KKL wins an award at Cairo film fest

French director Florent Emilio Siri’s daring portrayal of the savagery of the Algerian war won the prize for best film at the 31st Cairo International Film Festival. Set in 1959, the film tells the story of idealistic, young Lieutenant Terrien, played by Benoit Magimel, who takes command of a desolate French army outpost high in the mountains of Kabylia. ‘L’Ennemi Intime’ director Florent Emilio Siri won Best Director, while Albert Dupontel won Best Actor for his role in the film. The second prize went to the Pakistani film ‘Khuda Ke Liye’ directed by Shoaib Mansour about the struggles faced by Pakistanis and Muslims since the September 11 terror attacks on the United States. The Naguib Mahfouz Prize for a director’s best first work went to Mexican Juan Patricio Riveroll for ‘deliberately defying the rules of the medium’ in his film ‘Opera’, Roeg said as he presented the prize. “We are retaking our position at the forefront of cinema,” the festival’s president Ezzat Abu Ouf said at the opening, pleased to have celebrities such as US actors Matt Dillon and Harvey Keitel attending the festival on the banks of the Nile. Nineteen films from 16 countries competed for the Golden Pyramid and another 13 took part in the competition for best Arab film. A total of 153 films from 100 countries were shown. afp

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