Festive tango

By Khairiya El-Bishlawi

This year's festival will screen 181 films from 60 countries, 16 of which are world premieres. It is the first time an American distributor has agreed to premiere films at the Cairo International Film Festival. Among the international premieres is Bille August's Les Misérables, in the official competition, Russian director Yuri Grymov's Mu Mu, Indian director Santon Sivan's The Terrorist, Turkish director Ersin Pertan's Love Under Siege, Iranian director Kyanoosh Ayari's To Be or Not To Be and Moroccan director Hamid Benani's La Pierre de L'Absent.

Among the festival guests are Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida, American actor Danny Glover, French actress and director Nicole Gracia, as well as Syrian producer Mostafa Al-Attad. The international jury includes Chinese director Sai Fu, Polish director Slawomir Krynski, Egyptian actress Athar El-Hakim and is headed by the 45-year-old American film and theatre actor John Malkovic.

The festival will screen several of Malkovic's films as a tribute to an actor who has attained an almost legendary status in Hollywood thanks to the subjects treated in his films and the seriousness with which he performs his complex roles. Tribute will also be paid to the late Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, and a seminar on his films is planned, the participants in which will include Polish actor Yerzy Stuhr and Nicole Gracia.

For the first time in the history of the festival Iranian cinema is in the limelight. A number of recent Iranian productions will be screened, among them Kyanoosh Ayari's To Be or Not To Be. Ayari, born in 1951, began his cinematic career in 1975 with documentary films, and made his first feature debut in 1985.

To Be or Not To Be, starring Farhad Sherif and Assal Badi, is the story of a young woman suffering from a chronic disease which necessitates a heart transplant. Her doctor goes to the family of a youth who, having been seriously injured in a car accident, is clinically dead but still possesses a healthy heart. The doctor and his patient join forces in convincing the youth's family to give up their son's heart, but another problem arises: she is a Christian Armenian and he is Muslim. This religious issue is ultimately resolved and the film concludes with the boy's parents visiting the young girl to congratulate her on the success of the operation.

Iranian cinema has succeeded in establishing a powerful international presence, with Iranian film makers participating in many conferences and film festivals. The importance of Iranian cinema stems from its ability to reflect social realities in Iran.

Among Iranian films tackling women's issues, the festival will screen Lady Mayo, directed by Rakhshan Aitman and starring Mani Kasrian and Mitovar Shiki. The film highlights the tensions women face in adapting to the different roles they must perform -- mother, wife, lover.

As usual, the festival includes a panorama of Egyptian cinema which this year includes Radwan El-Kashif's Araq Al-Balah, Youssef Chahin's Al-Masir (Le Destin) and Sayed Said's Al-Qobtan (The Captain). And several prominent figures in Egyptian cinema will be honoured, including actress Soad Hosni and directors Ezzeddin Zolfeqar (1929-1962) and Hassan El-Imam (1919-1988).

Nine Arab countries are participating in this year's event -- Algeria with Merzaq Olouah's Algeria Beirut...For the Record and Yurlim Fergo's Bread in Heaven; Lebanon with Ghassan Selhab's The Ghosts of Beirut and Ziad Dediri's Western Beirut; Morocco with Hassan Ben Galloum's Yesterday's Friends; Syria with Samir Zekri's The Dust of Strangers and Abdel-Latif Abdel-Hamid's Breeze of the Soul, and Tunisia with Mohamed Ben Ismail's Ghodwa Is Burnt and Al-Tayeb Al-Wahish's The Wedding of the Moon.

Egyptian hopes in the official competition will be riding on Adel El-Aasar's Ekhtefa' Gaafar El-Masri (The Disappearance of Gaafar the Egyptian), and Asmaa El-Bakri's Concerto Darb Saada.