Hussein Fahmy: “From my position here, I express my full solidarity with our brothers in Gaza and Lebanon”

The opening ceremony of the 45th Edition of the Cairo International Film Festival ( CIFF) kicked off with the National Anthem followed by the Palestinian Dabke dancing show. 

“I would like to thank the wonderful dancers from Gaza for this dancing show.” CIFF head Hussein Fahmy said. 

Fahmy added that last year's edition was delayed in solidarity with Palestine.

“From my position here, I express my full solidarity with our brothers in Gaza and Lebanon,” Fahmy stated, asserting that throughout the years, Egypt has consistently supported the Palestinian cause.

“The cinema is an influential tool to narrate human stories” Fahmy added. 

The CIFF head said that this edition pays tribute to our artists who passed away this year. 

“The Egyptian cinema extended for more than 100 years. CIFF adopted an initiative to restore Egyptian films, we are currently restoring 12 Egyptian films.”

Fahmy further explained that by restoring Egyptian films we are preserving our Egyptian cinema history.

“We add subtitles to the restored films to increase their exposure,” Fahmy said. 

Fahmy declared that all the festival’s sponsors this year are Egyptian companies.

“This year the festival will screen 194 movies from 73 countries. This edition will witness the world premiere of 10 movies.”