Ismailia festival that is organized annually from 1988 is one of the leading film events in the Arab world and the first one in Middle East and North Africa region established in order to embrace the documentary and short film production. Apart from the festival screenings there is also a number of industry events held, including the coproduction forum that this year gave a space for the presentation of 12 projects. This year at Ismailia 54 films screened in four competitive sections.
On the last festival’s day Poles triumphed when two major awards of the animated competition were handed to Polish animators. First it was Zbigniew Czapla – recognized by his earlier works “Ritual” and “Paperbox” – who received the award for the Best Animation for his 12 minutes long “Toto”. The latest animation by Czapla is a story of a sensible boy, raised by a lonely and hard working mother. Visually intriguing “Toto” is a universal story about naiveté and irreversibly lost infant dreams. The second award of the evening went to Małgorzata Rżanek – the author of the animated “Danse macabre” screened this year at Cannes Cinefondation. Five minutes long “Danse macabre” is a humorous reflection on death and passing by. There were eleven films made all over the world screened in the animated section of Ismailia.
It is worth to mention that a Polish documentary “Losing Sonia” by Radka Franczak was screened as a part of documentary competition, while a short fiction “Watermelon” by Tato Kotetishvili screened in the shorts competition.
The festival was held between 4th and 11th June. More to be found at its official website.