Children's cinema festival opens in Cairo thursday

The 12th international Cairo Children's cinema festival opens on Thursday in Cairo with 23 countries, including 7 from the Arab states participating.

Festival president and president of the Arab artists union, Fawzi Fahmi, told the press that Arab participation in the festival includes Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon.

The categories include narrative films, short films, television programs and cartoons.

Arab participation in the festival has reached an unprecedented high this year, and the total number of countries participating represent 120 different works in the five award categories, fahmi added.

The week-long festival will take a closer look at Indian cinema, showing 18 films as part of the festival's activities. Also highlighted at the festival will be Iranian films, which total 35 films to be shown during the festivities.