Cairo International Film Festival president, Dr Ezzat-Abou-Ouf, talks to Jeremy Colson about this year's festival and his hopes for the future.  CAIRO ~ 20 November 2009 Could you tell us a bit about yourself, your background? I graduated from medical school but still being young I wanted to practice something more creative than medicine so I enrolled at the conservatoire and learned more about music. After that I played western and jazz music. It was a family affair, me a...

Shadi Abdel Salam (1930–1986)   CAIRO ~ Though Martin Scorsese had to cancel his visit to Egypt at the last moment, his presence was strongly felt at the Cairo International Film Festival here on Wednesday night when the classic version of The Mummy was screened. If it hadn't been for Scorsese this Egyptian classic might have just crumbled into obscurity, as has much of this country's history But as the result of financial support from the Martrin Scorsese...

  CAIRO ¬ The joke going around Cairo today is that the Algerian Tribute in the city's international film festival will be withdrawn if the Algerian football team beats Egypt in this Saturday's crunch game. It is only a joke, but the fact is that even the most ardent of Egypt's film buffs are focused on the crucial world cup qualifier that will see one or the other country through to the World Cup finals in South Africa next year. Punters have commented that the orga...

THE CAIRO International Film Festival (CIFF) celebrates its 33rd edition this year from November 10 to November 20. In its long history of successes, last year's triumph would be a hard act to follow. Never before had the festival attracted so many international stars. But the organizers say that this year promises to equal and perhaps even surpass last year's event. The CIFF 2009 enjoys the fine backdrop of 100 years of a distinguished film history. It is undoubtedly the oldest a...