by Youssef Abd-Elamir El-Baqshy

The Jury Prize: "Airport", a Slovakian/Croatian production by Michaela Muller

Film Critics Jury, composed of Premendra Mazumder, Rami Abdel Razik and Maja Bogojevic, gave out the following prizes:

The Best Film prize: Syrian film "One day in Aleppo", by Ali Alibrahim

for its poignant and highly touching portrayal of one "ordinary" day in the lives of inhabitants of war-ruined, devastated Aleppo, showing their dignified resilience and hopeful struggle for survival in dehumanising conditions, conveyed through powerful visual imagery, without one word spoken or written."

The Best Short Film prize: Jordanian-German coproduction "Halfway", by Rand Beiruty

The Jury's special mention: Egyptian short documentary film "The last to leave Rio", by Osama Aiad

In Student Competition, the Best Short Film award - "Like the Sun" by Hana Mahmoud from the American University in Cairo and

Best documentary award – "Voy" by Alaa Helaly of Cairo University

. "Naqla" also won the Best Arab Film award

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