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The Cairo International Film
Festival
What’s Hot and What’s Not?
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The
Russian Film Bless the Woman
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Watching
an average of three films from different parts of the world every single day for
10 days in a row was one of the most enjoyable assignments I have had since the
beginning of my career as a writer and an enriching experience by all means. For
me, like many Egyptian movie lovers who lack exposure to any kind of foreign
films other than American ones—and even those are restricted to particular
genres—the Cairo International Film Festival has been a wonderful opportunity
to learn a lot about other cultures as portrayed by their artists, as well as
about the film-making techniques in different countries.
This
year, the quality of the films taking part in the official competition of the
festival was notably better than those of the previous sessions of the festival.
The majority of the films were either very well made and put together, or at
least had unique ideas or techniques that would catch the attention and provoke
a lot of inner feelings and thoughts, a phenomenon that must have made it
difficult for the jury to finally decide which filmmakers will go back home
carrying the prizes and which will go back with empty hands.
The
Awards
The
Best Film Prize, The Golden Pyramid, went to the Italian film Guardians of the
Clouds, directed by Luciano Odorisio, in appreciation for what the jury called
“the wonderful dramatic buildup and the director’s brilliance in plunging
the audience into the depth of emotion, and faithfully portraying an important
period of Italian history that glorifies love, friendship, family, and
patriotism.” Through the story of a big Italian family and several conflicts
in society, the director creates a lively image of Italy in the post-war era.
The
Russian Film Bless the Woman, directed by Stanislav Govorukhin, received a
well-deserved Special Jury Prize, The Silver Pyramid. The movie tells the story
of a simple Russian woman from the innocence of her early days until she ends up
as an ageing, sad woman, and illustrates with great warmth and effectiveness all
the pain and suffering that she goes through because of marriage, war, and loss
of loved ones.
The
Best First or Second Work of a Director, the Naguib Mahfouz Prize, went to the
French director Safy Nebbou for his film The Giraffe’s Neck, a movie about a
nine-year-old girl who has lived alone with her mother since her parents got
divorced and her grandfather underwent a heart operation which permanently
confined him to a nursing home. One day the girl finds letters from her
grandmother, who she thought was dead, as her mother and grandfather had told
her. The three characters, representing three different generations, start
looking for the grandmother in search of the purity of love, the righteousness
of the warmth of security, and the shadows of a past which is ever present.
In addition to this prize, the actress playing the role of the little girl
Louisa Pili received a special mention from the jury for her role.
Festival
Highlights
One
of the major highlights of the official competition of the festival was the
Iranian movie The Crime, directed by Mohammad Ali Sajjadi. The novel cinematic
language, the rhythm of the screenplay, the depth and sensitivity of the story,
and the subtlety of the acting are only a few qualities to mention. It was
interesting to see the highly advanced level the Iranian filmmakers have
reached, and also quite surprising given the conservative nature of the country
and all the restrictions filmmakers have to abide by. It was not surprising that
the movie received a special mention from the festival’s jury although it
deserved a lot more than that.
One
of the movies that stood out from the crowd was the Slovakian movie Autumn, Yet,
Strong Love directed and produced by Zita Furkova. It is a very unique and
relatively short movie about the complexity of a relationship between an ageing
music composer and a young girl. He meets her by mere coincidence at the
beginning of the movie, and she leads him through an emotional and mental
rollercoaster of feelings, realities, and dreams within the next hour of the
movie. Based on a highly sensitive script, the movie has a lot of human touches
and a profound story-telling technique that completely disregards,
intentionally, some major facts such as the names the characters, thus adding to
the vagueness, and at the same time, the universality of the story. The film
takes the spectator on a mysterious journey of ups and downs where one can find
oneself laughing at a moment and crying from despair at another. Too bad it did
not receive any awards, but I still believe it was worth mentioning.
The
Egyptian Cinema
Even
though the Egyptian director and producer Inas El-Degheidy received the Best
Arab Film Award for her Al-Bahethat`an Al-Horeyya (Searching for Freedom); and
the Egyptian actress Nelly Kareem, the award for the best actress for her role
in Enta Omry (My Soul Mate), which she truly earned; the two Egyptian films
taking part in the festival were not up to the standards and disappointed those
who interpreted the strong participation of Egypt in the festival as a sign that
the Egyptian film industry is on the way out of its crisis. They were surely
proven wrong. Enta Omry is a romantic tragedy with a sensitive story and
talented actors, but the directness of the dialogue and the slow pace of the
movie spoiled even the saddest moments. Al-Bahethat`an Al-Horeyya tackles an
important issue, which is the lack of freedom in Arab communities, and the
attempts of three young women to regain this lost freedom by fleeing to Paris.
Still the movie lacked unity, rhythm, and strong acting skills. I personally
believe that the Tunisian and Moroccan films that took part in the competition
were much more worthy of the Best Arab Film Award.
In
addition to the movies participating in the festival, over a hundred other films
were screened as part of different sections parallel to the official
competition, such as the Italian Classics, New Italian Cinema, New Arab Cinema,
Latin American Cinema, and the Festival of Festivals, providing the audience
with different tastes and alternatives from all over the world.
*Mohammad
Shawky is a graduating senior in the American University of Cairo. He is majoring in business administration but is also passionate about
education and learning, social development, performing arts, and creative
writing.
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