File Photo: Director of the Cannes International Film Festival Thierry Fremaux. AFP
"It gives me great pleasure to receive this award, which I do not consider a prize for myself, but for every individual who has worked hard and contributed to the great success achieved by the Cannes Film Festival throughout its history," said Frémaux, who is also director of the Institut Lumière.
Frémaux expressed his happiness to be visiting Egypt for the first time and attending "one of the most prominent festivals," referring to the CIFF.
"This festival gives filmmakers around the world an opportunity to meet and exchange their rich experience in the industry."
In the same context, the French director talked about the Cannes festival and other major film festivals, stressing that there is no competition between them, since each festival has its own its responsibilities within the limits of the space in which it operates.
The director also spoke about the links between the Cannes Film Festival and Egyptian cinema.
"The mission of the Cannes Film Festival is to support international cinema, including Egyptian cinema, to which history did not do justice and did not explain its importance in the Arab world. We have started showing some famous Egyptian films recently, as we did with Bollywood previously, and we are also looking into whether there are a number of old films that can be re-shown and included in the Cannes Classics section," he said.
"The Cannes Festival is proud to welcome great artists such as Yousry Nasrallah and Youssef Chahine, while the new generation of young Egyptian filmmakers, whether women or men, are interesting and I am sure we can expect much from them in the future."
Born in 1960, Frémaux served as artistic director of the Institut Lumière in Lyon since 1995, and was later appointed its managing director. In 2004, he also became artistic director of the Cannes Film Festival followed by responsibilities as its executive director in 2007.
As a director, he presented two documentaries, ‘Lumiere’ in 2016, and ‘Lumière, l'aventure continue’ in 2020.
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