Egyptian actress Menna Shalaby is set to receive the Faten Hamama Excellence award at the opening ceremony of the 41st Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF). The award will be given to her in recognition of her prosperous career in cinema during the opening ceremony of the festival on November 20th.

"When I was starting out as an actress, I used to dream of receiving an invitation to attend the opening ceremony with my name on it," Shalaby said. When she expressed her pride at being recognised at CIFF's opening ceremony, Shalaby added, "It makes me even happier and prouder that the award bears the name of the exceptional artist Faten Hamama, with whom I am honoured to share a profession."

The award, according to CIFF President Mohamed Hefzy, is a rare honour for a small selection of actors and actresses who deserve to be associated with Faten Hamama, who was known as the Lady of the Arab Screen.

Throughout her prestigious career, Menna Shalaby was known for carefully choosing her roles and taking impressive risks. Having begun in 2001 on a television series called "Morning and Evening Talk" based on the writings of Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz, and having acted in the late Radwan Al-Kashef's "The Magician" in that same year, Shalaby rose to stardom with surprising speed.

After nearly 20 years of acting and receiving awards for her art, including multiple Best Actress awards at the Cairo National Festival for Egyptian Cinema in 2007 and 2017 and a Murex d'Or Award for Best Arabian Drama Actress, Shalaby finds special meaning in CIFF's award: "In the last few years, I was granted many awards in Egypt and abroad, and even though I value them all and regard them as a drive to resume my artistic career, nothing can compete with being honoured at my own country's biggest festival that will always have a special place in my heart."