Cairo International Film Festival opens submissions for 45th edition

The Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) has announced its call for submissions in all categories for the upcoming 45th edition, which will take place at the Cairo Opera House 15-24 November.

Eligible filmmakers from all over the world can submit their entries through the CIFF’s official website from 15 April until 1 August.

“We are proud of all the achievements of the 44th edition,” said CIFF President Hussein Fahmy, promising the festival audience an edition “no less than the previous one in terms of the quality and level of films and the rather important participating guests.”

The festival’s director, Amir Ramses, announced that this year’s edition would feature a new competition for documentary films.

The 44th edition screened 108 films from 53 countries, including 30 films that made their global and international premieres, and 57 films that premiered in the Middle East and North Africa.

Among these were award-winning films like Alcarràs, Bread and Salt, EO, Saint Omer, Banshees of Inisherin and The Fabelmans.

The festival also hosted industry stars such as Bella Tarr, Naomi Kawase, Matthew Kassowitz, Jean-Luc Godard, and many other acclaimed filmmakers and actors.

The CIFF is one of the oldest and most regular film festivals in the Arab world and Africa, and it has acquired its unique status by being the only festival in the Arab and African region registered under Category A in the International Federation of Producers in Paris (FIAPF).