Renowned actor Hussein Fahmy is the festival president, and film researcher and critic Essam Zakaria is the director.

The festival's opening ceremony will be held at the Cairo Opera House.

During the opening ceremony, the festival's highest award, the Golden Pyramid Honorary Award, will be offered to Egyptian director Yousri Nasrallah and the Faten Hamama Excellence Award will offered to Egyptian actor Ahmed Ezz.

The festival will also honour Danis Tanović, film director, producer and screenwriter, from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Tanović will also head the International Competition Jury, a panel that also includes Ahmed Hafez (Egypt), Andrea Pallaoro (Italy), Ángela Molina (Spain), Aisha Ben Ahmed (Tunisia), Anocha Suwichakornpong (Thailand, and Sylvie Pialat (France). 

The opening ceremony will screen the Palestinian film Passing Dreams, which is competing for the Golden Pyramid alongside the other 16 titles included in the Official Competition.

Representing countries such as Belgium, the USA, Australia, Lebanon, Japan, and Egypt, among others, the films touch on contemporary global cinematic trends and tackle a wide range of important human, social, and political issues, revealing diverse ideas and visions. They range from social dramas and comedies to horror and crime genres.

Other competitive segments of the festival are Horizons of Arab featuring 14 titles, Short Film Competition boasting more than 30 films, and 7 films in the Critics’ Week Competition.

The juries will award the best films in the Official Competition, Horizons of Arab Cinema, Short Films Competition, and Critics' Week Award, as well as awards for Best African Film and Best Asian Film, the Palestinian Film Awards, the Best Documentary Award, and the Fipresci Award.

The films out-of-competition include 11 titles in feature-length movies of the Official Selection, topped with screenings in segments such as International Panorama, Special Screenings, Midnight Screenings, CIFF Classics, Restored Egyptian Classics, and the Panorama of Egyptian Short Films.

The will also be From Ground Zero, a segment encompassing short films, part of Rashid Masharawi's documentary project created in response to the events following the attacks of 7 October 2023. Three additional titles will be screened in a separate Spotlight on Palestinian Cinema segment.

For the first time in CIFF's history, the festival will have China’s Cinematic Frontier: Sci-Fi, Drama, and Beyond, Best of Québec Shorts, as well as Made in Egypt. The latter is a project that supports international films fully or with some of its scenes shot in Egypt.

The festival will hold the 6th edition of Cairo Industry Days between 15 and 20 November.

This segment will include opportunities for networking, masterclasses, conversations, and panel discussions addressing all participants in the film industry.

The Industry Day's branch, Cairo Film Connection, will be in its 10th edition this year.

This year, 18 projects from 13 countries were selected to participate in CFC, ranging between development and post-production. Eight of those projects are from Egypt.