About the event
The Cairo International Film Festival has announced the initial programming for its 47th edition, taking place from November 11 to 20, 2026. Held under the auspices of Egypt’s Ministry of Culture, the upcoming event coincides with the 50th anniversary of the festival's establishment in 1976. CIFF remains the only film festival across the Arab and African regions to hold a Category A classification from the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF).
What's new
This edition features a broad selection of international features, Arab productions, short films, restored Egyptian classics, and special screenings. Beyond the main competition tracks, the event includes several specialized sections:
- The second edition of the New Wave talent-development initiative.
- The Cairo Kids program, showcasing titles like Incinerator, The Violinist, and Not a Hero.
- Cairo XR, presenting seven virtual and extended reality projects.
- Midnight Screenings, including the Saudi horror-thriller Traveller's Hell directed by Hanaa Al Omair.
- Midnight Classics, featuring Jacques Tourneur’s Cat People (1942).
- Cairo Industry Days, alongside masterclasses and technical workshops.
What to expect
The flagship International Competition features 12 feature films exploring themes such as family dynamics, political upheaval, displacement, identity, and memory. Selected titles include Nadim Tabet's In the Darkness I See You, Ashgan El-Hamus's Al Baraneya, and Morteza Alizadeh's Persian drama Inherited. Moroccan-French filmmaker Nabil Ayouch chairs the jury alongside Syrian-German director Ameer Fakhr Eldin and Chinese actress-producer Fan Bingbing.
In the 17-film out-of-competition sidebar, Turkish director Emin Alper presents Salvation, a drama detailing land disputes and religious visions inside a remote mountain village. Additional out-of-competition selections include works from filmmakers Hirokazu Kore-eda, Andrey Zvyagintsev, and Peter Farrelly. Specific venue locations and screening timetables are not specified in the source; please check the official notice.
Source: turkish historical drama - BingNews · Published October 12, 2026 · Photo by James Webb Space Telescope via Openverse