In the folds of the Fascist era in the 1930s, Italian businessman and Minister of Finance, Giuseppe Volpi, proposed to Mussolini the launch of an international film festival in the charming city of Venice.

Indeed, the history of this great festival is marked with pages that immortalize it as the oldest global film festival known to humanity since its birth in 1932. With rising tension between the poles of the European continent and echoing the drums of World War II, the festival turned into a platform promoting Nazism and Fascism, which provoked American, French, and English delegations, who discussed the idea of inaugurating a competing festival suitable for the progressive idea of the Allies front at that time.

The grind of war eradicated any thoughts of holding artistic events until it laid down its burdens in 1945.

With the advent of peace, the next year immediately brought the dawn of the largest international film festival in the charming city of Cannes, nestled in the heart of the French Riviera.

The festival was born a giant, in the presence of the greatest cinema stars like Kirk Douglas, Sophia Loren, and Alain Delon.

This year's 76th edition carries a distinctive slogan, led by the iconic French actress "Catherine Deneuve", taken from the poster of the classic film La Chamade or "The Beating" in 1968.

Perhaps this slogan, derived from the roots of French cinema in the period of great prosperity, "the sixties", is an indication of the festival's steadfastness as a symbol of the traditional film industry in the face of the trend towards digitalization and transforming it into a home entertainment industry based on broadcasting platforms.

Two years ago, the festival management refused to allow streaming platform films to participate in the official competition, confirming the festival's commitment to cinema in theaters as we have known and loved it for over a century.

As for the Arab presence in the festival, it was limited to a single Tunisian film, "Alfa's Girls," participating in the official competition among twenty films.

The film is a semi-documentary drama, telling the story of a mother of four girls, who wakes up to the news of the eldest sisters' escape to join ISIS in Libya. The director "Kaouther Ben Hania" used a mix of real people who experienced the story along with some professional actresses to perform several roles, like the roles of the runaway sisters in reality!

The second Arab presence was represented in the Sudanese film "Goodbye Julia," participating in the "Special Look" section outside the framework of the official competition. The film tells about a tangled relationship between a retired singer from the north and a maid from the south in the last year of unity, before the separation of the north from the south in 2011 and the implications of this political separation on their human relationship.

It's noteworthy that Saudi Arabia, represented in the Red Sea Festival Fund, participated in the production of the two films, confirming its serious policy in developing the Saudi cinema industry.

As for Egypt, its participation was limited to the film "El Teraa" directed by the young Jad Shahin, who is one of the students at the Higher Institute of Cinema within the Cinema Foundation section dedicated to encouraging students of cinema and arts academies worldwide. The film scenes were shot in one day with a limited budget.

Interestingly, our weak participation in the festival did not arouse the ire of those interested in Egyptian cinema as it did when the Egyptian Oscar committee refrained from nominating a film to represent Egypt in the non-English speaking film competition. Yet our presence in the Cannes Festival is the real indicator of our global cinematic standing and the prosperity of the industry in Egypt.

Recently, independent films have played the role of Egypt's cinema ambassador, where films such as "Feathers" and "Yomeddine" received special enthusiasm from the critic's audience.

This enthusiasm evoked fond memories of the great achievements of the dean of Egyptian cinema in Cannes, the late great director Youssef Chahine.

Chahine was a unique creative phenomenon. His study of cinema abroad, fluency in several languages, and intellectual openness to the Western world, especially France and Europe, enabled him to build solid relationships and establish a fan base in European cinematic circles.

That fame opened doors for him to access international funding sources, which financed many of his cinematic projects in co-productions such as "Adieu Bonaparte" and "The Sixth Day".

Chahine is the only Egyptian filmmaker who was nominated for the Palme d'Or four times, then won a special award in 1997 for his entire artistic journey in the same year his film "Destiny" was nominated for the Palme d'Or. His films were not necessarily as successful with audiences inside Egypt and were often a source of controversy, perhaps even annoyance, due to his shocking style in presenting bold ideas and provocative dialogues challenging established and entrenched norms in collective consciousness. However, these storms did not prevent him from continuing on his rebellious path. Therefore, the phenomenon of Chahine has not been repeated in our cinematic space since his death in 2008.

Under the enchanting Cannes sun, I can only dream of a day when we get accustomed to seeing our precious talents shine on the red carpet and glow through silver screens with artistic creations that convey the warmth of our sun to the world and let them taste its sweetness.

I dream of films that resemble us and do not mimic others, with their own unique stamp and flavor.

Cinema is nothing more than a big dream.

And "Cannes" is nothing but an idea, that found believers Seventy Five years ago!