Maggie Anwar:  With Faten Hamama’s cinema festival, I try to compete with international festivals and will celebrate Faten Hamama’s birthday during the inauguration.

*Sherihan and Farida Fahmy were a beacon to female artists and I am one of them.

* Any woman is subjected to criticism once she starts working in Art and then later on she is welcomed.

*Waiting the screening of My Movie “El Montamy” starring the star Dorid Laham in Alexandria cinema festival.

With the prevalence of independent cinema that addresses the heart and the brain and reflects reality, this opens the door for female directors who try to maintain their places in a field dominated with men only.

Despite the limited resources, the female directors try to produce movies that are an exact reflection of reality and they also encourage other youth to live this experience in addition to establishing independent festivals.

Maggie Anwar is one of these female creative directors. She is a young producer and director, founder of Magica house, Mansoura Film Festival and Faten Hamama Film festival that will start in few days.

Noted that the idea of the festival started with a voice record for Faten Hamama before her death immediately, Maggie Anwar decided to create, to shoot a documentary about Faten Hamama under the name of “El Fatena”, thus it changed the festival’s location to Cairo and called it Faten Hamama Film festival”.

The first round took place in Zawya in downtown and this round is to be held in Opera House in El Hanager from 27th till 31st May.

Maggie Anwar started her interview with W Laha Wogoh Okhra with a sentence full of hope and enthusiasm saying that her target is to make a well-organized Festival like the international festivals. She added that she will honour Faten Hamama through series of events starting with her birthday in the inauguration of the festival.

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Maggie Anwar assured that they will honour both Sherihan and Farida Fahmy because throughout their long history, they were fearless and presented Fearless art, and we have to pay them tribute as they were the beacon for female directors like herself. She informed us also that the festival presents 400 movies from all over the world.

Maggie refused to declare the exact number of the movies directed by females assuring that the good movie will reserve a place whether it is directed by male or a female.

The festival administration announced its intention to screen the movies in the following governorates: Alexandria, Mansoura, Benswef and Minia. As for the Upper Egypt governorates, Maggie will be able to screen the movies with the help of her friend Abd ElWahab Shawky.

Maggie Anwar has been working as a director for 10 years and she had to face many obstacles to reach what she has become today. This owes to the fact that women’s rights are marginalized and they have to work really hard to achieve their goals. In 10 years, Maggie accomplished what old directors haven’t achieved and her movie El Fatena was screened in the “Short Film Corner” competition in Cannes 2015.

Added to that, Maggie Anwar is waiting for the screening of her movie “El Montamy” starring the star Dourid Laham in Alexandria Film festival. 

Maggie Anwar has finished recently Barcodia movie and it is a silent fantasy, and for her cooperation with The Actor Hesham Selim, they are still working in other classics in addition to the pharaonic series which portray historical characters.

The interview could not come to an end without asking the young director about the obstacles she faced, Maggie said that she faced a lot of threats and criticism especially from Muslims brotherhood. Moreover, her movie was about to be stolen, but she was able to get it back and managed the situation.

However, all these obstacles just act as a push to continue her creative work and she has faith as long as she concentrates on her work.