Interested troupes can submit their entries until 22 May through the festival’s website, extending the deadline by a few days. The previous deadline was 15 May.

Arab and Egyptian theatre troupes who wish to apply should follow this link, while international troupes should follow this link instead.

The festival will take place between 1 and 8 September 2023.

This year’s festival is presided over by Sameh Mahran, with Mohamed Elshafei as its general coordinator.

Over the past two editions, the festival's president has been Gamal Yakout, while Elshafei and Saeed Kabeel serve as artistic directors.

The festival was first launched in 1988 by the former Minister of Culture Farouk Hosny to put Egypt on the international theatrical map. Since its second edition, the CIFET was presided over by the late scholar-writer and former president of the Academy of Arts Fawzy Fahmy, who retained this post until 2010.

The festival was interrupted for five years after the January 2011 Revolution and came back in 2016 with Sameh Mahran as its president. It was renamed the Cairo International Festival for Contemporary and Experimental Theatre (CIFCET), limited its programme and dropped its competitive character.

The name reverted to the CIFET in its 27th edition (2020), when Alaa Abdel-Aziz took over and the competition was reinstated. Due to COVID-19, international shows were held online while Egyptian plays were staged across Cairo’s theatres.