THE 27TH ROUND of the Cairo International Film Festival was inaugurated by Culture Minister Farouk Hosny on Tuesday night in a star-studded ceremony that paid tribute to the legends of both Arab and international movie-making.

Amongst those who were honoured by the festival were the late Amina Rizk, the veteran actress to whom this year's round as a whole is dedicated. French director Jean-Paul Rappeneau -- whose latest film Bon Voyage was screened at the opening -- was given a Lifetime Achievement Award, while French actress Emmanuelle Beart received the Pyramid Prize. American producer Mario Kassar -- who for some reason did not come out on stage to pick up his award -- was also honoured for his cinematic achievements.

Egyptian stars Mahmoud Yassin and Naglaa Fathy, along with director Ali Badrakhan, also picked up awards, as did Mila, the long-time film editor who worked on some of Egyptian cinema's finest films.

Festival President Cherif El-Choubashy delivered his opening night speech in three languages -- Arabic, French and English -- emphasising his belief that cinema represents a clear alternative to the forces of division and conflict so prominent in geopolitics today. El-Choubashy was forced to pause several times during his remarks because of the number of mobile phones ringing amongst the audience.

"Even though the festival is sponsored by a mobile phone company," El-Choubashy said to a resounding round of applause, "mobile phones are not allowed in the Opera House auditoriums."

Among the highlights of the night was the introduction of the international jury. In true French style, jury president Jean-Claude Brialy made a point of kissing all of the women on stage on the cheek, much to the audience's amusement.

The inauguration was capped by an entertaining performance called The Five Continents' Dance, involving dancers dressed to represent different world cinemas, each of whom emerged from a realistic looking train that zoomed onto the stage. The stage itself was decorated to look like the façade of the slickest of cinemas, featuring illuminated posters from some of the movies being shown at the festival.

The opening night film -- Bon Voyage -- will represent France at next year's Academy Awards. Starring Gerard Depardieu and Isabelle Adjani, the tale of a selfish actress's thwarted love affairs set during the German occupation of France proved a definite crowd pleaser, marred only by a few unfortunate breaks in the projection near the film's end.

France is this year's festival's Guest of Honour. Some 50 French films will be screened over the next two weeks amongst over 200 films from 50 other nations.

photo: Medhat Abdel-Meguid