President Hussein Fahmy and newly appointed artistic director Mohamed Tarek head this year’s CIFF, focusing on humanity, restoration, and regional connection, reaffirming the festival’s place at the crossroads of world cinema.
Honouring the individuals who have shaped that history, CIFF this year pays tribute to several towering figures. Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed Abdel Aziz, known for his seamless blend of realism and comedy, receives the Career Achievement Award, while cinematographer Mahmoud Abdel Samie, a pioneer of Egyptian documentary and witness to the country’s wars, is recognised for his lifelong dedication to the image.
The festival also salutes international excellence: Hungarian auteur Ildikó Enyedi, Palestinian actress and director Hiam Abbass, and Egyptian star Khaled El Nabawy, recipient of the Faten Hamama Award for Artistic Excellence.
Two generations, one vision
For Hussein Fahmy, who has long been both its custodian and public face, CIFF is not just an annual event but “an integral part of Egypt’s collective memory.” In his note in the festival’s press conference held a few weeks ago, he reminded audiences that “cinema has taught us that art is never a luxury, and that the image on screen can change how people see their lives and open doors to hope, even in the most difficult times.”
This year’s edition carries that spirit forward while recognising the shifting landscape of the global film industry, while holding fast to the festival’s mission as a meeting point between Egypt, the Arab world, and the international community.
“What never changes is the human being,” Fahmy writes, and indeed, the selection this year finds its centre in films that explore the intricacies of human experience — stories of struggle, endurance, and the persistent search for meaning.
Taking up the role of artistic director for the first time, Mohamed Tarek brings both deep familiarity and a fresh perspective to the festival.
Having worked his way through CIFF’s corridors in various positions over the years, he speaks of it “as if moving through my own home.”
Tarek’s appointment symbolises a generational handover and under his direction, the programming leans less on scale and more on significance.
“We did not focus on quantity,” he notes, “but on presenting each film in the most meaningful way for audiences.” The result is a selection of around eighty feature films from over forty-five countries, including fiction, documentary, animation, and experimental work, bound by a thread of human empathy.
Global showcase and regional heartbeat
The International Competition, the festival’s central showcase, is presided over by Turkish master Nuri Bilge Ceylan, whose presence instantly deepens the tone of the event.
Ceylan, whose meditative epics from Distant to Winter Sleep have shaped global art cinema, leads a diverse jury that includes Egyptian director Nadine Khan, Italian editor Simona Paggi, Tunisian filmmaker Leyla Bouzid, and Chinese director Guan Hu, among others. Together, they navigate a line-up defined by aesthetic daring and emotional precision.
Among the competition’s most anticipated entries is Once Upon a Time in Gaza by Tarzan and Arab Nasser, a rare Palestinian–French–German–Qatari–Jordanian co-production that finds tenderness and wit amidst devastation. From Tunisia comes Mehdi Hmili’s Exile, a bruising portrait of labour, revenge, and moral corrosion.
Moroccan filmmaker Maryam Touzani, a familiar voice in Cairo, returns with Calle Málaga, a delicate story of ageing and rediscovery in Tangier. From Egypt and Palestine, One More Show by Mai Saad and Ahmed El-Danf brings the resilience of a Gaza circus troupe to the screen — an emblem of hope that feels almost made for Fahmy’s theme of art as endurance. These works together reveal a competition curating not only diversity of geography but also of gaze — films that look inward as much as outward.
Beyond the main competition, the Horizons of Arab Cinema programme has grown into CIFF’s emotional and political backbone, tracing the pulse of a region in flux. This year’s selection places special emphasis on women’s narratives and the confrontation of social limits.
Pasha’s Girls by Mohamed Al Adl turns a Cairo beauty salon into a stage for questions of morality, gender, and class. Flana by Zahraa Ghandour ventures through Iraq’s fractured memory, while Complaint No. 713317 by Yasser Shafiey transforms a mundane domestic crisis into a quiet allegory of bureaucracy and dignity. Together they reflect a regional cinema unafraid of introspection — less about grand statements than the tremors of daily survival.
