Cairo Film Fest 2009.

10-20 Nov 2009. The 33rd edition of this international film festival, considered the oldest and most prestigious in the Middle East, brings together numerous international stars as well as local talent.

As usual there will be an international competition for long feature films, with about 17 participating countries. For the first time a digital film competition has been added to the programme. Furthermore, to pay homage to Arab cinema a third competition will be entirely dedicated to long feature films in Arabic. All three competitions will be judged by an international jury.

However, as per tradition, this festival also honours the national cinema of one particular country. This year the executive committee has selected India for the great contribution made by Bollywood to film history throughout the 20th century.

A special tribute will also be paid to the Algerian film industry, which is growing rapidly, and to the late Egyptian director Shadi Abdel Salam. His renowned movie The Mummy was recently restored by American filmmaker Martin Scorsese and presented among the classics at this year's edition of the Cannes Film Festival. Scorsese will be present in person at Cairo Film Fest to introduce his restoration.

This year's symposium on Human Rights will organize a series of meetings on the severe state of the environment and how the film industry can help solve the problem.