Inspiring Egyptian Artists: Cairo International Festival for Contemporary and Experimental Theatre

By: Tarneem Wanis 

@tarnimH

On September 10, Minister of Culture Inas Abdel Dayem launched the 25th edition of the Cairo International Festival for Contemporary and Experimental Theatre (CIFCET) at the Cairo Opera House’s grand theatre. 

This year, CIFCET hosted several international theater artists, offered varied theatrical workshops and masterclasses, and showcased international and Arabic plays.

CIFCET general director Dina Amin inaugurated the opening night with a greeting speech in which she expressed her excitement of celebrating the 25th anniversary of the festival.

The opening at the Cairo Opera House featured a documentary celebrating the varied theatre companies presented – Switzerland, France, Uganda, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Portugal, the US, and other countries. 

“The essence of the festival is about diversity; bringing together different cultures, putting them together at the same place, having them interact and learn from each other,” said Amin.

The festival featured notable Egyptian guests including actor Ezzat el-Alaily, American playwright David Henry and Italy’s mask theater co-founder Florianna Frasseto.

“What we are trying to do as a board and I as general director is to bring as many different cultural experiences to the festival as we can and this year we are shedding light on African theater. So we have two artists from Uganda and South Africa to bring different theatrical experiences,” said Amin.

There was a large number of AUC members present in CIFECT including professor Jillian Campana, theater program director on campus. AUC.

“The festival promoted Cairo as a location for theatre. Egyptian theatre has had a rich tradition and has been a leader of the art form in the Middle East for years. It’s wonderful that  many people took part in this festival and I’m sure it inspired Egyptian artists to continue to make work here,” said Campana

Also attended the festival, Ali El-Shourbagy AUC theater junior student who performed with one of the groups on the first day of the festival.

“The theatrical group I performed with at CIFCET have a more professional outlook on theater which was very refreshing to me as a theater student,” said El-Shourbagy.