The evening began with a red carpet laid out in front of the Cairo Opera House, guiding guests into the main hall where the opening ceremony took place.
The ceremony featured speeches from Culture Minister, Ahmed Fouad Hanno, and the festival's president, Sameh Mehran.
The ceremony also included a brief artistic segment paying tribute to Robert Wilson (4 Oct 1941 – 31 Jul 2025), a highly influential American experimental theatre director, playwright, and visual artist.
Wilson is considered a landmark figure in avant-garde theatre history, blending performing, visual, and musical arts with remarkable use of light and stage space.
One of his most famous works is Einstein on the Beach (1976).
His latest work, The Jungle Book (co-created with CocoRosie), made its world première in Luxembourg in 2019. It was also presented at the Carthage Theatre Days festival in Tunisia.
The opening ceremony also featured a short documentary about the festival’s organizing team, spotlighting the efforts made by the supreme and executive committees.
The film showcased the behind-the-scenes preparation, organizational steps, and key roles played by committee members, highlighting their team spirit in serving theatre and experimental performance.
"Theatre Always Triumphs"
In his opening remarks, the festival's president, Sameh Mahran, explained how theatre “creates the other" and how this "other" exists within us, whether we wish them present or absent, consciously or unconsciously."
"In theatre, we confront this other, connecting and disconnecting from ourselves, uniting and breaking down in an endless process that pushes beyond what we thought unchallengeable. Theatrical scenes quickly become part of our lives and soon extend into everyday real-life practice.
This is why theatre’s power has led many—from Plato to Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and from fundamentalist to conservative political currents—to try to restrict it and curb its questions and transformations. But theatre always triumphs and will continue to do so,” he added.
Minister Hanno said the festival reflects Egypt’s belief that art is the greatest means to bring people closer, as each performance is “a speaking dialogue that broadens our horizons.”
“This edition confirms that Egypt is not distant from experimentation; the early Egyptians embodied performative scenes, and today the youth carry this torch and offer new visions,” he added.
The minister called for reconsidering the festival’s name to encompass experimentation and other forms of theatre.
He affirmed that Cairo is the city of theatre and that Egypt opens its arms to the future and its guests with firm belief that art is the highest form of living dialogue.
"Celebrating experimental theatre is celebrating the spirit of adventure and affirming that theatre, regardless of changing times, remains the most sincere art form in expressing the human soul."
Jury and Honourees
The evening then presented the jury of this year's festival, welcoming them on the stage.
The panel composed of head of Dramaturgy and National Theatre of Greece Irene Moundraki (Greece); directors Ahmed El-Attar and Nasser Abdel-Moneim (Egypt); artist and head of the Iraqi Artists Syndicate Jabbar Judi (Iraq).
In addition, it included poet and playwright Sami Aljam'aan (Saudi Arabia); director and writer Salvatore Bitonti (Italy); and artist and director of Venice Festival Andrea Porcheddu.
During the ceremony, several theatre figures from Egypt and the international theatre scene were honoured.
From Egypt, the honourees included actor Sabry Fawaz, actress Hanan Youssef, professor Hassan Khalil, and writer Bahig Ismail, whose award was received by his nephew, prominent film director Ashraf Fayek.
Among international honourees were director Taku Victor (Cameroon), writer and theatre producer Hamad Al-Rumaihi (Qatar), artist Rafik Ali Ahmad (Lebanon), artist Mohammad Al-Mansour (Kuwait), critic Patrick Pavis (France), and director Sir Rufus Norris (UK).
The festival also honoured late actress Iqbal Naeem (12 Jan 1958 - 9 July 2025). Her award was received by her sister, Awatif Naeem, who expressed gratitude to Egypt and the festival management.
The Triumph of Horus
The opening concluded with the performance The Triumph of Horus, directed by Wali Aouni, with dramaturgy by Mohamed Samir El-Khatib.
The Triumph of Horus is an ancient Egyptian sacred drama often described as one of the earliest, if not the oldest, ceremonial dramatic texts known to humanity.
The text, inscribed during the Ptolemaic era (237–57 BC) on the walls of the Edfu Temple, was described by researchers as an exceptional theatrical document.
The hour-long performance featured visual and kinetic tableaux inspired by ancient Egyptian myths symbolizing the triumph of good and light over darkness, celebrating Egyptian identity from its ancient roots to its contemporary present.
CIFET
As one of the most prestigious Arab and international festivals specializing in experimental theatre, the CIFET offers a platform for theatre performances from around the world to present their creative experiments on Egyptian stages.
Creating a space for culture exchange, the festival introduces Egyptian and Arab audiences to the latest global theatre trends.
It also serves as a wide window for theatre artists worldwide to view new developments in the theatrical scene of Egypt and the wider Arab region.
This year's festival continues until 8 September.
Read more about the festival here.
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