Saba Mubarak dedicates her prize to the struggle of the Palestinian people. and Hana Shiha gets it from her hands

Thursday evening September 12 hosted the opening ceremony of the sixth edition of the Midfest-Egypt Forum Festival through which the activities started with a red-carpet ceremony. There were plenty of stars and art manufacturers who were attending the ceremony including Director Amir Ramses and the mega stars Saba Mubarak Hana Shiha . The star Omar El-Shenawy director Nadine Khan director Amjad Abu El-Ela artist Yara Gebran Karima Mansour director Mariam Abu Orf musician Nabil Ali Maher critic Ahmed Shawky critic Andrew Mohsen producer Safi El-Din Mahmoud director Christopher Saber screenwriter Mohamed Hesham Obeya and director Marwan Amara along with celebrities from other fields.

The rest of the day's activities were held at the Ewart Hall at the American University where artist Hany Adel presented a special song for the festival that talks about films and the feelings the audience feels when watching different stories on the screen. Written by Amar Mustafa while the opening ceremony was presented by Mahmoud Mahdi who joked with the audience welcomed them and asked them to greet artist Hany Adel who appeared again on stage and said: "I am happy to be with you today and I thank the people who participated in the song. The subject begins with the word that Amar Mustafa writes. I thank Faisal Fouad on piano and Wael El-Sayed on accordion and I hope the festival grows from year to year and breaks the world." Mahmoud Mahdi talked about this year's theme at the Midfest-Egypt Forum which is relationships saying: "We have a very rich program when I got to know it I couldn't believe that it would present 32 films in just 4 days" and revealed some of the festival's activities in the coming days. Mina El-Naggar the founder of the forum explained: "In 2016 I met Khaled Ali at Zawya Cinema. Two doctors decided to hold a film festival and to delve into a topic that has a space for thought and intersects with health."

He added "Festivals are held to talk about them and some think they are special for artists only I had never dreamt that I would stand here before you today and when I was talking about the idea some described me as crazy but we succeeded and were able to display them inside hospitals factories and companies and our program is not just a festival that is held once a year but a program that extends throughout the year."

He pointed out that the forum had been helpful in raising awareness against gender-based violence and also provided chances to train boys and girls on how to become leaders underlining "Midfest has grown and this progress was made possible thanks to a team I tell them I love you and I myself thank you name by name I also want to thank the sponsors and supporters because they understand what the industry means and push the festival forward and I thank the British Embassy the French Embassy and the American University" he also thanked a number of specialized and interested places in the film industry. While the international coordinator of the Midfest Forum - Egypt Dr. Khaled Ali was speaking "The forum was suspended for a short period due to Corona but it returned strongly in the fourth edition and narrated many memories with the forum and indicated the beginning of the journey of the new version of the forum at the same time Katrina Madhat the executive director of the forum said "We have 32 films including films that will be shown in workshops and discussion sessions and the forum includes a rich program to discuss the main theme which is relationships between friends about love family and memories that affected us" and she talked about choosing the names of the discussion sessions stressing that they made a great effort in them to be different and expressive. Nadine Emil and Ahmed Nabil who were responsible for programming also spoke and said that the first task was to choose the "theme" the main topic around which the films revolve and that it was not easy at the same time it was exciting because it made the team watch films they know but with a different perspective and they chose from 450 films that they would like to show in the forum this year and settled on 32 short films inside and outside The competition represents 10 countries and they continued: We have 4 shows each show includes a group of short films after which discussions are held with filmmakers doctors and the audience to talk about the craftsmanship of the industry and the topics in the films with doctors. They revealed the forum awards before introducing the members of the jury.

Members of the committee include Director Hani Khalifa Swiss-Egyptian director Christophe Saber Jordanian producer Bassam Al-Asaad director Nadine Khan and Dr. Hana Abu Al-Ghar a professor of pediatrics and a writer. The members of the other competitions were announced including the producer Safi Al-Din Mahmoud who came onto the stage and said "I am speaking on behalf of Red Star Company which opened the door for me to the world of short films through the film (Hot Dry Summer) the first film produced by the company. After that we worked on many short films. I thank all the makers of short films because till today they have shouldered the responsibility and are the reason for the survival of this industry today. I only hope that more screens could show their films because the short film industry has nothing to do with the feature film industry. "We have a big crisis in the short film industry and only if it has supporters around it we can save it."

One of the contests was devoted to photography which was called a significant constituent in relationship management. During the sixth edition of this forum the founder of phlog Khaled Taher got up on stage to deliver a speech and revealed the relationship that tied him to the forum and his first encounter with the founder Dr. Mina El-Naggar. He added that having a festival for films tackling mental health is something beautiful evidence of the existence of a beautiful team that had made an effort in this field. He added "Relationships differ from one person to another and their impact on a person's mental health also differs." He hoped his relationship with the forum would last for years. Then the honors segment which was also presented by Dr. Khaled and Mina began with Dr. Robert Abrams. Khaled spoke of Robert's contribution to the world of cinema's relation with health. Robert greeted all those in charge of the forum and those present and spoke about the beginning of the forum and his relationship with it and its founders before receiving the honor. The second honoring was by Mina and it was for the star Saba Mubarak. Before she ascended to the stage a video appeared for a group of her close friends family and artists who congratulated her on the honor and confirmed that she deserved it praising her talent and giving. Saba said "Thank you Midfest thank you Mina and Khaled for the honoring.". An honor like that comes after a moment when you don't know what to do since acting is such a hard task to accomplish; sometimes we wait months and years for the result of what we do. I say this because an honor like this makes you feel at least that you are doing things right. Thank you to those who trust me and give me roles and I want to thank my family." "I love being an actress and playing better roles than the ones I have presented" she continued and talked about how a person's failure pushes him to learn and search for success "because failure is part of this journey and makes you know how to reshape what was broken and build layers." The star Hana Shiha appeared on stage and surprised her friend Saba by saying that she would be the one to honor her and said "Acting is a game the most important thing in it is that you believe and love what you do. When you love everyone will believe you and you - Saba - simply worked the equation." Saba Mubarak dedicated the award to the struggle of the Palestinian people.

Lonely and dogged in his search for meaning in life the French film Shake Up was screened during the opening ceremony. Notably the Midfest-Egypt Forum is the first forum for short films in the Middle East and North Africa; it was inaugurated in 2017. The festival treats the interface between cinematography and health because through films the method and means for raising awareness about important health issues take place. Events of the festival will take place during the period from September 12 to 15 at the American University in downtown Cairo in Tahrir Square.