Egypt’s Minister of Culture Helmy El-Namnam has chosen famed Egyptian actor Mahmoud Hemeda to be the honorary president of the 38th Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF).

Hemeda succeeds the late iconic actor Omar Sharif who was appointed to the position in 2006 by former Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni. 

El-Namnam also extended the appointment of Magda Wassef as president of the festival, and film critic Youssef Cherif Rizkallah as its artistic director.

Hemeda's career spans more than three decades, with his first film being Al-Imberator (Tarek El-Arian, 1990) in which he acted alongside late Egyptian actor Ahmed Zaki. Some of his chef d'oeuvres include the films Al Akhar (Youssef Chahine,1999), Al Maseer (Youssef Chahine, 1997), Baheb El Sima (Osama Fawzi, 2004), Eskendereya New York (Youssef Chahine, 2004), Malak Wi Kitaba (Kamla Abou Zekri, 2006), and most recently Men Dahr Ragel (Karim El-Sobky, 2015) which participated in the official competition of CIFF’s 37th edition.

Hemeda’s most recent film Nawara is currently screening across Egyptian cinemas. The film made its Arab world premiere at the 12th Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) where it was one of five Egyptian films competing for the festival's Muhr Awards. Its Egypt premiere was at the opening of the 5th edition of the Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF), which ran between 17 and 23 March. 



Alongside Hemeda, the film stars Menna Shalaby, Sherine Reda, Ahmed Rateb, and Amir Salah Eddin. 



The story takes place on the eve of the 2011 uprising and centres around Nawara, a woman in her 20s who works as a housemaid at a big villa in a luxury compound. During the absence of the landlord, she invites her fiancé over, and together they enjoy a taste of the life of the rich and famous.

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