43rd Cairo International Film Festival opens in major celebration

Ahram Online , Saturday 27 Nov 2021

The opening ceremony of the 43rd Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) - with more than 100 films including 34 world premieres - took place at the Cairo Opera House on Friday.

Ciff

The opening ceremony opened with a red carpet event featuring a large number of movie stars and filmmakers from Egypt, Arab countries and around the world, as well as a large number of journalists, media professionals, and prominent personalities.

The opening ceremony, which was MCed by Mona Abdel-Wahab, began with actors Khaled El-Sawy and Ali Rabie presenting a comedy segment about the role of cinema in supporting the culture of difference.

In his opening remarks, renowned producer and scriptwriter Mohamed Hefzy, who is presiding over the CIFF for the fourth consecutive year, said that the support and encouragement he received over the years of his presidency of the festival was a great motivator for him to continue working on developing the festival and improving its positioning on the international arena.

A short video was screened featuring the most prominent actors who recently left our world, including Souheir El-Babli, Ezzat El-Alayli, Youssef Shaaban, Samir Ghanem, Dalal Abdel-Aziz, among others.

Hefzy then invited the Minister of Culture Ines Abdel-Dayem to officially launch the 43rd edition of CIFF.

In her speech, Abdel-Dayem emphasised the state's permanent support to the festival and to the culture scene at large.

She expressed her pride in the current positioning of CIFF among international film festivals, reminding the audience that CIFF is the only such event in the Arab world ranked "A" category by the International Federation of Producers in Paris (FIAPF).

The MC then announced the names of films participating in the international competition,  jury members, and films competing in various categories.

This was followed by a performance of the song "Cinema Al-Hayat" by composer Hani Shenouda and singer Hind Abdel-Halim.

Renowned actress Mona Zaki presented artist Karim Abdel-Aziz with the Faten Hamama Award for Excellence for his remarkable career.

Abdel-Aziz expressed his gratitude thanking the festival as well as his father, the great director Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, and his mother and wife.

The high honour of the festival, Golden Pyramid Award for Lifetime Achievement, was then given to renowned Egyptian actress Nelly by Samir Sabry - another renowned Egyptian actor who co-starred with Nelly on many occasions over the decades.

The activities of the 43rd Cairo International Film Festival will continue until 5 December presenting films that include numerous world premieres, in addition to workshops, seminars and Cairo Industry Days set to kick off on 1 December.

All events are held in accordance with preventative mesures set by the Egyptian government and the World Health Organization to ensure the safety of the participating filmmakers, the public, and the festival's staff.

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