The 46th Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF), headed by Hussein Fahmi, has continued to enhance its exceptional legacy. It has made the head of International Competition jury one the world’s most widely acclaimed auteurs, the Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan. It has programmed widely and engagingly across a range of activities. And it has presented a clear vision of relevant topics and issues of interest to both viewers and the industry. This was vividly played out in a fascinating panel discussion on the opening day, “Digital Restoration: Reviving Arab Cinema’s Visual Heritage”, moderated by Maggie Morgan. The speakers included Hussein Fahmi, Tamer El Said, Ossen El Sawaf and Stefanie Schulte Strathaus. Fahmi expressed his view on the significance of restoring and preserving Egyptian cinematic heritage in digital form considering that ideal storing conditions aren’t always available. He also answered a question about colouring black and white films saying it is betrayal of the filmmaker’s vision and the way viewers first saw the film.
Veteran director Mohamed Abdel-Aziz received the Golden Pyramid Honorary Award for Lifetime Achievement at the opening ceremony. The event was followed by a masterclass he gave, “The Secrets of Cinematic Comedy”, moderated by film critic Osama Abdel-Fattah. The esteemed director remarked said he was honoured by this recognition of a journey that starts in the 1960s through which he believes he has been heir to legacy of figures like Salah Abu-Seif and Youssef Chahine. He added that, besides his films, he has directed around 20 TV series and three plays.
“Comedy found me,” Abdel-Aziz said. “I didn’t pursue it.” After graduating, he assisted Abu-Seif and Hussein Kamel, another esteemed director, making his debut feature film, Emraa Min Al-Qahira (A Woman from Cairo). Two years later he followed the advice of filmmaker Helmi Halim who had encouraged him to explore the comedy genre. He did this so well critics described him as “Fatin Abdel Wahab’s successor”, as he is sometimes still called. “Some believe that tragic films are the serious ones,” the director said, “while comedy is mere entertainment, but to me, comedy is far more serious because it is tied to society and its behaviour.” Abdel-Aziz recalled an incident with comedy superstar Adel Imam, when he rejected the screenplay of the film Al-Baad Yadhab lil Maazoun Marteen (Some Go to the Marriage Officiant Twice) thinking that it wouldn’t succeed. But Abd El Aziz insisted on making the film and after its release, Imam was shocked by its huge success.
During the seminar, actress Elham Shahin spoke about her relationship with the great director, describing him as a “generous guiding hand” in her career. She confirmed that he discovered her as a comedian and theatrical actress through the play Bahloul in Istanbul, which achieved significant success both in Egypt and abroad. She noted that she trained for a month and performed the play for five full years, adding that Abd El Aziz changed how producers viewed her, opening a new door to her on her artistic journey.
Abd El-Aziz expressed his passion for teaching at the Higher Institute of Cinema, affirming that it feels like his first home, enabling him to connect constantly with a new generation. He remarked, “Teaching is a form of creativity... Our generation blended teaching with artistic work, resulting in significant creativity. If Hussein Fahmy had continued directing, he would have been an exceptional director.”
Another panel discussion worth highlighting, part of the Cairo Industry Days, was “Arab Cinema Rising: From Local to Global”. Moderated by Mohamed Allal, it featuredproducer Alaa Karkouti , director Sara Mansanet Royo, filmmakers Tarzan and Arab Nasser, and actor Ahmed Malek. They discussed how Arab films start their journeys from local screens to world festivals. Listening to the Nasser brothers’ vision for cinema was a delight.
In recent years, the twin brothers’ witty, resonant take on life in Gaza has felt both fresh and profound. Their award-winning hit Gaza mon amour (2020), which evokes the horrors of the occupation, focuses on a couple: Issa (Salim Daw), a 60-year-old fisherman, and Siham (the iconic Hiam Abbas), a widow living with her divorced daughter Leila, both seamstresses at a women’s clothing store in the market where Issa sells his of fish. In this way the film shows exactly what it is like to live restricted lives, their bounds dictated by an occupying force. Their debut feature, Degrade (2015), features ten women trapped at the hairdresser’s in Gaza, unable to leave after a battle between the Hamas police and local gang breaks out. Condom Lead (2013), a short film I saw at El Gouna Film Festival last year, follows a couple’s attempt to make love under Israeli bombardment.
The Nassers’ new film, Once Upon a Time in Gaza, screened in the International Competition, is a revenge thriller that blends elements of action with their usual witty comedy and provocative humour. The film opens with Trump’s bizarre statement that Gaza should become the Riviera of the Middle East even though events start much earlier, in 2007, while the Gaza City is under Israeli siege. The camera follows Osama (Majd Eid), a hulking, charismatic figure who owns a falafel shop, as he sells illegal painkillers concealed in the falafel sandwiches. His assistant Yehia (Nader Abd Alhay), is the complete opposite: a shy, anxious young man with a tiny body. Osama is followed by a corrupt police officer Abu Sami (Ramzi Maqdisi), who wants him to work as an informant; when he refuses and and threatens to expose the officer’s corruption, things turn very ugly.
Two years later, Yehia is still traumatized by how things ended with Osama, sitting alone in a coffee shop when a filmmaker approaches him. As it turns out Yehia looks very much like militant whose funeral is shown at the start of the film; they want to cast him to play the role of the martyr in a film funded by Gaza’s Ministry of Culture. When the shooting starts, Yehia finds himself in a set where the weapons are real and are really fired, since this is cheaper than special effects. The film is influenced by Gaza’s current situation, tracing its origins in 2007: no viewer can miss the allusions to what is happening now, with sandwiches wrapped in the news and Palestinian actors accidentally terrorising passers by when they show up in IDF uniforms.
However, in a subtle critique of Hamas during one meeting with the filmmaker and the producers, Yehia remembers Abu Sami who suddenly walks in to meet the producers showing his strong relationship with them; and Yehia seems to want to take revenge for Osama. But Abu Sami makes sure this won’t be so easy. A flashback at the end shows how Yehia and Osama first meet. There are a few temporal jump that might prove confusing but focusing on the three characters makes for a powerful narrative, and many incidents required courage and experimentation. Though perhaps not as moving to me as Gaza Mon Amour, Once Upon a Time in Gaza’s choice of Majd Eid gives the drama a forceful kick as his presence on screen is unmatched, and complemented with the cinematography of Christophe Graillot and an Orientally inflected score by Amine Bouhafa, the effect is both powerful and new.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 20 November, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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