Cairo International Airport This year’s film festival opened by looking inward rather than outward, focusing on the vast archive of Egyptian classics under restoration. At the ceremony, audiences were shown impressive before-and-after footage of restored films such as Hossam El Din Mostafa’s Crime in a Quiet Neighborhood and Kamal Al Sheikh’s Sunset and Sunrise, drawing an audible response as decades-old footage re-emerged with new clarity and texture. For CIFF President Hussein Fahmi, this moment signaled a new determination to not only protect but revitalize Egypt’s film heritage.
The restoration program is being led in partnership with the Egyptian Ministry of Culture and a holding company that invests in the field of culture and film, making it one of the most ambitious archival efforts in the region’s history. Fahmi said this push stems from both cultural responsibility and dramatic changes in filmmaking technology. “Technology has changed and I had to change with it.”
This year, 21 newly restored titles are on display, all with English subtitles, allowing them to reach audiences around the world. However, this effort does not end with festival screenings. “There’s no point in restoring a film and showing it at a festival if no one else will see it,” Fahmi said at a press conference. To ensure long-term access, CIFF and the holding company are developing a digital platform dedicated to Egyptian classical works. “You can see all these movies on that platform,” he shared, noting that young moviegoers often don’t have an entry point into the country’s early film traditions.
“Sunset and Sunrise” (Courtesy of Cairo Film Festival)
This initiative is not entirely new. CIFF began restoring and presenting traditional titles in recent editions and has steadily expanded its efforts into the larger program announced this year.
The side-by-side restoration footage played at the opening ceremony excited festivalgoers, highlighting the sophistication of Egypt’s studio era and the craftsmanship that, in Fahmy’s words, was “parallel to American and European cinema” of the time.
While the first batch restored marks a milestone, the scale of the work ahead remains staggering. “We have 1,300 films to restore,” Fahmi admitted. Still, he sees the archive’s size as a long-term opportunity. Once digitized and made available, this collection has the potential to form one of the most comprehensive archives of Arab films from around the world. “With numbers like this, you have a great platform with a wide range of films,” he stressed.
Fahmi positioned the recovery efforts in a broader context of Egypt’s changing role in regional production. The country used to produce around 60 films a year and export them to the Middle East and North Africa. In recent years, political turmoil, market losses in neighboring countries and the pandemic have reduced the number of films produced to an average of 16 a year.
Yet, he argues, Egyptian cinema maintains a deeply recognizable identity. “When you see an Egyptian movie, you know it’s an Egyptian movie,” he said. He argues that its rhythm, themes and cultural underpinnings are what give the film its enduring international appeal. “The more international you are, the more it’s derived from your own society, your own culture.”
For Fahmi, the restoration program is not just about preservation, but also about recovering a kind of emotional filmmaking that he feels is increasingly missing from mainstream cinema. “The downside of what’s happening right now is that when we’re watching a movie, we’re not part of the movie,” the veteran actor said. “There was a lot of emotion and emotion in the movie we made. I could relate to the characters.”
By reintroducing classic Egyptian cinema rooted in character, mood and emotional closeness, he hopes to inspire young filmmakers to reconnect with storytelling rooted in humanity rather than pure spectacle.
With competition from regional festivals increasing, Fahmi stressed the need for CIFF to remain “young in spirit” as it enters its 46th edition. He believes that reviving the National Archives is one of the most powerful ways to preserve history while giving new filmmakers a foundation on which to build.
“Crime in a Quiet Neighborhood” (Courtesy of Cairo Film Festival)
