MedFest Short Film Days Honors Amina Khalil and Dr. Mona Al-Rakhawy in its Seventh Edition

By Ahmed Fawzy

The management of MedFest Egypt has announced honoring actress Amina Khalil and psychiatry professor, Dr. Mona Al-Rakhawy, at the opening of the seventh edition, held under the theme “Stations” at the AUC, between (17-21) September.
Honoring Khalil and Dr. Al-Rakhawy highlights MedFest’s keenness on celebrating the contributions of artists and doctors, when it comes to encouraging the public to understand the human psyche, handling life complexities, and promoting awareness of mental and physical health concepts through art and scientific knowledge.
MedFest founder and director, Dr. Mina El-Naggar, stated, “One of MedFest’s main objectives is promoting community awareness of challenges and handling them in different ways. This results in understanding ourselves and others”.
Moreover, El-Naggar noted that MedFest is keen to honor figures -artists or doctors- that contributed to achieving this objective. Over the past few years, actress Khalil has presented multiple works in cinema and television. These works have opened up a huge space for audiences to learn more about themselves, understand the actions of others, and understand the significance of handling differences between people. Indeed, they have achieved an equation combining breaking down taboos in handling psychological challenges, as well as presenting them in a catchy and engaging way. As for Dr. Mona Al-Rakhawy, she established “Al-Rakhawy Cinema Club” platform to tackle and analyze psychological aspects of film stars. Hence, audiences have gained a deeper understanding of the human self through art, highlighting that cinema is not merely for entertainment, but also for promoting human understanding.
It is noteworthy that MedFest was first launched in 2017. It is held on an annual basis and brings together filmmakers, doctors, psychologists, and the public in a distinguished experience that combines art and health through film screenings from Egypt and the world, panel discussions, and workshops. It aims at raising awareness of mental health, highlighting the role of cinema in reflecting human challenges, and opening up a space for understanding in societies.