YOMEDDINE 
ZODIAC 
FILM ARABI 
Prominent Egyptian producer Mohamed Hefzy in March was appointed president of the Cairo Film Festival by Egyptian Culture Minister Ines Abdel-Dayem with a mandate to revamp and relaunch the prominent Arab fest, which had been losing luster due to political turbulence. Hefzy, 43, is the youngest president in the event’s 40-edition history and the first chosen from within the country’s film industry ranks. He spoke to Variety about the challenges he’s faced in rebooting the oldest fest in the MENA [Middle East...
Cairo International Film Festival
Mohamed
Hefzy
President
As a producer, the Egyptian Hefzy is known internationally for churning out a stream of edgy festival titles such as festival standouts “Microphone,” “Sheikh Jackson” and -“Yomeddine” via his Film Clinic shingle. In May, he scored a milestone deal to co-produce “Paranormal,” Netflix’s first Arabic original out of Egypt, in tandem with young Egyptian director Amr Salama. Since 2018, Hefzy has headed the Cairo Film Festival — the glittery event’s first chief who comes from the Egyptian movie industry. As the youngest ever director for the oldest cinema fest in the Arab and African worlds, he’s already radically revamping things by reconfiguring the programming and adding an industry component to get the event’s mojo back after a decade of decline due to the country’s post-revolution turbulence.
