The first is a photography exhibition titled Mohamed Bakr: 60 Years of Cinematic Legacy, which showcases the work of the renowned Egyptian photographer Mohamed Bakr over his 60-year career.

The second, titled Egyptian Cities Embracing Cinema, highlights how various Egyptian cities have been portrayed and preserved through cinema. It is powered by the official partner for art and design, Cairo Design District (CDD).

Both exhibitions take place at the Festival Plaza to celebrate Egyptian cinema and create a unique link, offering festival attendees an exceptional cinematic journey. 

Mohamed Bakr: 60 Years of Cinematic Legacy
 

At the entrance of the hall, Bakr's photographs are presented on large poster sheets hanging from the ceiling like curtains, taking visitors back in time.

The exhibition, curated by Photopia, showcases over 100 photos of Bakr’s cinematic work, selected from more than 2,000 films spanning the 1960s to the 2000s.

Bakr, born in 1937, began his career with director Hassan Al-Seifi and photographed nearly 80 percent of Egyptian films. His first professional photography was for the film Samara (1956). Bakr maintains an extensive archive of his father's work, dating back to the 1933 film Al Warda Al Beda (The White Rose).

Commenting on his exhibition during the opening ceremony, Bakr said, "Visitors will feel the emotion in every frame. I always aimed to merge photography with cinema, capturing movement in still shots, as though you're watching a film.”

Bakr’s photography features iconic scenes with the faces of Faten Hamama, Soad Hosni, Omar Sharif, Lubna Abdel-Aziz, Ahmed Mazhar, and many others.

Egyptian Cities Embracing Cinema
 

As visitors continue deeper into the hall, they encounter the second exhibition that provides an unusual experience of video illustrations screening particular scenes from Bab Al-Hadid (Cairo Station) by Youssef Chahine, showcasing every detail of Cairo’s Ramses train station.

Small screens on the sides are equipped with headphones for visitors who wish to learn more about specific cities in Egypt as documented in films.

The second exhibition is a multimedia show curated by Shereen Farghal, powered by CDD and supported by the Sawiris Foundation.

The exhibition was inspired by filmmaker Marina Ibrahim — the daughter of Egyptian researcher Ibrahim Messiha — who conducted extensive studies on Egyptian cities portrayed in cinema. Her work examines how these locations enhance cinematic narratives and pays homage to them, embedding these cities into the audiences’ collective memory and their culture and heritage.

The exhibition showcases video clips curated from over 50 films, documenting the cinematic history of Egyptian cities. It emphasizes that these locations were not merely backdrops for films, but essential elements of visual storytelling that enhanced cultural narratives by seamlessly integrating each city’s unique history and character.

Messiha, a historian, film critic, and member of the Egyptian Writers Union, began groundbreaking research on Egyptian cities and regions featured in films in 2003. He catalogued films shot in Fayoum, his hometown, from the earliest days of cinema. Over time, his research expanded to include other regions, such as Luxor, Aswan, Alexandria, Marsa Matrouh, Cairo, the Canal cities, Sinai, the Red Sea, and the Oases.

Sherine Farghal commented, "I am honoured to be part of the Egyptian Cities Embracing Cinema exhibition. As a technical supervisor and cinematic scenery designer, I have long felt the need to emphasize cinema's role in preserving Egypt’s visual identity. This exhibition is a golden opportunity to convey this message. Beyond its artistic and cultural impact, cinema is a rich visual archive that preserves Egypt's beauty and authenticity for future generations.”

The festival's artistic director, Marianne Khoury, expressed her happiness, saying: "Seeing this exhibition come to life fills me with immense joy. It all started with a conversation during last year’s CineGouna 'EMERGE' programme, where a participant mentioned her father’s extensive research on Egyptian cities that embraced cinema."

Marwa Abou Leila, Executive Director of Photopia, explained that the idea for the exhibition "stemmed from a meeting with Amr Mansi, aiming to host a photography exhibition focusing on Egyptian cinema. A new dimension was added when we collaborated with Shereen Farghal’s exhibition, which celebrates the key cities that served as backdrops for major Egyptian films.

During this process, we discovered that Mohamed Bakr had documented some of the films selected by Shereen Farghal, which will be exhibited separately in Bakr’s showcase. This unique collaboration links the two exhibitions, offering a one-of-a-kind cinematic experience for GFF attendees."