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the view
from cairo
Thursday, October 9,
2003
Cairo's screen
 The
27th Cairo International Film Festival has begun
The 27th
round of the Cairo International Film Festival was inaugurated by
Culture Minister Farouk Hosny on Tuesday night, in a star-studded
ceremony that paid tribute to the legends of both Arab and international
movie-making.
Amongst those
who were honored by the festival were the late Amina Rizk, the veteran
actress to whom this year’s round as a whole is dedicated. French
director Jean-Paul Rappeneau – whose latest film Bon Voyage was
screened at the opening – was given a lifetime achievement award,
while beautiful French actress Emmanuelle Beart received the Pyramid
Prize. American producer Mario Kassar – who for some reason did not
come out on stage to pick up his award – was also honoured for his
cinematic achievements.
Egyptian stars
Mahmoud Yassin and Naglaa Fathy, along with director Ali Badrakhan, also
picked up awards, as did Mila, the longtime film editor who worked on
Egyptian cinema’s first masterpieces.
Festival
President Cherif El-Shoubashy delivered his opening night speech in
three languages – Arabic, French and English – emphasizing his
belief that cinema represented a clear alternative to the forces of hate
and destruction that were so prominent in geopolitics today. El-Shoubashy
was forced to pause several times during his remarks because of the
number of mobile phones ringing amongst the audience. “Even though the
festival is sponsored by a mobile phone company,” El-Shoubashy said to
a resounding round of applause, “mobile phones are not allowed here at
the Opera House.”
 Another
highlight of the night was the introduction of the international jury
who will be judging the festival’s official competition. In true
French style, jury president Jean-Claude Brialy made a point of kissing
all of the women on stage on the cheek, much to the audience’s
amusement.
The
inauguration was capped by an entertaining performance called The Five
Continents’ Dance, involving dancers dressed up to represent different
world cinemas, each of whom emerged from a realistic looking train that
zoomed onto the stage. The stage itself was decorated to look like the
façade of the slickest of world cinemas, featuring lit-up posters from
some of the best movies being shown at the festival.
The opening
night film – Bon Voyage – was the film chosen by France to represent
it at next year’s Academy Awards. Starring Gerard Depardieu and Isabel
Adjani, the tale of a selfish actress’s thwarted love affairs set
during the German occupation of France, was a definite crowd pleaser,
marred only by a few unfortunate breaks in the projection near the
film’s end.
France is this
year’s festival’s Guest of Honour. Some 50 French films will be
screened over the next two weeks amongst over 200 films from 50 other
nations.
FOR
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE 2003 CAIRO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL VISIT WWW.CAIROFILMFEST.COM.
The site provides schedules of film showings, biographies of jury
members, and everything else you need to know about this premier
cultural event...
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