Despite a busy schedule that includes acting in several TV serials and Egyptian feature films, then becoming a co-presenter in Orbit’s El-Kahera El-Youm until midnight, Ezzat Abou-Ouf will continue his role as president of the Cairo International Film Festival for the second consecutive year. Keen on developing the ‘red carpet concept’ he inaugurated last year, Abou-Ouf invited all Egyptian stars of this year’s films to walk the line alongside the festival’s guests for the 31st edition, scheduled for November 27 — December 7.

Singer and teen heartthrob Tamer Hosny, who played Abou-Ouf’s son in the summer’s romantic hit Omar & Salma, will give a special performance during the opening ceremony at the Opera House, in which veteran Egyptian stars Ahmed Ramzy, Nabila Ebeid, Nour El-Sherif, musician Rageh Dawood, film critic Mohamed Saleh and screenwriter Mustafa Moharam will be presented with special tribute awards.

The festival days will feature important cinematic symposia including The European Fund Meeting (December 1); TV & Cinema, organized by the British Council in Cairo (December 4); Digital Cinema (December 5); and The Meeting of the Presidents of Arab Film Festivals (December 6).

In addition to the stars and the filmmakers of the different sections, the festival has invited two important American character actors. The first is Harvey Keitel, whose film career was launched alongside his friend Robert De Niro’s when they starred in Martin Scorsese’s early films Mean Streets and Taxi Driver. Although he faded into anonymity in the 1980s, Keitel re-emerged as producer of Quentin Tarantino’s debut film Reservoir Dogs in which he also co-starred, playing the memorable role of Mr. White.

The second is Matt Dillon, who is mostly remembered in Egypt by his comic turn as a sleazy private detective in the comedy There’s Something About Mary. Dillon’s early roles, namely in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders and Rumble Fish, featured him as a troubled youth. But in the following years, he turned in sexy, villainous performances in the remake of A Kiss Before Dying, then in Wild Things. The festival will screen his directorial debut, City of Ghosts.

This year, British cinema will be the guest of honor. Fifteen British films will be screened, including the opening film Death at a Funeral. Directed by Franz Oz (Bowfinger, What About Bob?) who once performed the voice of Yoda in the Star Wars series, the movie takes a dark, comic look at a family reunion in the aftermath of the death of the father. Other British films include the science-fiction thriller Sunshine, following a group of astronauts who go on a journey to revive the sun after its light starts to fade away. Directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, The Beach), the film features an international star cast including Michelle Yeoh, Chris Evans and Hiroyuki Sanada.

Twenty films will compete for the Isis Award, which is being introduced for the 31st edition. The selection includes two recent Egyptian films. Written and directed by Ihab Lamey, Ala El-Hawa (On Air) takes place in the backstage of Egyptian satellite channels. When four teenagers are selected to become contestants in a live TV show, they discover that they can win the hefty sum of LE 1 million if, and only if, they keep their mouths shut for a whole month. Alwan El-Sama El-Sabaa (The Seventh Heaven) by Saad Heindawy is a comeback for both its stars Farouk El-Fishawy and Leila Elwi after several years of TV appearances. Written by Zeinab Aziz, the movie features a love story between a middle-aged couple who try to survive the social stress around them. The competition also features the Italian film Io, L’Atro (Me, The Other) by Tunisian-in-diaspora filmmaker Mohsen Melliti. The story takes place on a boat where two fishermen, one Italian, the other Tunisian, reveal their mutual fears of one another. Raoul Bova produced and stars as Giuseppe, a Sicilian fisherman in partnership with Yousef Ben Ali (Giovanni Martorana).

The Arab Films Competition will also feature two new Egyptian films. Formerly titled Cairo Devil’s (See Egypt Today, August 2007), El-Ghaba (The Jungle) is writer-director Ahmed Atef’s dark dramatization of the lives of street kids. The cast includes Hanan Motawe, Riham Abdel-Ghafour, and Ahmed Azmy, with real-life street kids. Balad El-Banat (Girls’ Town) is the scriptwriting debut of journalist Ola El-Shafei and the third film for director Amr Bayoumi, following his debut in El-Gisr (The Bridge, 1999) starring the late Mahmoud Mursi and the still-unfinished film Alaab Mamnoua (Forbidden Games). Girls’ Town also takes place in the streets of Cairo but focuses on the friendship between four young women who share a Cairo apartment during their university years.

Outside of the competition, the festival will feature screenings of 10 important international films. Following The Kingdom and Lions for Lambs which are currently shown in Egypt, Gavin Hood’s Rendition tackles the Middle East terrorism and torture in the most graphic approach. The title refers to the US’ policy, introduced by the Clinton administration, of ‘extraordinary rendition,’ by which suspected terrorists can be moved to other countries without legal restraints or ramifications. This is what happens to Anwar El-Ibrahimi (played by the scene-stealing Egyptian-Dutch Omar Metwally), the good looking, Egyptian-born, US-educated husband of Isabella (Reese Witherspoon) on his return to Chicago from a business trip in Africa.

In the same section, Olivier Dahan’s La Môme (a.k.a. La Vie en Rose) retraces the life story of legendary French singer Edith Piaf, played by rising French star Marion Cotillard in a breakthrough performance. Co-starring is French superstar Gérard Depardieu as Louis Leplée, the club owner who hired her and gave her the surname Piaf (Sparrow).

This year, the selection in the Festival has reached more than 70 films from around the world. Laurent Tirard’s Molière is the French biography of the famous playwright and actor (played by French star Romain Duris) who was thrown in prison after his troupe went broke. He struggles until he is granted funding by the king to start touring French cities. Kabir Khan’s Kabul Express is one of six Indian films that will be screening in this section. Shot entirely in Kabul, the story revolves around Imran, an Afghan soldier who takes four hostages: a British reporter working for Reuters, two Indian journalists and their Afghan guide. Seven Iranian films from acclaimed new filmmakers will premiere in the festival. Jesus, The Spirit of God by Nader Talebzadeh is a retelling of the life of the Messiah based on the Qur’an and Sunna.

The festival will also pay tribute to Romanian cinema through the screening of seven recently acclaimed films including Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days that won the Palme D’or at the latest Cannes Film Festival. The story takes place in the 1980s and revolves around Otilia, who helps her friend Gabriela to get an abortion, which was forbidden in 1980s Romania. Also screened is Cristian Nemescu’s California Dreamin’ that won the prize of Un Certain Regard in Cannes. The story takes place during the 1999 war in Kosovo, in a small Romanian village, where the chief of the railway station stops a NATO train transporting military equipment.

With the Marrakech Festival paying tribute to the Egyptian Cinema Centenary, Cairo Festival will feature a Moroccan Contemporary Cinema Section in which six films will be screened. Among them, are Farida Benlyazid’s The Wretched Life of Juanita Narboni, starring Mariola Fuentes, and Hassan Benjalloun’s The Dark Room.  et