Egyptian Producer Mohamed Hefzy Steps Down as Cairo Film Festival President

variety.com:

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentEgyptian producer Mohamed Hefzy is stepping down as president of the Cairo Film Festival.

During his four-year tenure, the executive helped to revamp the prominent Arab fest, which had been losing luster due to political turbulence.The announcement was made on Tuesday by Egypt’s Minister of Culture, Enas Abdel Dayem, who said veteran Egyptian actor Hussein Fahmy will take over the fest’s presidency.

Fahmy, who is 81, has starred in more than 100 Egyptian film, TV and theater productions. A UCLA graduate with some U.S. connections, Fahmy had previously headed the Cairo fest, which is the grande dame of Arab film events, between 1998 and 2001.“I am proud to have spent the past four years as president of Cairo International Film Festival, working with a great team of talented individuals with the aim of lifting the festival towards bigger local, regional and international recognition and for being a platform to help the careers and projects of independent filmmakers in the Arab World,” Hefzy said in a statement.

He added that it had always been his intention “to remain three years as head of the festival; but, due to the circumstances and pandemic, they ended up being four great and memorable years.”  Hefzy managed to give the fest more international reach by forging better relations with sales agents and distributors.