Steven Spielberg’s ‘The Fabelmans’ to Open Cairo Int'l Film Festival

From ‘E.T.’ and ‘Jaws’, to ‘Jurassic Park’ and ‘Indiana Jones’, Steven Spielberg’s iconic and Oscar-winning masterpieces are a source of inspiration for many. His work will continue to leave its mark at the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF), which will open with a screening of Spielberg’s latest film, ‘The Fabelmans’.

Having premiered at Toronto Film Festival, ‘The Fabelmans’ is a semi-autobiographical drama that follows a young child growing up in post-World War II Arizona, who aspires to become a filmmaker with the help of his supportive mother.  

Running from November 13th to November 22nd, this year’s edition of CIFF unfolds under the management of veteran actor Hussein Fahmy, who returned to serve as the festival’s president after Mohamed Hefzy stepped down earlier this year. Instilling his humanitarian soul into the festival’s approach, Fahmy was keen on having this year’s CIFF explore new perspectives, using cinema to heal the wounds inflicted by the recent conflict in Ukraine.   

Curating a diverse range of films that present the world in fragments, films featured in the festival will enter into dedicated regional and international competitions. The main International Competition will include the likes of Ahmad Abdalla’s ‘19B’ (Egypt), Firas Khoury’s ‘Alam’ (Palestine), Nicolas Giraud’s ‘The Astronaut’ (France), and Maksym Nakonechnyi’s ‘Butterfly Vision’ (Ukraine). The Arab World-Focused Competition meanwhile will feature Merzak Allouache’s ‘The Family’ (Algeria), Carlos Chahine’s ‘Mother Valley’ (France, Lebanon) and Hassan Benjelloun’s ‘Jaladine’ (Morocco).    

These films will be judged by the main jury’s president Japanese director Naomi Kawase who’s joined by Egyptian filmmaker Nancy Abdelfattah, music composer Rageh Daoud, Indian actress Swara Bhasker, Italian actress Stefiana Casini, Mexican filmmaker Joaquin Del Paso, and Moroccan actor Sami Guesmi.

The festival will also present the Gold Pyramid Lifetime Achievement Awards to Egyptian superstar actress Lebleba and Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr.

Meanwhile, Egyptian filmmaker Kamla Abu Zekry will be honoured with the Faten Hamama Excellence Award.