Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentTwo years ago Egyptian film producer and screenwriter Mohamed Hefzy was appointed president of the Cairo Film Festival with a mandate to revamp and relaunch the prominent Arab fest, which had been losing luster due to political turbulence.
Having largely accomplished that with last year’s watershed edition, Hefzy had to face new challenges this year, contending with COVID-19, of course.
But also with the resignation of the event’s former artistic director, Ahmed Shawky, just days into the job following a social media sh__storm over some past controversial social media posts.Shortly before the 42nd fest kicked off Hefzy spoke to Variety about how he navigated through it all.
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