MUMBAI: Looks like the recent revolution in Egypt has paid off and more to its film industry. Egypt has become the first country to be welcomed as guest country at the 64th edition of the Cannes Film Festival. Beginning this year, a country will be named as guest country every year when films would be screened and film personalities remembered.

The tribute to Egypt will take place on 18 May when Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine would be remembered. It will be followed by the screening of 18 jours, a work grouping short films of ten Egyptian filmmakers. 

These filmmakers along with twenty actors, six writers, eight cameramen, eight sound engineers, five set-designers, three costume designers, seven film editors, three post-production companies and a dozen technicians filmed ten short film stories based on the 25 January revolution in Egypt.

Apart from this, Cannes Classics selection will screen Facteur (Al Bostagui) by Hussein Kamal (1968) while Le Cri d’une fourmi by Sameh Abdel Aziz (2011) will be screened at the Cinéma de la Plage.

The festival will close on 22 May.