Cairo International Film Festival to host in November

Submissions for the 42^nd CIFF are open

Cairo: The 42^nd Cairo International Film Festival is scheduled to be hosted from 19^th to 28^th November this year. The submissions are open and the event is scheduled after discussions with Egyptian government and World Health Organization regarding the protocols. “We are committed to holding a successful and safe edition if the situation allows, while putting a high emphasis on the safety and well being of its staff as well as local and international guests,” said festival director Mohamed Hefzy.

Ahmed Shawky, the event’s art director seconded Hefzy’s statement and said, “the task of maintaining the success of the last two editions will be not be easy, especially in light of the unprecedented challenges facing the film industry due to the outbreak of the corona virus pandemic”. He added: “CIFF’s high advisory committee has been working on laying out several alternative plans to ensure the 42^nd edition comes to light, hoping the circumstances will improve before November”.

The organizers made it clear that the use of sanitizers, masks and observing social distancing will be made mandatory, as per the requirements laid down by the Cabinet and WHO. Following the Cannes Film Festival in 2018, CIFF also projects gender equality and transparency in film related events, as its theme.

The 41^st CIFF event last year was a remarkable one. It screened over 150 films from 63 countries. The event is organized by Egypt’s Culture Ministry and sponsored by many public and private firms. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) graded CIFF as Oscar qualifying film festival status. “This year the Best Short Film in the ‘Cinema of Tomorrow’ competition will be eligible to compete in the Animated and Live Action Short Film category,” added the CIFF statement.

CIFF is one of the only 15 film festivals graded as Category A by the International Federation of Film Producers Association (FIAPF). It is the oldest of the annually running film festival of its kind in the world. The Egyptian Association of film writers and critics organised 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.

Egypt’s present condition regarding the pandemic is not satisfactory as the number of Covid positive cases are more than 30,000 and death toll rises upto 1,000. Currently all cinema in Egypt are closed. So is about all cultural, sports and entertainment events. But government hinted that the cinemas along with mosques, sports and social clubs and restaurants might be reopened soon, after a ministry level meeting this weekend. Submissions for this year’s festival are open to all filmmakers from across the globe until 31^st August. Interested movie makers can logon to the official website: https://www.ciff.org.eg/ and start registering.