The 2015 Cairo International Film Festival, which will take place between Nov. 11-20, will honor the iconic late Egyptian actress Faten Hamama, who died in January at the age of 83.
The "Lady of the Arab Screen" will be the main figure in the festival's 37th edition. Its official poster, designed by Egyptian artist Yasser El-Sokkary, features her familiar face, as the festival had announced on its official website .
The festival is also commemorating the late actress in other ways, including adding a new award in her name. The "Faten Hamama Lifetime Achievement Award" will be given every year to "prominent Egyptian or international film figures for their lifetime contribution to enriching the cinematographic art."
The festival administration, headed by president Magda Wassef and artistic director Youssef Cherif Rizkallah announced that this year's recipient will be prominent Egyptian actor Hussein Fahmy.
Fahmy was chosen as a recognition of his "contribution to Egyptian cinema, through the numerous roles that he played, but also as a former President of the Cairo International Film Festival from 1998 to 2001."
In addition, renowned Egyptian film critic Tarek El-Shennawi will write a book about her life's work which will be translated into English and will be available at the festival.
Moreover, the festival's administration will pay tribute to Hamama by screening a collection of Hamama's most iconic works that consists of seven films that document different stages of her career, one of which will be screened every day of the festival.
In some of these seven films Hamama starred alongside Omar Sharif, another late Egyptian cinema icon whom she was once married to and who will also be honored at the festival. The administration announced that a celebration and a press conference will be held in his honor on Nov. 12, and a number of his own films will also be screened.
The seven Hamama films that will be screened during the festival are: