The Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) has announced that its upcoming 38th edition will include several screening halls in Downtown Cairo, alongside the Cairo Opera House venues.
Magda Wassef, CIFF’s president, announced in a press release that five halls will screen the festival’s films this year, three in Odeon Cinema and two halls in Cinema Karim.
With Cairo Opera House’s five screening halls, the total number of screening rooms will be 10, expanding the festival’s audience capacity.
This decision comes four years after the festival halted screenings in Downtown Cairo for security reasons and had since been confined to screening films within the Cairo Opera House grounds.
The 38th CIFF will open 15 November and run till 24 November, with Youssef Cherif Rizkallah as its artistic director, and Mahmoud Hemeda as it's honorary president.
The festival also announced that Shakespeare will be its "special guest," with screenings of local and international films either inspired by the playwright's dramaturgy or that are cinematic adaptations of his plays.
The committee responsible for film selection was announced in May and comprises a number of prominent Egyptian critics, including Essam Zakaria, Magdi Tayeb, Magda Khairallah, Magda Morris, Hanan Abu Diaa, Khaled Mahmud, Amal El-Gamal, Mohammed Atef, Nihad Ibrahim, Andrew Mohsen, Safa Laithi and Mahmoud El-Ghitani.
The festival’s advisory committee includes actress Yousra, lawyer Mona Zulficar, screenwriter and producer Mohamed Hefzy, scriptwriter Mariam Naoum, director Mohamed Diab, director Mohamed Qaliouby, and critic Tarek El Shennawy.
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