# 32nd Cairo International Film Festival

The 32nd annual Cairo International Film Festival was held from November 18 to November 28, 2008. Spanish director Imanol Uribe was the president of the jury.

## Films in competition

The following films competed for the Golden Pyramid.
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Country |
| The Tango Dancer | | Gabriel Adrian Arregue | Argentina |
| Cut Loose | Los | Jan Verheyen | Belgium |
| Dancers | Dancen | Pernille Fischer Christensen | Denmark |
| The Day We Met | يوم ما اتقابلنا | Ismail Murad | Egypt |
| Séraphine | Séraphine | Martin Provost | France |
| Mark of an Angel | L'empreite de l'ange | Safy Nebbou | France |
| Where the Grass is Greener | Nur ein Sommer | Tamara Staudt | Germany/ Switzerland |
| El Greco | Ελ Γκρέκο | Yannis Smaragdis | Greece |
| Mario the Magician | Márió, a varázsló | Tamás Almási | Hungary/ Italy |
| In the Flesh | Il Tuo Disprezzo | Christian Angeli | Italy |
| Tea Fight | 闘茶 | Wang Yeming | Japan/ Taiwan |
| The Collectress | Kolekcioniere | Kristina Buozyte | Lithuania |
| Finding Shangri-La | 這兒是香格里拉 | Ismene Ting | China |
| The Vanished Empire | Исчезнувшая империя | Karen Shakhnazarov | Russia |
| Return to Hansala | Retorno a Hansala | Chus Gutiérrez | Spain |
| The Blind Sunflowers | Los girasoles ciegos | José Luis Cuerda | Spain |
| Tandoori Love | | Oliver Pavlus | Switzerland |
| The Messenger | Ulak | Çağan Irmak | Turkey |

## Digital Competition

The following films were screened in the Digital Competition for Feature Films category.
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Country |
| No One's Normal When You're Near | De cerca nadie es normal | Marcelo Mosenson | Argentina |
| Behind the Glass | Iza stakla | Zrinko Ogresta | Croatia |
| The Story of the Virgin Butterfly | قصة الفراشة العذراء | Walid Aouni | Egypt |
| W.C. | | Liam O Mochain | Ireland |
| Three Lira | Lira 3 | Andrea Pellizzer | Italy |
| Goodbye | へばの | Bunyo Kimura | Japan |
| Be With Me | خليك معي | Elie Habib | Lebanon |
| Seasons of Life | | Charles Shimu Joya | Malawi |
| Changing Faces | | Faruk Afolabi Lassaki | Nigeria |
| Zimbabwe | | Darrell Roodt | South Africa |
| Ordinary Boys | Chicos normales | Daniel Hernandez | Spain |
| Dot | Nokta | Derviş Zaim | Turkey |
| Mozlym | | Edreace Purmul | United States |
| Shades of Ray | | Jaffar Mahmood | United States/ Pakistan |

## Arab Competition

The following films were screened in the Arab Competition for Feature Films category.
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Country |
| Men's Affair | | Amine Kais | Algeria/ United States |
| Mascarades | مسخرة | Lyes Salem | Algeria/ France |
| Adhen | | Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche | Algeria/ France |
| Four Girls | أربع فتيات | Hussein El Hulaibi | Bahrain |
| Basra | بصرة | Ahmed Rashwan | Egypt |
| Fawzeya's Secret Recipe | خلطة فوزية | Magdy Ahmed Ali | Egypt |
| Swimming Bolteya | بلطية العايمة | Ali Ragab | Egypt |
| Number One | رقم واحد | Zakia Tahri | Morocco |
| Laila's Birthday | عيد ميلاد ليلى | Rachid Masharawy | Palestine |
| Salt of this Sea | ملح هذا البحر | Annemarie Jacir | Palestine |
| Hassiba | حسيبة | Raymond Boutros | Syria |
| Days of Boredom | أيام الضجر | Abdellatif Abdelhamid | Syria |
| The Accident | حادثة | Rachid Ferchiou | Tunisia |
| Five | خمسة | Karim Dridi | Tunisia/ France |

## Films out of competition

The following films were screened out of the competition.
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Country |
| The Homecoming | Μπαρ Φλωμπέρ | Vassilis Douvlis | Greece |
| The Last Year | | Rituparno Gosh | India |
| Ocean of an Old Man | | Rajesh Shera | India |
| The Sea Within | Ore Kadal | Shyamaprasad | India |
| Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story | | Akbar Khan | India |
| The Demons of St. Petersburg | I demoni di San Pietroburgo | Giuliano Montaldo | Italy |
| Gomorra | | Matteo Garrone | Italy |
| All the Women in My Life | Tutte le donne della mia vita | Simona Izzo | Italy |
| Teo's Voyage | El viajo de Teo | Walter Doehner | Mexico |
| The Tour | Турнеја | Goran Marković | Serbia |
| Promise Me This | Завет | Emir Kusturica | Serbia/ France |
| Three Monkeys | Üç Maymun | Nuri Bilge Ceylan | Turkey |
| It's a Free World... | | Ken Loach | United Kingdom |
| Battle In Seattle | | Stuart Townsend | United States |
| Into the Wild | | Sean Penn | United States |
| Margot at the Wedding | | Noah Baumbach | United States |

## Awards

The winners of the 2008 Cairo International Film Festival were:
* Golden Pyramid: Retorno a Hansala by Chus Gutiérrez
* Sliver Pyramid: Los by Jan Verheyen
* Best Director: Pernille Fischer Christensen for Dansen
* Saad El-Din Wahba Prize (Best Screenplay):
** Bram Renders for Los
** Safy Nebbou & Cyril Gomez-Mathieu for L'empreinte de l'ange
* Best Actor: Juan Diego Botto for El Greco
* Best Actress: Yolande Moreau for Séraphine
* Naguib Mahfouz Prize (Best Second Work): Safy Nebbou for L'empreite de l'ange
* Youssef Chahine Prize (Best Artistic Contribution): Oliver Pavlus for Tandoori Love
* Special Mention:
** Finding Shangri-La by Ismene Ting (For Cinematography)
** Los girasoles ciegos by José Luis Cuerda
* Best Arabic Film: Mascarades by Lyes Salem
* Best Arabic Screenplay:
** Rachid Masharawy for Laila's Birthday
** Basra for Ahmed Rashwan
* Golden Award for Digital Films: Nokta by Derviş Zaim
* Silver Award for Digital Films: Goodbye by Bunyo Kimura
* FIPRESCI Prize: Chus Gutiérrez for Retorno a Hansala