CAIRO: Cairo is to host the 13th edition of the Shnit festival for short films, along with other seven cities simultaneously, during the period from Oct. 7 to 18, according to the festival’s website.
The festival will also take place in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Ben, Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Moscow and San Jose.
According to Shnit website, the short films will be projected at Room Art Space, Rawabet, Teatro Maadi, Netherlands-Flemish Institute and the Cinema Radio in Cairo.
“We also focus on the Egyptian and Arab short film making. Through several film blocks followed by discussions, questions and answers with directors and actors we will make this not only a one-way happening,” the festival explained on Cairo’s page.
The festival will be held over 12 days over three main stages: Shnit Playground, which lasts for five days in one of the aforementioned cities, Shnit Cinemas, where the short films are to be seen in all cinemas all over the world and the last stage Shnit Finale, which is the awards ceremony that is to take place in New York.
The festival includes a competition in five award categories, with total cash prizes worth $100,000. In 2014, 64 films were selected out of 7,000 from 136 countries, according to the website.
The festival presents a total of 230 short films of all genres: fiction, documentary, animation, experimental and more.
Shnit was firstly held in 2003 in Bern, Switzerland, over only two days, June 27-28. In 2013, the festival was extended to 12 days and was awarded the cultural prize of the Bernese statutory corporation Burgergemeinde Bern.