Cairo International Festival for
Experimental Theatre (CIFET) called for submissions of plays by theatre troupes
wishing to participate in the festival's 31st edition (1-8 September 2024).
Interested troupes can submit their
entries until 15 March through the dedicated links.
One of the oldest and most important
artistic festivals in Egypt, CIFET was launched in 1988 by the former Minister
of Culture Farouk Hosny to put Egypt on the international theatrical map.
From its second edition through 2010,
the CIFET was presided over by the late scholar-writer and former president of
the Academy of Arts Fawzy Fahmy.
The festival was interrupted for five
years after the January 2011 Revolution, but it returned in 2016 with Sameh
Mahran as its president. It was renamed the Cairo International Festival for
Contemporary and Experimental Theatre (CIFCET), limited its program and dropped
its competitive character.
The name reverted to the CIFET in its
27th edition (2020), when Alaa Abdel-Aziz took over and the competition was
reinstated. Due to COVID-19, international shows were held online while
Egyptian plays were staged across Cairo’s theatres.
Following COVID-19, the festival's 28th
and 29th editions were presided over by Gamal Yakout, while Mohamed
El-Shafei and Saeed Kabeel served as artistic directors.
In its 30th edition (2023), Mahran
returned as president while El-Shafei served as general coordinator.
Source: Ahram
Online