The Importance of This Year’s Cairo Film Festival
By: Pamela Dimitrova/Arab America Contributing Writer
The year of 2019 has been one of many historical firsts for the 41st edition of the Cairo International Film Festival. As not only the region’s oldest and largest annual film festival but also the only internationally accredited one in the Middle East and Africa, the CIFF has a longstanding legacy of bridging the Arab cinematic world with the global industry. This year, CIFF also became the first Arab film festival to sign the 5050×2020 gender equality pledge, committing to empowering women and increasing transparency about issues of gender disparity in the Middle Eastern film industry.
Keeping Egyptian Cinema Rooted
Egypt’s cinema came to the scene in the 1920s after Aziza Amir, a theatre actress who had seen films in Paris, used her contacts to set up a production company in Cairo. The early days of developing Egyptian cinema was largely due to women, notes Magda Wassef, a film historian of Arab cinema and former president of the Cairo Film Festival.
The first feature film in 1927, Leila, demonstrated the potential of the industry. The 1930s then saw cinema further expand with the creation of the Misr studio financed by philanthropist Talaat el-Harb, who has his own square in downtown Cairo. The studio would finance the studies of Egyptians to go abroad who would then return and share the knowledge. 1936 marked the big moment for Egyptian cinema when the film Wedad starring up and coming musician Oum Kalthoum, was screened at the Venice film festival to much praise.
The model for Egypt’s cinema came from Hollywood, Wassef told RFI : “Egyptian cinema followed Hollywood in creating an Egyptian star system.”
At the time, Egypt was very cosmopolitan, and its doors were open in particular to those from all over to come help develop cinema. However, Following the surge of avant-garde cinema during the 60s and 70s, the political films of the 80s, the 90s saw Egyptian cinema take a dive.
The demise of the film industry in Egypt doesn’t mean it’s dead. “I think there’s much important potential in Egypt. There’s a whole new generation [of filmmakers] who create films without following traditional ways,” notes the film historian. Added to that is the growing importance of the festivals, such as CIFF, which was created in 1976, based on the Berlin festival.
Gender Equality Pledge
CIFF is one of 60 film festivals from around the globe to have signed the pledge, which was launched at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018 to ensure women’s equality in film. Venice, Toronto, New York, and London film festivals are amongst the pledgees, and CIFF made things official with a signing of the pledge at a screening of ‘Scales’ by Saudi filmmaker Shahad Ameen, at this year’s festival.
CIFF President Mohamed Hefzy said the festival already had a good track record in terms of female representation. He noted that at last year’s edition, the festival had put the spotlight on female filmmakers with a showcase celebrating eight women who had made an impact on Arab cinema. It comprised Hala Khalil’s Nawara, Hala Lotfi’s Coming Forth By Day, Mai Masri’s 3000 Nights, Annemarie Jacir’s Wajib, Haifaa Al-Mansour’s Wadja, Kaouther Ben Hania’s Beauty and the Dogs, Sofia Djama’s The Blessed and Nujoom Al-Ghanem’s Sharp Tools.
Under the pledge, festivals commit to compiling statistics recording the gender of the filmmakers and key crew of all submissions; improve transparency around selection processes by publicly listing the members of its selection and programming committees, and to work towards parity on their executive boards. Hefzy said that when he first reviewed the commitments stated in the pledge he was happy to find that most of the conditions related to the festival’s organization were already fulfilled.
The Durban Film Festival in South Africa is the only other African festival to have signed the pledge to date.
Delphyne Besse of France’s Collectif 50/50, who has been a driving force behind rolling out the charter worldwide said: “We’re extremely happy that Cairo has decided to sign the pledge, showing their attachment to the issue of equality and inclusion in the Arab region. We hope many other festivals in the region will follow their lead.”
Supporting Arab Filmmakers
Aspiring Arab filmmakers can also win up to USD 200,000-worth of monetary support for yet-to-be-completed projects. Additionally, the Cairo Film Festival has teamed up with the Red Sea Film Festival in order to support producers. The Red Sea International Film Festival will award an opportunity to a team of filmmakers attending the Cairo Film Connection to participate in the inaugural Red Sea Souk, the international industry market taking place in Jeddah, from March 13 to 16, 2020.
The chosen project’s director and producer will receive registration, travel, and accommodation to attend the Project Market of the Red Sea Souk, where they will pitch their project to more than 150 industry leaders. A total of 20 teams will participate in the Project Market, including 12 developed through the Red Sea Lodge. Pitching sessions will be followed by three intensive days of one-on-one meetings, with the best projects securing funding and backing for their films.
The Red Sea International Film Festival’s industry program will allow international film executives to connect with the regional and local film industry. Programs will include workshops, talks, masterclasses, and networking to generate awareness of the Saudi and Arab film scenes amongst new audiences.
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