At the Ismailia Cultural Palace, Khairy Beshara spoke to dozens of prominent filmmakers and critics, recalling memories of his five-decade career in film and documentary making.
Beshara’s discussion, held amid the Celebration of Beginnings Program, also included a signing for his latest book; Cinema and Reality, published by the festival.
After the talk, three of Beshara’s early documentaries that had been restored by the festival were screened; The Seagull, Dairy of a Doctor in the Countryside, and The Tank Hunter.
The multi-award-winning Beshara, 74, is one of the most important Egyptian directors from the 1990s. He established the neo-realism genre with many significant films like The Collar and the Bracelet (1986), Bitter Day, Sweet Day (1988), Ice Cream in Gleam (1992), Abracadabra America (1993), Traffic Light (1995), Crab (1990), Wild Desire (1991), Strawberry War (1993) and Nutshell (1995).
Beshara requested attendees start his talk with a minute of silence to mourn the departure of Egyptian actor Zaki Fateen Abdel Wahab, who died in Cairo on the same day.
Under the presidency of director Saad Hendawy, the IIFF, which runs through Wednesday, is screening over 107 films from 31 countries participating in the various competitions and programmes.
"We Must Fight"
Earlier on Sunday, renowned French director Ladj Ly, 41, who heads the jury of the international competition, presented a masterclass that reflected his experience in documentary filmmaking.
“We must fight to make good documentaries,” stated Lu, the winner of the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival for Les Misérables in 2019, the same film that earned him an Academy Award nomination.
Moments of 23rd IIFF
Also on Sunday, the festival organisers launched a photography exhibition titled "Back To Film," as well as launching a production workshop presented by Producer Hossam Elwan, in addition to the ongoing animation workshop for kids.
On Saturday, a special tribute event was held to honour late Egyptian critic Hossam Weify, one day after another celebration was held for the 100th birthday of late documentary director Salah El-Tohamy.
The Son of Upper Egypt
At the opening on Thursday, Egyptian director Awwad Shoukry was celebrated for his work that include a number of documentaries and short films like The Earring, The Stone-pit, Upper Egypt Train, Snakes Hunter & The Train
The 1978-graduate of the High Cinema Institute, Shoukry, on Friday, discussed parts of his career amid a signing event for the book The Son of Upper Egypt, written by critic Safaa El-Laithy.
Many activities are being held at the festival that is organised under the authority of the culture ministry’s National Cinema Center, headed by Zainab Aziz.
It is sponsored by a number of public and private entities.
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