More for the photo opportunity?

Actress Youssra (right) was the host of the evening, and in a very slinky dress and accompanied by heavy breathing born of nervousness she went through the jury list, introducing each person in a badly staged mix of English and Arabic, saved only by the fun, gung ho atmosphere. With Hungarian scriptwriter Eva Pataki, German director Helma Sanders-Brahms, Chinese director Huang Jianxin, Egyptian actress Lebleba and director Samir Seif, Indian actress Mamata Shankar, and Peter Scarlett, an American who runs the French Cinematique, it was truly an international festival -- despite the cancellations. Only Angelo Libertini, the Italian director of an experimantal film center, whose flight was delayed, did not make the opening ceremony.

Iranian director Abbas Kiorastami (left)-- who heads the jury -- also received a lifetime achievement award from the festival. Kiorastami, the Cannes Palme d'Or winning director of Taste of Cherry, told cairolive.com that he was "anxious to see Cairo and Egypt," and that he'd been scheduled to attend the festival the past two years but that something always happened and he couldn't make it. The irony of the fact that he actually did make it this year despite the circumstances was clear.





Mona Zaki--pictured with Hanan Turk (left) and former child star Fayrouz (middle) was one of the few shabab luminaries present and only had this to say: "It's very good in these circumstances that we are able to do a festival." And quite a festival it is, with two weeks of films from around the world showing in 10 cinemas around town as well as the opera house's main hall, where the films in competition will be screened. Overall, 167 films from 44 countries are participating.


The festival's opening film -- Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain -- was a whirlwind of fantasy and muted emotion that captured life's more tender moments. As usual, much of the audience had left by then. They had come, perhaps, more for the photo opportunity, than for the chance to see some good cinema. Read more


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