The Cairo International Film Festival opened its 47th edition Wednesday night with Peter Farrelly’s “I Play Rocky” and a pledge from its president, actor Hussein Fahmy, to draw younger audiences to Egyptian cinema as the event marks 50 years since its founding.
The festival runs through Nov. 20 and fills the Cairo Opera House with a program of 145 films from 64 countries, according to organizers. Mohamed Tarek serves as artistic director. Egyptian cinema gets its own platform in a Short Film Panorama of five titles, all making their world premieres.
The Egyptian Ministry of Culture backs the festival, which launched in 1976 and holds the top competitive accreditation from the producers’ federation FIAPF, one of only 15 festivals worldwide to do so and the only one in the Arab world or Africa. Opening night drew actors, filmmakers and industry figures from Egypt and abroad to the Opera House’s main hall.
Fahmy used the anniversary to sketch a plan. He said the festival’s long-term health depends on connecting new viewers with the classic films that made Cairo the region’s film capital. “As the festival gets older, I want it to become younger,” he said. He also tied the festival’s standing to viewers’ trust in its selections and juries, a point that carries extra weight this year.
Last month the festival pulled “Dancing Angels,” a Critics’ Week competition film by Turkish director Ferit Kılıç, from its lineup. It restored the invitation after producers appealed to European film bodies, but Kılıç declined to premiere the film in Cairo. Management said it acted after learning the circumstances and called the festival a space for open dialogue. Critics and the filmmakers’ representatives have described the original decision as censorship. The festival has denied that characterization, and in a 2016 episode involving Tamer El-Said’s “In the Last Days of the City,” it also rejected claims of political interference.
The festival’s restoration of Egypt’s Golden Age films, which organizers described last year as covering more than 1,400 titles, remains a central part of its pitch to younger Egyptians. Whether that effort can offset the credibility questions raised in recent weeks is likely to depend on what happens on screen over the next nine days.
