In the picturesque setting of the Salaheddin Citadel, overlooking Islamic Cairo, the 36th Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) kicked off on Sunday evening with Nayer Nagui conducting the Cairo Opera Orchestra while footage of previous rounds of the festival played on a large screen center stage. It was prominent young actor Asser Yassin who presented the ceremony, starting with a speech that celebrated the history of Egyptian cinema. For his part the festival president, veteran film critic Samir Farid thanked the ministries of tourism and youth as well as everyone who made the event possible. Composer Tamer Karawan had dedicated an original piece to the CIFF, which was now played. Presenting the Barakat Centennial, Yassin gave a brief introduction to the work of the late director Henry Barakat, a seminal figure in Egyptian cinema who would've been 100 this year. Footage of the celebrated actress, “Lady of the Arab Screen” Faten Hamama praising Barakat's style was followed by a slideshow of Barakat movie posters: The Sin, The Nightingale's Prayer, The Open Door, A Man in Our House, and many other classics. Together with photographs and paraphernalia, these posters are displayed in a special Al-Hanager Arts Centre exhibition curated by Safaa Al-Laithi. Another exhibition honours Emirati artist Najjat Mekki, whose work is the subject of a documentary screening in the festival. Yassin then introduced the festival's two independently curated programs: the International Critics Week (whose award, named after the late filmmaker Shadi Abdel-Salam, is given to first and second film directors); and Prospects of Arab Cinema, organised by the Film Syndicate (its jury including Mohamed Reda and Naguib Ayyad as well as the celebrated actress Laila Elwi). With a total of 60 films from 14 countries, on the other hand, the international competition boasts documentaries, feature and animation movies; its jury members include Nancy Abdel Fattah, Dominic Cabrera, Ibrahim Al-Arees, Haile Gerima, Mariam Naoum, Alexi Grivas, Corinne van Egeraat. Heading the jury is the Egyptian actress Youssra, who was there to thank screen idol Nadia Lutfi, one of the event's best-known honourees. Following a speech by Farid on french filmmaker Henry Langlois's work, 12 one-minute, mostly animation, movies about peace were played back to back. Towards the end theater actress Samiha Ayoub presented Moroccan screenwriter and critic Noureddine Sail — and Elwi, German filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff — with the Naguib Mahfouz Award Golden Pyramid. Lutfi, who could not appear in person, had taped a message to the audience, dedicating her prize to martyrs of the Egyptian revolution. “I attended the first round of the festival 36 years ago,” she said. “The festival has to succeed since it is a cultural face of our country, our national project and the frontline of our civilisation.” While the audience were still mulling over Lutfi's message, Minister of Culture Gaber Asfour announced the inauguration of the CIFF. GUESTS OF THE CIFF From one of the most active forces in contemporary Moroccan cinema to Ethiopia's most familiar cinematic face, Africa is well represented at the CIFF this year. But, in addition to Golden Pyramid recipient Noureddine Sail and international competition jury member Haile Gerima (Sankofa), the CIFF's high-profile guest list boasts artists and thinkers from the four corners of the earth. It includes Nancy Abdel-Fattah, a young Alexandrine cinematographer whose outstanding work has placed her in the front ranks of the local industry's higher echelons, as well as Wang Xiaoshuai (Beijing Bicycle; Red Amnesia) — born in 1966 — the Chinese silver screen's “Sixth Generation” emissary to Europe. Reflecting the festival's vision for Cairo as a crossroads of cultures, honourees and jury members embody artistic as well as geographical countries: confluences of interest and temperament that, straddling continents and disciplines within an individual mind, are both surprising and refreshing — as in the young Croatian film historian Daniel Rafaelic, an Egyptologist who specialises in WWII propaganda in the former Yugoslavia and the director of a documentary on the life and work of Orson Welles. Likewise Alexis Grivas: the veteran Greek director of photography, a product of Institut des Hautes Etudes Cinematographiques in Paris, specialises in promoting Mexican cinema. Corinne van Egeraat, a Dutchwoman, experiments with the personal stories of creative subjects, often in settings far removed from Europe. Dominique Cabrera, a Frenchwoman, was born and grew up in Algeria; as a film professor and documentary filmmaker, her vision is rooted in Arab soil. Veteran auteur Volker Schlöndorff arguably has a stronger connection with France than Germany; and Egyptian screen idol Nadia Lutfi was actually born to a Polish mother. Ibrahim Al-Ariss is perhaps the Arab world's best known film critic; he studied in Rome and London, worked on Turkish as well as Lebanese and Egyptian scripts. Beat Glur, the former president of the Swiss Film Critics Association, is as much a music as a film critic. Egyptian superstar Youssra, for her part, will be the first woman ever to head the jury of the CIFF. Youssra has demonstrated not only remarkable acting talent, notably with the late Youssef Chahine (1926-2008), but also a strong sense of community that has shown remarkable resilience in the face of Islamist smear campaigns, among other unmerited attacks. She is a spokesperson for the Arab woman, and a shining example of accomplishment. Spanning genders and generations as well as continents, however, no CIFF jury would be complete without the youngest generation of Egyptian film people: Mariam Naoum, a screenwriter and Fathy Amin, a member of the Egyptian Cinema Critics Association, add a future-oriented perspective to the mix. The writer is a freelance journalist
