For the first time in 14 years, the Golden Pyramid for best film in CIFF’s International Completion went to an Egyptian film, Khaled al-Haggar’s “Al-Shooq” (Lust). The decision came as a shock to some critics at the festival, for whom it was not the best Egyptian film in competition, let alone the best film.

One of Egypt’s two completion films to be set in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, “Al-Shooq” is a melodrama about a destitute mother of three named Umm Shooq (Sawsan Badr). After losing her young son to kidney failure, whose treatment she cannot finance, Umm Shooq is transformed into a manipulative capitalist and, ultimately, destroyed.

The top prize in CIFF’s Arab Film Competition went to another Egyptian film, Ahmad Abdulla’s “Microphone,” a critical and audience favorite that took the top prize at the Carthage film festival earlier this year. “Microphone” depicts the story of the return of a young expat Egyptian (Khaled Abu Naga) to Alexandria and his discovery of the city’s thriving, alternative youth art and music scene.

About Cairo Festival

Cairo International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Cairo, Egypt. It was established in 1976 as the first international film festival in the Middle East and it is the only International competitive feature Film Festival recognized by the FIAPF in Africa and the Middle East and the oldest in this category.
The 34th edition of the Cairo International Film Festival celebrates its annual event November 30 to December 9, 2010. The goal of the CIFF, Competitive Festival recognized by the FIAPF, is to promote films, encourage comprehension and meeting between cinema professionals around the world, develop film industry in Arab world, in the Middle East and all over the world and bring to the Egyptian public the most important cinematographic works of international filmmakers.

This year the main theme will be Egypt in the eyes of the world cinemas. Egyptian history is by all measures, abundant with rich dramatic themes that are easily developed into sensational stories for the silver screen. The Pharaohs, Cleopatra, Tutankhamen and Ramses are only a few of the stories produced in Europe and The U.S, that have become classics in the history of world cinema, enriching the tapestry of International film production for over a century.

Three competitions are organized in the frame of the Festival: The International Competition, it maintains a high standard of about 18 long feature films, with an average of 17 countries participating. The Digital Film Competition has also been added, considering the number of features produced digitally. As Egypt is the leader of the Arab world, it's our must to have a competition for long feature Arabic films.
The three competitions are judged by an assembly of three different international and prestigious juries.

The Cairo International Film Festival is launching the first edition of the Cairo Film Connection in partnership with Misr International Films (Youssef Chahine) and the Egyptian Film Center. The Cairo Film Connection is the latest platform aiming at maximizing networking to induce coproduction for films originating from the Arab World.

After the success of "The Black Pearl", gathering in 2008, we are continuing our step to introduce again the new African Cinema through many African filmmakers, and special symposiums.

The last edition was dedicated to the memory of the great Egyptian director Shadi Abdel Salam and we have screened the wonderful restoration of his outstanding movie : "The Mummy" at the open air screening at the Pyramids, as the press said "It was a special event, the image and sound outdoor, enhanced the classic film"

Again this year Martin Scorsese Foundation had restored another prestigious work of shady Abdel Salam "EL FALAH EL FASIH", "Le Paysan eloquent" "The Eloquent Peasant" which will be on our schedule.

Symposiums and round tables will be organized during the festival as every year.
This year we have chosen to debate on other interesting subjects. We will focus on:
Human Trafficking, Egypt as seen through international lenses ...etc.

Our annual Film Market on the Nile has been a tremendous success through the years. It has grown in scope, quantity and quality and has aided film producers in viewing and distributing a variety of international film productions. Through the Film Market, Egypt invites filmmakers and film industry with their cameras and crew to visit the tremendous locations which truly offer a unique splendor and majesty in sight and sounds. We are determined to make this a haven for international film producers who will discover boundless wealth of ideas, modern as well as ancient.

History of the festival

In 1975, after a visit to the Berlin Film Festival the late writer-critic Kamal El Mallakh and a group of like-minded cinema critics wondered why such a world-class festival couldn't take place in Egypt. The country was still riding the crest of Egyptian cinema's golden age and contained a formidable film industry, still the biggest in the Arab world. The Cairo International Film Festival was launched in 1976, the first film festival in the entire Middle East.

The 1976 festival featured around 100 films from 33 countries, with 14 movies from 14 different countries in competition. In an effort to celebrate the best international cinema, the Cairo Film Festival has proven its daring and versatility year after year and continues to act as a meeting point not only for filmmakers and critics but also for writers, intellectuals and other artists.

The Egyptian Association of Film Writers and Critics headed the festival for the first seven years until 1983. In the following year, the Union of Artist's Syndicates supervised the festival, and after that point, several associations mustered their resources to run the festival. The Egyptian Association of Film Writers and Critics joined with the Ministry of Culture and the Union of Artist's Syndicates to form a joint committee in 1985 that would improve the quality and financial state of the festival.

The Cairo Film Festival moved into the 21st century with hope. Hussein Fahmy, President of Cairo Fest, told at the turn of the Millennium: "As we are moving into the new century, we want to put away the wars and bombings and remember to laugh."

CIFF honored its two star guests American actor Morgan Freeman and French actress Leslie Caron in 2005. There was a screening of Clint Eastwood's A Million Dollar Baby, starring Freeman, Eastwood and Hilary Swank, and Vincent Minnelli's classic musical An American in Paris (1951), starring Caron and Gene Kelly. CIFF's other honorees included Mohamed Mounir and Hanan Turk for their roles in Lebanese director Jocelyn Saab's Dunya (2005). The Syrian-American producer Mustapha Akkad, who died in a terrorist attack in Amman, Jordan, was also honored. He is best remembered for The Message (1976) about the early days of Islam and the spine-chilling Halloween movies.

The International Festival has awarded dozens of international superstars, including John Malkovich, Nicolas Cage, Morgan Freeman, Bud Spencer, Gina Lollobrigida, Ornella Muti, Sophia Loren, Claudia Cardinale, Victoria Abril, Elizabeth Taylor, Shashi Kapoor, Alain Delon, Goldy Hawn, Kurt Russell, Susan Sarandon, Greta Scacchi, Catherine Deneuve, Peter O'Toole, Charlize Theron, Julia Ormond, Mira Sorvino, Stuart Townsend, Alicia Silverstone, Priscilla Presley, Christopher Lee, Irene Papas, Nora Aunor, Marcello Mastroianni, Salma Hayek, Lucy liu, Samuel Jackson, Tom Berenger and Omar Sharif, as well as directors like Robert Wise, Elia Kazan, Vanessa Redgrave, Oliver Stone, Roland Joffe, Carlos Saura, Ismail Merchant and Michelangelo Antonioni, in an annual celebration and examination of the state of cinema in the world today. The presidents of the Festival since it was founded in 1976 are Saad El-Din Wahba, Hussein Fahmy and Sherif El Shoubashy.

In the year 2006 a new president was appointed for the festival by Egyptian culture ministe

For more details Click Here