Luxor African Film Festival Opens Submissions for 2027 Edition

The Luxor African Film Festival has opened submissions for its 16th edition, which will take place in Luxor from March 28th to April 3rd, 2027. Entries will be accepted through the festival’s website from August 21st to December 15th, 2026.

Eligible films must have been produced in 2026 and must not have previously screened in Egypt.

According to festival founder and president Sayed Fouad, submissions are open across four main competitions. The feature competition accepts fiction, documentary and animated films running over 60 minutes, while the short film competition is open to fiction, documentary and animation. Both categories are reserved for African directors.

A separate Diaspora competition is open to feature-length fiction and documentary films by African directors living outside the continent whose work approaches Africa from an international perspective. The festival will also run an Upper Egypt Films competition for filmmakers from Luxor and Qena.

Ahead of the festival, young people in Luxor and Qena will also be able to take part in a workshop focused on making short films without a budget. Festival co-founder and director Azza El Hosseiny said the initiative will be accompanied by a dedicated competition for films from the two governorates, with jury members drawn from Luxor and Qena.

The ‘Dawood Abdel Sayed’ screenwriting competition will also return as part of the 16th edition, continuing its focus on identifying and supporting emerging writing talent.

This year’s festival will include tributes to late Egyptian composer Hany Shenouda for his contribution to film music and late Cameroonian filmmaker and writer Bassek Ba Kobhio. Moroccan musician Abdelwahab Doukkali is also set to be honoured, while East African cinema will receive a dedicated spotlight covering filmmaking from countries including Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Somalia.