Cairo Industry Days honors Eric Lagesse

many filmmakers I’ve worked with. And he is someone who supports filmmaking in its entire artistic process,” declared the CIFF president Mohamed Hefzy as he welcomed Lagesse. His tribute was then moderated by Egyptian director and producer Marianne Khoury.

to the cinema industry because I am just passionate about it, I am a cinephile, I have been watching movies since I was ten years old,” he declared. “The first real movie I ever saw was ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’.”

 He began working at Pyramide Distribution Company in 1992 as a sales agent, then became managing director in 1994, overseeing both French distribution and global sales branches. His focus was mainly on auteur films and international sales. Lagesse eventually bought the company rights in 2008 and is also co-president of the syndicate of independent distributors.

“Lagesse worked with many filmmakers like Youssef Chahine,Yousry Nasrallah, Leyla Bouzid, Marianne Khoury and Merzak Allouache,” Hefzy added.

Lagess e almost got the 7th Camera d’Or b u t missed it by one or two points,” Khoury added. Lagesse then replied that the Ca m era d’Or is “a great gift for starting directors since it’s the first prize they will ever get, a n d it is important for distributors and sales agents working on the film because it helps them sell it internationally.”

 Lagesse co-produced some films made by Arab filmmakers such as Mohamed Diab’s Egyptian film ‘Clash’, which opened Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard competition in 2016, and also the director’s last film ‘Amira’ (2021).

“When Cairo Industry Days started, there was a d e sire to present an award to those who make great contributions to the industry and tho s e who have a special relationship with the festival. We are happy to present this year’s honor to Eric,” noted Hefzy.

The pr o ducer’s company releases 15 films every year, among them 5 or 6 by first- time d irectors. “I think the producer is as important for the film as the director, he can’t create talent, but he can help the director in doing so in his film,” he noted.

“I have known Eric for many years as he is one of the international distributors of

“Eric f o cuses on art house films and has wor k ed with many great names like Aki Kor s maky, Fateh Akin, in addition to finding first-time filmmakers. He has won six Camera d’Or awards at the Cannes film festival,” began Khoury.

On how he works on films, he says “I read a lot of scripts and I like working on the script with the filmmakers, because a bad script won’t come out as a good film, you can’t make a film in the editing room.”