The 37th annual Cairo International Film Festival opened Wednesday at the Cairo Opera House in the presence of Minister of Culture Helmy El-Namnam and festival president Magda Wassef.

The night opened with short films on three late Egyptian actors who are being honoured by this year's festival: Faten Hamama, Nour El-Sherif and Omar Sharif. All three will have their work commemorated with retrospectives during the festival, and books on each of the trio are also set to be released.

The short film on Hamama featured late Egyptian poet Abdel-Rahman El-Abnudi reading a poem dedicated to the actress.

Next, the stage hosted this year's international jury committee, headed by British producer Paul Webster, and including French producer Anne-Dominique Toussaint, Egyptian actress Dalia El-Behery, Peruvian director Jonathan Relayze Chiang, Indian actress Radhika Apte, Moroccan director Laila Marrakchi, Egyptian director Marwan Hamed, and Georgian director George Ovashvili.

This year’s festival features a total of 120 films, with 16 films from 14 different countries participating in the main competition.

The festival’s parallel programmes were also introduced during the opening, including Horizons of Arab Cinema, organised by the Cinematic Professions Syndicate, headed by director Mosaad Foda and run by screenwriter Sayed Fouad; Cairo Film Critics Week, organised by the Egyptian Film Critics Association, headed by critic Mohsen Gwify, ad run by director Ahmed Hassouna; and The Cinema Of Tomorrow International Competition, organised by the Higher Institute of Cinema, headed by Ghada Gobara, dean of the institute, and run by director Saad Hindawy.

This year, the festival will also host an International Film Forum, run by director Maggie Morgan under the supervision of screenwriter and producer Mohamed Hefzy. The festival will also hold a film directing and cinematography workshop, under the supervision of cinematographer Mona El-Sabban.

El-Namnam welcome attendees to Egypt, “the home of civilization, art and culture.” The country, he said, was facing “an array of challenges” but would show itself capably of transcending them through “culture, arts, freedom, justice, integrity, humanism, and equality.”

Next, the stage welcomed the children of Hamama, Tarek Omar Sharif and Nadia Zoulfakar, to give out the Faten Hamama award, which went to Indian director Farah Khan and Egyptian actress Nelly Karim.

Another award bearing Hamama’s name, the Faten Hamama Lifetime Achievement Award, went to Italian actress Claudia Cardinal, who described her happiness with the award saying, “it is a great honour and [source of] pride for me to receive this award that bears the name of the great Faten Hamama. This reminds us of her memory, but also the memory of Omar [Sharif].”

The award also went to Egyptian actor Hussein Fahmy. “I am so happy to be here, and to receive an award that bears the name of the great Faten Hamama,” Fahmy said. “I’m also happy that my colleagues and friends Omar Sharif and Nour El-Sherif are being honoured in this edition,” he continued.  

The festival will also feature a retrospective of Fahmy's work.

Following the ceremony, this year’s opening film, Ricki and the Flash, starring Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline and directed by Jonathan Demme, was screened.

The festival runs until 20 November, with daily film screenings held at the Cairo Opera House.

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