Manassat Film Festival Spotlights Student Filmmaking at Zawya Cinema

Downtown Cairo’s Zawya Cinema will host the Manassat Film Festival, which is returning for its ninth edition from May 29th to the 31st. Organised by MasrdotBokra for Skills Development, the festival brings together over 40 short films, shorts, and documentaries, positioning itself as a vital space for emerging Egyptian filmmakers to share their stories on screen.

This year’s theme, ‘All The World’s a Stage’, takes inspiration from Shakespeare’s iconic line, reimagining not just the world itself but cinema in particular as a platform for theatrical expression. The focus is on theatricality, not as opposition to film, but as a creative partner. The programme invites young creatives to blur the boundaries between theatre and cinema, offering a space to take artistic risks and experiment with performance, narrative, and style.

In addition to the lineup of films in competition, the festival includes a masterclass from Reem El Adl who will lead a session on ‘Costume & Character Design for Film, TV & Theatre’, a special out-of-competition screening in collaboration with Filmlab Palestine, and a soon to be announced Feature Film presentation through their ongoing programming series ‘Manassat After Dark’.

Among the films being shown are Moheyeldin Yehia’s ‘Can You Write a Fictional Story…?!’, Carmen Ghali and Jumana Labib’s ‘I Am the Sun’, Antonious Bassily’s ‘I Can Smell a Rat’, Maysoon Abdelghany’s ‘Father Never Approved of My Toys’, and Amir Youssef’s ‘Apoleon’.

Other featured works include ‘Dagen’ by Yosef Emam, ‘Natah’ by Islam Ahmed, ‘Mama’ by Summer Elfeky, ‘Linda: The Grasscutter’ by Amr Daly, ‘Fionka’ by Rawan El-Ghonimi, and ‘Private’ by Manon El-Gergawy.

All screenings at Manassat Film Festival are free of charge. Tickets can be reserved in person at the Zawya Cinema box office starting May 27. For more information and updates, follow @manassatfilmfest on Instagram.