The 42nd Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) kicked off last Friday, amid strict precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
In this edition, 10 Egyptian films will participate in various competitions as well as 84 films are set to be screened.
Furthermore, the CIFF International Competition is also witnessing the participation of three Egyptian films, which are: “Curfew”, “About Her", and “Lift Like a Girl”.
On December 4, the film gained wide praises on its world premiere at CIFF which took place at Cairo Opera House.
The film, written and directed by Amir Ramses, stars Elham Shahin, Amina Khalil, Ahmed Magdi, Arefa Abdul Rasoul Mahmoud El-Leithy, Ahmed Hatem, Kamel El-Basha, and others.
It also features a special appearance for the director Khairy Beshara. The film is produced by Safielden Mahmoud, Baho Bakhsh, Sally Wally, Moataz Abdul Wahab, and Sherif Fathy.
The story of the film takes place in 2013, on the day, Fatin, is released from prison. Her daughter Layla (Amina Khalil) and her husband, Hassan (Ahmed Magdy), are there to pick her up, but it’s soon clear that all is not well between them.
The tense atmosphere is accentuated by the curfew forcing Layla to accommodate her recently released mother for a night.
In a statement to “SEE”, Ramses stated that he found it really courageous for the CIFF to be held during the pandemic.
He noted that the opening ceremony was very good and very well organized, pointing out that CIFF is being held amid an increase of Coronavirus cases, adding: “I think one of the things I've been most anxious about or worried about is how the festival will be handling the security measures,”.
Ramses expressed his amazement at the measures that have been taken, stating that the management created a really well plan to minimize the risk, noting that CIFF offered to do a PCR test just to be safe, the masks, and sanitizers.
‘Film selection’
Talking about the selection, the filmmaker noted that had seen the films screening at CIFF at previous festivals like Venice, adding: “What marks this year is the variety. I think that this is what I think the real success of any festival is being able to present a variety of genres of nations, of film movements to be able to satisfy all audiences, mustn't forget that the festival was held in one of the biggest cities of the world,".
Ramses noted that there should be more festivals, adding: “ I think, off course, Cairo Film Festival has its history, has its reputation, like, if I look at other countries, for example, like Morocco, like France, you see that like you have hundreds of festivals happening there. I think obviously not just in Cairo or Alexandria, in Luxor, in Aswan, in Sinai, and Hurghada. I think we need many more festivals. I think every city should have its own festival of all, I think every city should be able to present films to its locals.
https://youtu.be/v6AY8l1avWo
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