The 44th Cairo International Film Festival is witnessing the 5th edition of Cairo Industry Days, a platform that provides a space for industry-related discussions, meetings, workshops and lectures. In past years, Cairo Industry Days provided opportunities for young filmmakers to establish collaborations between Egyptian and Arab talents as well as some of the most important international figures in the world of cinema.
This year a new team has been appointed Cairo Industry Days driver to elevate its status by introducing new masterclasses, workshops and different topics for panel discussions, focusing on practical and in-depth mentoring.
Q: Tell us more about your passion for festivals and cinema.
Reem Allam (RA): It all started in 2016 when I decided to do a Master’s in Arts Festivals and Cultural Management, in Edinburgh, Scotland. It’s what you can call a festivals’ city. I wanted to explore festivals in particular because I felt there is this kind of communal feeling and collective consciousness when people attend them.
When I was abroad, I worked with several international festivals as curatorial advisor such as the German festival Theater Der Wel’ and on the jury board in festivals such as the Zürich Theater Spektakel, then when I returned to Egypt I worked as the executive manager of Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival (D-CAF). I have been working on a relatively new concept called Immersive Film Events, which focuses on the location of the film screening which has to match the film itself.
But my passion for cinema started when I was a teenager, watching a lot of movies from all over the world and following film festivals.
Q: What do the Cairo Industry Days feature this year and how different is the event in comparison with previous years?
RA: Cairo Industry Days have around 17 events, which range between masterclasses, workshops, panel discussions and conversations. One of the directions we wanted to take is multi-day and practical hands-on workshops. We are proud to have the prominent Hungarian director Béla Tarr coming for the festival and giving a nine-day on-the-ground workshop. I consider us lucky to have someone with such status to dedicate time and effort to give this workshop.
Also, there is another workshop in collaboration with American Film Independent, which will have a cinematographer-mentor to teach the participants about different light settings and venues in five days.
We are hosting Cairo Industry Youth Day for cinema students like last year but this time it will be a bit different. We are focusing mainly on the production process, from the moment you have a complete written script and you are looking for fundraising, to the three focal production steps - pre-production, the actual executive production, and the post production - then we end by discussing film distribution. The main facilitator of the workshop is Mohamed Taymour who is a producer who won the Palme d’Or for short films at Cannes Film Festival, and there will be three guest speakers who will be talking about their experiences in production in order to help inspire the students and give them valuable insights.
I call it a festival within a festival because it’s like shooting a movie within a festival.
Q: How did you choose the participants who are going to attend the master class with Béla Tarr and Naomi Kawasi?
RA: Choosing participants is not an easy task, we started by announcing an open call on our website, a large number of people applied so we had to do a filtration to reduce the number, then the mentor, Béla Tarr, chose the final ones. Same happened with the Script Development workshop, which will be given by prominent Egyptian scriptwriter Mariam Naoum.
By the way, some participants are from outside of Cairo and the festival is covering their travel and accommodation, which is something that I am really proud of. It’s an opportunity for talented youth who unfortunately don’t have access to such workshops and events in their governorates.
Q: It is interesting knowing that you have a deal with a huge company such as Netflix, give us more insight about it?
RA: Yes, we are collaborating with Netflix and are proud that they’re sending us Benjamin Perry this, the VFX manager of Netflix Middle East and North Africa. He will share the latest developments in visual effects or what he calls the “spectacular trick” and will show us a range of new effects that they are using nowadays in Netflix’s production from basics to advanced.
Q: Tell us also about the panels that Cairo Industry Days is hosting.
RA: We wanted to discuss topics that are considered challenging to the industry. So, one of the topics that I thought was very interesting is Green Filming, this idea resonates and reflects the responsibility the film industry has and the role it should be playing, especially that Egypt is hosting the COP27 at the same time. So we have the owner of a Jordanian organization called Greener Screen coming. They published a guide for Arab producers on how to produce a film in a more environmental way.
In addition, Lebanese producer Myriam Sassine who produced a film based entirely on this guide, is coming. It’s a great and unfamiliar case study. Also, there are American producers who will show their films that talk about environmental issues. Of course, the topic itself is critical and we wanted to stress on it.
Another panel is about the new wave of Saudi cinema, which is a booming scene nowadays in the Gulf. It is done in collaboration with the Saudi Film Commission that is also be giving incentives and grants to support film productions.
The Life Cycle of a Film Post Theatrical Release is a more advanced panel that focuses on how to utilize the film after being screened. The panel includes speakers like the director Amr Salama, Aya Medhat from Shahed platform, Amanda Turnbull founder of Rise Studios, and Gianluca Chakra Front Row Entertainment distribution company.
Finally, the last panel is just as unique. It gives an inside look at the job of a film programmer and the dimensions and elements that go into choosing films for festivals. The panelists are top notch film programmers from international festivals like the Toronto Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival and more.
This profession is still ambiguous here in Egypt and that’s why we are trying to shed some light on it.
Q: What is your vision and hope for the upcoming years for Cairo Industry Days?
RA: I have a lot of hopes and ideas for the future, but for the time being I will wait and see the topics that will resonate with people, and evaluate them and their impact on the participants. And we’ll build on their success to create more developed and in-depth events in upcoming years that can help the film industry and filmmakers.
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This article was originally published in CIFF's daily Bulletin. 18 November 2022, issue 5.
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