Around these two pillars extends a selection of other programmes that enrich CIFF’s identity as both archive and agora.
Expanding the frame
The Out of Competition selection brings together some of world cinema’s most talked-about new titles, including Ildikó Enyedi’s meditative Silent Friend, fresh from Venice, and Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Voice of Hind Rajab, a piercing reconstruction of a child’s desperate plea from Gaza.
Elsewhere, works such as Agnieszka Holland’s Franz and Radu Jude’s Kontinental ’25 carry CIFF’s ongoing dialogue with European auteurs, bridging moral inquiry and experimentation.
The Critics’ Week section continues its tradition of discovery, spotlighting emerging filmmakers whose works move between fiction and reflection. Notable among them are Habibi Hussein by Alex Bakri, an elegy to the dying rituals of film projection in Palestine, and Do You Love Me by Lana Daher, a hypnotic, archival meditation on Lebanon’s collective memory. Such films expand CIFF’s reach beyond geography into the very material of cinema — light, memory, and the act of remembering itself.
Equally vital is the Short Film Competition, a space where Cairo nurtures the next generation of cinematic voices. Here, the Egyptian film The Last Miracle by Abdelwahab Shawky joins works from Japan, Tunisia, and France, suggesting how the short form has become an arena for risk and reinvention.
Restoration and innovation
If the new works embody renewal, the Restored Egyptian Classics programme anchors CIFF in continuity. Twenty-two films return to the screen this year in pristine restorations — a gesture not of nostalgia but of cultural preservation.
Beyond the glamour of screenings and red carpets, the 7th Cairo Industry Days Forum continues to evolve as a platform for professional exchange, training, and co-production.
Built on strategic pillars designed to empower Arab cinema and broaden its global reach, the CID features Technology and New Media, highlighted by the launch of the Cairo XR & New Media section and panels exploring Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications in filmmaking, embracing innovation across all programs.
In recognition of the industry's rapidly changing landscape, the CIFF boldly addresses contemporary challenges with sessions on co-production (bridging authentic storytelling with market realities) and a critical debate on "The future of storytelling: Will generative AI replace human film and drama makers?" Other essential topics include "Her story, her power: Bridging the gender gap in cinema" and the power of film in discussing mental health, underscoring CIFF's commitment to both artistic excellence and social relevance.
It also includes Expanding the Market, a segment driven by the remarkable growth of the Cairo Film Industry Market (tripling its exhibitors) and the launch of the new one-on-one pitching programme, Cairo Pro Meet, which facilitates direct professional exchanges between filmmakers and global producers/funders.
Finally, CID aims to solidify Cairo as a Global Bridge, actively expanding co-production beyond the traditional Arab-European model to include strategic new markets like China, Korea, India, and South Africa, ensuring new partnerships and distribution opportunities for regional films.
“We continue to dream, to create”
In addition, the festival hosts a robust programme of masterclasses and seminars that transform the festival into a critical meeting point for industry reflection and artistic growth.
This intellectual component features deep-dive sessions with cinematic giants being honoured at the festival, including masterclasses by Turkish auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi, alongside intimate "In Conversation" sessions with Egyptian stars like Khaled El Nabawy and Palestinian-French actress Hiam Abbass.
These discussions give audiences and filmmakers rare insight into the craft, vision, and philosophies that have defined some of the most influential careers in world cinema.
Throughout its 46th edition, the Cairo International Film Festival aims to cultivate coherence, vision, and intimacy. It is a festival that looks at the world not from above but from within — from the bustling streets, and the living rooms where film remains a family language.
In Fahmy’s words, CIFF is Egypt’s message “to the entire world: we continue to dream, to create, and to believe that cinema can change life and make it more beautiful.”
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