In its anniversary edition’s lineup, D-CAF promises to "stun, surprise and delight,” reads the festival’s press release announcing that the festival will run 9-30 October.

This year programming will include a variety of shows from all over the world with the highlight being return of the long-awaited Arab Arts Focus (AAF) to Cairo for the first time in four years, after its cancellation in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

AAF is a biennial event presenting a dense program of performances and works in various disciplines, all created or co-created by Arab artists. The industry professionals from around the world are invited to experience the AAF’s line-up and interact with the artists.

The festival will feature many returning artists from previous editions, marking the audiences’ but also the artists’ loyalty to the annual event. 

In the upcoming edition, the D-CAF’s flagship Performing Arts programme will bring a range of theatre, dance, and interdisciplinary performances underscoring the many colors of cultures and artistic traditions. For the first time, the programme will also feature a performance from Burkina Faso. 

The New Media and Visual Arts programme, introduced in the festival’s seventh edition, will include VR films, paintings, interactive installations, and more. Works conceived at the cutting edge of technology will interact with downtown Cairo’s rich architectural heritage, taking audiences on a voyage through past, present and future. 

In the press release, founder and artistic director Ahmed El Attar described D-CAF’s upcoming celebratory edition as “a milestone in the history of any festival. At the same time, it is also just the beginning. I would like to think of this tenth edition as the first of many big steps, and hope to one day celebrate twenty or thirty years of D-CAF.” 

The festival organisers are yet to reveal the D-CAF’s detailed programming.

Over the past years, D-CAF, the multidisciplinary festival presented a rich line-up of music, visual arts, dance, film, literature, and theater, bringing artists from all around the globe to Cairo audiences.