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The Festival has always been a great opportunity for who are interested in cinema—particularly non-American
films
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To
cover the 27th Cairo International Film Festival for journalistic
purposes is to overextend the festival's purpose and capabilities. One has to
take the bitter with the sweet and enjoy the experience for what it is in order
to enrich one's time and intellect, but the irony still holds.
Being a moviegoer and a resident of Cairo, the Cairo film festival has always
been a great opportunity for me, along with others who are interested in
cinema—particularly non-American films. The typical sluggish organizational
problems, and distinctive Egyptian apathy towards punctuality and enjoying a
‘quiet’ movie experience have all been sources of tears and of laugher—but
this year surpassed all others.
The Organizing Committee of the festival made the same old promises, but to no
avail: the same problems were still there; Movie schedules were changed without
prior notice, even worse, an Algerian movie that was part of the official
competition was never shown at all!
Would that that were all. The festival was no less than a political feast; in
the entire selection of the official competition, “art for arts sake” was
definitely lacking! One could effortlessly map—or rather scheme—the themes
of the gathering, just by casually looking at the festival catalogue. This was
echoed in the final awards.
Palestine
, women issues, human rights, traditional taboos, Irish-English
controversy---all these issues were represented.
There were many concurrent groupings for films and a lot of homage. Amongst
these are 'Spotlights on the New South Korean Cinema', 'New German Cinema', 'Bollywood'
(Indian Hollywood), and, of course, the intriguing 'Arab Women Directors'. In
addition, the conference was yet another expression of the effect and the
interest of
France
in the Egyptian cultural stage; homage was paid to many French cinema figures,
French pictures, and French co-productions.
Of course, the French joint production (even with Arab counterparts) was not
impartial. It had a precise agenda and that was obvious in several pictures; one
can take Kite and Rashida as shining examples. All the old clichés are
brought to the surface. In Rashida religious terrorists were completely
demonized, portrayed in the same way as Darth Vader in Star wars—absolute
evil. The film abounded with their wicked acts; with or without reason. It is
not that one sympathizes with them or their acts, but it is a pre-packed (mis-)representation.
Kite, although far more artistic and humane, still had the usual type casting,
albeit to a lesser degree. Kite is a love story set in a Druze Lebanese village
divide by Israeli occupation, and it was obvious that this film came out of the
same package.
The Prizes
The awards were just too much to stomach this year. One cannot deny that what is
going on with the Palestinians is heartbreaking, so one must admire the
capability to produce any picture under the circumstances. In spite of
everything, one should not put on an artificial smile and say a movie is good
simply because it is Palestinian. No, Olive Harvest is not a great movie,
and it did not deserve to win the Silver Pyramid trophy. It certainly made a big
noise for narrating the story of two brothers, one of whom believes in
normalization with
Israel
(whoops!) and their rivalry to win the heart of their cousin during the olive
harvest time.
Compare it with, to say the least, the fantastic Divine Intervention, the
credible winner of the Grand Jury Prize, Cannes 2002, and you will see the
difference. Many showings were replaced with it (of course without prior
notice), and satisfied the flow of people who had heard about the successful
Arab movie, despite the Arab media’s neglect of it. The plot, editing, and
screenplay of the Olive Harvest were all weak. Adding fuel to the fire, Olive
Harvest—in a move to show how politics can overshadow arts—should not
have even been in the official competition to begin with; it was produced two
years ago! It gets worse, the film was also a part of the Biennial Arab Cinema
festival in Paris; another violation of the regulations of the festival!
Add to this list the Egyptian movie, Girls' Dreams, which was announced
to be part of the official competition only a week before the festival began
(how many violations so far?). Yet another 'political' complementary to the
dying Egyptian cinema industry--no pity, please!
The other winners were as follows:
The Father, the story of a life of toil, dressed up with a pinch of
satisfaction and ambition, made this Chinese production win both the Best
Director and Best Actor awards. It is a very touching story of a father's,
actually an entire family's, struggle with finances, work, marriage of the kids
and social obstacles.
The psychosomatic Hungarian love tale, Down with Love, uncomplicated yet
artistically sophisticated, won the Best Artistic Contribution Prize. Definitely
a good call. The picturesque and almost mute tones of the Indonesia's the Strin
less Violin, won the Naguib Mahfouz (second artistic) Prize; a story of rape
and a journey of self-discovery through musical salvation—truly skillful. The
Iranian tour de force Fifth Reaction, won Best Screen Play. I had hoped
that it would get more prizes—as it truly deserved them. The two actresses,
Sandrine Kiberlain and Sylvie Testud jointly won the Best Actress Prize for
their roles in the amusing comic picture Filles Uniques (Sole Sisters).
The festival, as experience, is not about prizes, is not about organization. It
is about the great opportunity to encounter the cinematic expression of other
cultures, art and life forces.
Tarek
A. Ghanem is a staff writer and editor of the Contemporary Issues
page of IslamOnline.net. He is specialized in comparative politics and
contemporary Islam. You can reach him at t.ghanem@islam-online.net
