MUMBAI: Yash Raj Films’ and Disney’s Roadside Romeo recently won The Special Children’s International Jury Prize for Animation Films at The Cairo International Film Festival for Children (CIFFC) 2010. Especially judged by the children jury members, the award was received on 11 March, 2010 by the Indian Ambassador to Egypt, H.E.R. Swaminathan on behalf of India. The award was handed over in India to Yash Chopra on 19 March, 2010 by the The Cairo International Film in India advisor and representative Gaurang Jalan.

Directed by Jugal Hansraj and featuring the voices of Bollywood stars Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor as Romeo and Laila along with comedian Jaaved Jaffrey as Charlie Anna, Roadside Romeo released worldwide on 24 October, 2008. The animation has been created by Visual Computing Labs (VCL).

The 20th Cairo International Film Festival For Children took place from 4 to 11 March  this year under the aegis of the Ministry of Culture and the Government of Egypt. The festival had two competitive sections – (a) Competition for Long and Short Feature Films and (b) Competition for Animation & TV Programmes. Jury members comprised of prominent personalities from the film fraternity across the world, besides children juries from Egypt, Italy, Jordan, India, Pakistan, Sudan, Syria, UK, USA & Indonesia – who watched over 125 films in the above sections.  

Furthermore, Indian films are also being revived and released in theatres in Egypt after a gap of over 15 years or more. Yash Raj Films will be the forerunner by releasing New York shortly in Cairo and Alexandria. Directed by Kabir Khan, produced by Aditya Chopra and starring John Abraham, Katrina Kaif, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Irrfan, New York released on 26 June, 2009 and has continued to garner worldwide acclaim and recognition ever since.