Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentAs the spread of the new Omicron COVID-19 variant prompts uncertainty around how the winter film festival calendar will play out, two events in the Arab world — the Cairo Film Festival and Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea fest — have soldiered on, providing a measure of hope for the global festival circuit.Cairo, which kicked off Nov.
26 and wrapped on Sunday, has pulled off a successful in-person edition, despite some last-minute industry and talent defections.
Several Cairo attendees, including Cannes chief Thierry Fremaux and U.S. producer Lawrence Bender, segued directly from Cairo to Jeddah where the Red Sea fest on Monday held a historic gala opening with no shortage of regional and international stars.
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