MedFest is Offering a Free Screenwriting Workshop for Healthcare Workers

Television and film are full of great doctors - from Dr. House to Dr. Grey, from Dr. Strange to Dr. Strangelove, the drama of the operating room draws us in just as powerfully as the prospect to the dentist's office scares us out. But wouldn't it be great if we could hear more stories from the doctors and nurses themselves - to see what kind of film they'd make out of their own experiences? Giving them the chance to do just that is MedfFest, an annual medical film forum funded by the European Union which explores the humanitarian intricacies of medicine through cinema.

This year, the forum's fourth edition will host a medical film competition, in partnership with MAHD Film Lab. The first stage will involve a screenwriting workshop for healthcare workers, which they can join entirely for free. The workshop will be led by renowned script consultant and film producer Ayman El Amir, who served as a script consultant for Torino Film Lab, Film Prize of the Robert Bosch Stiftung and other international festivals. The workshop gives its participants the tools to turn their vision into a powerful, plausible script. The forum will then offer an opportunity for filmmakers to match up with the screenwriters, after which the three best films – in terms of quality, plausibility and artistic chemistry between the healthcare worker and filmmaker - will be selected for production.

“You’ll notice that doctors never run out of stories to tell, and this is an opportunity to translate these stories into film,” Mena El Naggar - doctor, actor, and Founder and MD of MedFest Egypt - told CairoScene. "Through this platform, health workers can share these stories, and explore the patients themselves in a more humane way. They can depict physical and mental illness, and how they interact with the world around them, both inside and outside the hospital.”

If you’re a healthcare worker interested in applying to this workshop, you can view the requirements in the following link: tinyurl.com/medfestscreenwriting. Deadline for application is July 11tth, 2020.