Egyptian mega-star Hussein Fahmy, chairman of the Cairo Film Festival, has announced that the theme of the event’s 24th year is Romance in the 20th Century.
The actor will conduct a press conference on Monday in order to present the complete details of preparations made for this year’s festival which runs from November 7th to November 21st.
According to ‘Al Bayan’ newspaper, Hussein Fahmy has chosen four movies, covering the 40 year period since the opening of the festival: Ruda Qalbi (Give me Back my Heart), starring Ahmad Math’har from the 60s, Bain El Atlal (Among the Ruins), starring Faten Hamama from the 60’s, Habibi Da’iman (Forever my Love), starring Nour El Sharif, from the 80’s and finally, Al Ashiqan (The Two Lovers), starring and directed by Nour El Sharif, from the year 2000.
Meanwhile, actresses to be honored include the so-called ‘Queen of Romance,’ Faten Hamama, Majida, Nadia Lutfi and Meriam Fakhr Eddine.
However, in order not to repeat past mistakes, Fahmy has requested a written RSVP from the actresses.
An unfortunate disappointment to last year’s festival visitors, was when honoree Adel Imam decided to leave for the US one day before the festival opened its doors.
Imam stated that he had to leave in order to start filming his movie Hello America.
Directors to be honored at this year’s events, include Izzedine Thul Fiqar, Barakat and Atef Salem.
Meanwhile, the festival will distribute a book that tells the history of romantic films, actors and actresses in the Arab world and Egypt.
However, not all is well with Fahmy’s arrangements for the festival; the actor has been unable to finalize matters with international actors Leonardo Di Caprio or Sean Connery.
The Hollywood hunk and the former 007 have both been invited to attend as honorary guests. However, neither have confirmed that they will be attending the festival.
As for the curriculum of the festival, organizers have already received 120 films from around 40 different countries, mostly from the US, France, Italy and Britain.
Fahmy has ensured that the ‘Film Watching Committee’ was comprised of the best journalists and critics, and make sure that no actors participated.
Ironically, those who star in the movies, can never find the time to watch them – Albawaba.com.
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
