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Egypt
's
love of the arts in general can be traced back to
the rich heritage bequeathed by the Pharaohs. In
modern times, Egypt has enjoyed a strong cinematic
tradition since the art of filmmaking was first
developed, early in the 20th century. A
natural progression from the active theatre scene of
the time, cinema rapidly evolved into a vast motion
picture industry. This together with the much older
music tradition, raised Egypt to become cultural
capital of the Arab world.
Unrestrained by national borders, it has linked
countries as far apart as Morocco and Yemen and made the
Egyptian dialect the entertainment lingua franca of the
region. The influence of Egyptian cinema is as
profound in the region as that of the American cinema on
the rest of the world, earning Cairo the title of
"Hollywood" of the Middle East.
For more
than 500 years of recorded history, Egypt has fascinated
the West and inspired its creative talents from
playwright William Shakespeare, poet and dramatist John
Dryden, and novelist and poet Laurence Durrell to film
producer Cecil B. de Mille. Since the silent movies
Hollywood has been capitalising on the box-office
returns that come from combining Egyptian stories with
visual effects.
Egypt has
also been a fount of Arabic literature producing some of
the 20th century's greatest Arab writers such as Taha
Hussein and Tawfiq Al Hakim to Nobel Laureate, novelist
Naguib Mahfouz. Each of them has written for the cinema.
With these
credentials, it was clear that Cairo should aim to hold
an international film festival.
This dream
came true on Monday August 16th 1976, when the first
Cairo International Film Festival was launched by the
Egyptian Association of Film Writers and Critics, headed
by Kamal El-Mallakh. The Association ran the festival
for seven years until 1983.
In order
to improve the event, the Ministry of Culture, the
members of the Association, and the Union of Artist's
Syndicates, which supervised the event in 1984, formed a
joint committee.
In 1985,
the Festival began a new era under the leadership of the
eminent playwright Saad El-Din Wahba, an eminent writer
and efficient executive, who was appointed by the
Minister of Culture. Then the Festival became an
independent organisation.
During his
initial year of responsibility, Saad El-Din Wahba
contacted the FIAPF, and in May 1986, this august body
recognised the Cairo International Film Festival as a
non-competitive event.
In 1990
the FIAPF made a study of the three most important
non-competitive film festivals in the world, and the
Cairo International Film Festival was ranked second
after the London Film Festival and ahead of the
Stockholm Film Festival.
This
achievement lead to the President of the Festival again
contacting the FIAPF with the request that a competition
should be included at the 1991 Festival. The request was
granted.
In 1998, the Festival took place
under the presidency of one of Egypt's leading actors, Hussein
Famhi, who was
appointed by the Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosni,
after the death of Saad El-Din Wahba.
Four years later, Cherif
El-Shoubashy became president. Cherif el Shoubashy who
is fluent in three languages, has a multicultural
background, is a journalist and published writer and
spent 22 years in Paris. Relocating to the French
capital in 1980, he worked for the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) and was later appointed editor-in-chief of the
UNESCO NEWS magazine. Then in 1985 he became Paris
director of Egypt's leading daily newspaper, Al Ahram
newspaper.
Cherif El-Shoubashy returned to Cairo in 2002 after
being appointed as First Under Secretary for Foreign
Cultural Relations for the international exchange of
arts and culture presenting a real answer to the
problems of violence, intolerance and racism, and
President of the Cairo International Film Festival. |
