Toronto Tahani Al-Ghazali
The Toronto International Film Festival
in its 47th edition announced the awarding of the "TIFF Emerging Talent" prize to the Egyptian-origin director Sally El Hosaini, presented by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) as part of the festival's honorary awards this year, for her feature film "
The Swimmers," which represents a realistic epic telling the story of the survival of the two Syrian refugee swimmers Sarah
and Yusra Mardini, who fled their war-torn country by boat and had to
swim part of the way to keep the vessel moving.
The events of the 47th edition of the Toronto Festival, held from September 8-18, began with the screening of a wide range of ten exclusive world premieres alongside "200" feature films and about "40" short films, with six films from the Arab world participating representing diverse works under various sections in which the participating films are showcased.
Among the most prominent Arab films shown at the festival was the film “The Swimmers” by director Sally El Hosaini, which was the opening film of the festival. Mr. Cameron Bailey, the CEO of the festival, described it as a surprise, telling an exciting and epic journey that represents the true story of the two Syrian swimmers Yusra and Sarah Mardini who were forced by the war to escape from Damascus by swimming across the waves of the Mediterranean Sea to compete in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.
The film stars Syrian actress Kinda Alloush and young Egyptian actor Ahmed Malik alongside the sisters Manal and Natalie Issa, Ala Suleiman, James Krishna Floyd, and Matthias Schweighöfer. Also among the world premieres in the contemporary world cinema category was the film "Ilm" by Palestinian director Firas Khoury, who has many short films to his credit, several of which have won numerous awards and been shown at many festivals and on television channels. In the contemporary world cinema category, the Tunisian film "Under the Tree" by director Areej Sahiri will also be shown, which deals with relationships between young men and women of the same generation, and between youth and elders through the annual harvest day.
As for the film “Weekend in Gaza,” it tells the story of the spread of a virus epidemic in Israel, making the Gaza Strip a safe haven away from it. The festival audience will also watch the film The Blue Caftan by Moroccan director Maryam Touzani, the film Shapes by Tunisian director Youssef Chaabi, and the film The Taste of Red Apple by Syrian director Ihab Tarabieh during the presentations.
It is noteworthy that the 47th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival returned this year with all the events organized by the festival management, including the opening ceremony, industry conference, and filmmakers’ dinners. This step comes after two consecutive years of relying exclusively on the internet, and hosting live screenings but with limited capacity, as a much smaller number of international visitors were allowed due to the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.