The fifth-annual 'A State of the World and Cinema' festival, held yearly in Paris as part of the 'Forum des images' initiative, will celebrate Egyptian cinema by screening seven films highlighting the intricacies of contemporary Egyptian society.

According to film critic Magda Wassef, who supervises the festival's film programme, the seven films include four Egyptian favorites: Heya Fawda (This Is Chaos) by Youssef Chahine and Khaled Youssef, Omaret Yaacoubian (The Yaacoubian Building) by Marwan Hamed, 678 by Mohamed Diab, Microphone by Ahmad Abdalla, and Wahed-Sefr (1-0) by Kamla Abu Zikri.

The festival will also feature three new Egyptian films, including Abdalla's Farsh w Ghata (Rags and Tatters), Maggie Morgan's Asham and a documentary entitled Mohammad Saved from the Waters by director Safaa Fathy.

The films will be screened from 8 to 17 November, and Wassef will moderate a round table discussion on Egyptian cinema on the festival's third day. The round table will include Kamal Abdel Aziz, head of the Egyptian National Centre for Cinema, director Ahmad Abdalla, screenwriter Mariam Naaoum and French journalist Bernard Guetta, the festival's honourary director.