Cairo's film festival turns 50 with 145 films and a tribute to Abderrahmane Sissako
The 47th Cairo International Film Festival runs from 11 to 20 November. Morocco's Nabil Ayouch chairs the main jury, and 850 young filmmakers will take part in its industry days.
Lire cet article en français →
Cairo — The Cairo International Film Festival has announced a programme of 145 films from 64 countries for its 47th edition, which runs from 11 to 20 November and marks 50 years since the first festival, Daily News Egypt reports.
The programme
- 109 feature films, 29 short films and 17 documentaries.
- Cairo XR, a programme for extended-reality and interactive work.
- A selection team that watched 5,600 submissions: 2,100 features and documentaries and 3,500 shorts.
African names
- The Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako will receive a tribute, alongside the Italian director Matteo Garrone.
- The French-Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch chairs the jury of the international feature competition, which has 12 films. His jury includes the Egyptian actress Ghada Adel.
- The Egyptian actor Asser Yassin receives the Faten Hamama Award of Excellence.
- The screenwriter Medhat El-Adl and the cinematographer Said Shimi receive the Golden Pyramid for lifetime achievement.
- The Egyptian director Amal Ramsis sits on the Best Arab Film jury, and the Egyptian actor Ali Qassem on the short-film jury.
For young filmmakers
About 850 young Egyptians and participants from other Arab countries will take part in the festival's Cairo Industry Days programmes, Cairo Cares and New Faces. Two new programmes are being added:
- From Book to Screen, to revive the adaptation of literature for film, including the work of Naguib Mahfouz and Ihsan Abdel Quddous. Its director, Mohamed Sayed Abdel Rahim, described it as the first of its kind in the region.
- A development programme in which experts from the global film industry help projects move from idea to production.
The festival will also hold two workshops on developing short series in thriller, suspense and horror.
The ambition
The festival's president, the actor Hussein Fahmy, said the aim is to stand alongside the world's major festivals, including Cannes. He said support from various sectors has not yet reached the level he wants, but that public demand for the festival is strong.
The festival's restoration work, which keeps older films available to audiences, is a theme of this 50th-anniversary edition.
Source: Daily News Egypt, reporting by Kadry El Haggar, 14 October 2026.
