Egyptian directors Youssef Chahine, Shady Abdel-Salam, Salah Abou Seif, Tawfik Saleh, Mohamed Khan and Khairy Beshara are among 11 Arab filmmakers whose films will be recognised at the 16th edition of the Mumbai Film Festival.

The festival, which kicks off next week, is running in a category entitled Celebration of Arab Cinema, crowning giants from Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

Other sections of the festival include: Dimensions Mumbai, Director's Choice, Flm India Worldwide, India Gold 2014, Retrospective of Russian Films, Rendez Vous with French Cinema, etc. This year, the festival will screen 185 films from more than 65 countries.

The Egyptian films that will be screened as part of this year's edition are: Cairo Station (“Bab El-Hadid”) by Youssef Chahine, The Mummy (Al-Mummyaa) by Shady Abdel-Salam, Fools' Alley (Darb El-Mahabeel) by Tawfik Saleh, The Beginning and The End (Bidaya Wa Nehaya) by Salah Abou Seif, The Collar and The Bracelet (El-Tok wa El-Eswera) by Khairy Beshara in addition to Dreams of Hind and Kamillia as well as The Wife of An Important Man (Zawgat Ragol Mohem), both of which are directed by Mohamed Khan. 

The festival will also celebrate veteran Syrian director Mohamed Malas, Tunisian filmmaker and critic Ferid Boughadir, Algerian director and scriptwriter Merzak Allouache, French-Moroccan director Ismael Ferroukhi and Oscar-nominated Palestinian filmmaker Hani Abu Assad. 

Accordingly, the festival will screen Dreams of the City (by Malas), Halfaouine: Boy of the Terraces (Boughadir), Bab el Oued City (Allouache), The Big Journey (Ferroukhi) and Omar (Abu Assad). 

The Mumbai Film Festival programme is divided into nine sections and will run between 16 and 21 October.