CAIRO — Egypt assuming the presidency of the African Union (AU) in 2019 aims to boost the cooperation between Cairo and African capitals from politics to infrastructure, from the TV industry to soccer. Filmmakers, artists and organizers hope that the cooperation will extend to the cinema industry, with more African films screened in Egyptian film theaters and Egyptian films making a comeback onto African screens.

A key step in that direction is the eighth edition of the Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF) whicht took place on March 15-21. Held under the auspices of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, the festival honored director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun from Chad, whose film “Dry Season” (2006) won the Grand Special Jury Prize in Venice and ”A Screaming Man” (2010) won the Jury Prize in Cannes, making Haroun the first Chadian director to enter as well as win an award in Cannes.

The festival was inaugurated by Minister of Culture Ines Abdel Dayem, who underlined that it was “an honor for Egypt to host this festival in parallel with two other events — the Arab and African Youth Platform in Aswan and Egypt's presidency of the African Union in 2019.”

LAFF Executive Director Azza al-Husseini told Al-Monitor that this year's festival is particularly important since it is the first to be held after Egypt took over the chairmanship of the AU. She noted that both the organizers and Dayem would like for this festival to be a breakthrough for cooperation between Egyptian and African cinema and a forum bringing together Egyptian and African filmmakers.