“Seven years of success and glory,” stated Egypt’s minister of culture Nevine El-Kilani during her speech at the opening ceremony, praising the festival’s mission to feature “cinema from all over the world that represents women and their causes”.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by Aswan Governor Ashraf Attia, Head of the European Union Delegation to Egypt Ambassador Christian Berger, Dutch Ambassador in Cairo Han-Maurits Schaapveld, Czech Ambassador to Egypt Ivan Jukl and a number of Egyptian and foreign actors and filmmakers.

During the opening, the festival organisers paid tribute to Egyptian actress Nabila Ebeid, Egyptian media personality Dorria Sharaf El-Din, Spanish actress Cuca Escribano, Dutch director Mijke de Jong and Tunisian producer Salma Bakar.

The AIWFF, which takes place in the Upper Egyptian city until 10 March, will screen 61 films from 37 countries as part of its six competitions.

Ten films are competing in the Feature Film Competition, 18 in the Short Film Competition, five in the Egyptian Film Competition, and seven in the Impact Competition, in addition to 11 films produced by the festival’s workshops and 12 films in the Children’s Film Programme.

It is also hosting various workshops such as the New Aswan Cinema Project Programme, the Film Project Development Workshop, Screenwriting, Animation for Adults and Animation for Children.