August 6, 2023
WoEgypt

Ola Shafay was appointed Editor-in-Chief of Al-Youm Al-Sabea, the first woman to become Editor-in-Chief of a private newspaper in Egypt

Ola Shafay is a journalist, art critic and screenwriter. She obtained a BA in Media in 1993, and a BA from the Higher Institute of Cinema in 1999. She wrote the screenplays for a number of award-winning short films, including “The End of the World” and “All This Beautiful Voice,” which won Short Best Film at the National Festival of Egyptian Cinema in 1996. Her short film “The Wanderers,” also won the same award in 2001. She also wrote the screenplay for the feature film, “Country of Girls,” which was screened at Cairo and Dubai Film Festivals in 2007.

She started her careen in journalism in the 90s, and held several positions, including: deputy editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram newspaper, head of the art department in Al-Youm Al-Sabea newspaper and website. In addition, she held position of editor-in-chief of the magazines “Cinema Online” and “Elite Cairo”.

On TV, she hosted several shows; “Wlad Al-Balad” on “ON TV”, “Seat in Front of the Screen” on Egyptian TV, and “Dukkan El Fan” on Radio Misr.

Lastly, she was a jury member in several film festivals; Ismailia 2005, Rome 2003, Salé, Morocco 2009, and Luxor African Film Festival 2012. 

As a journalist and film critic, she covered numerous international and local film festivals. In 2002, she received the Journalistic Excellence Award in Artistic Coverage in 2002 from the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate.

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