The Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) is bracing for its 46th edition, which will unspool from 12-21 November. The full programme was announced at a press conference in the Egyptian capital on 12 October. “This year, we did not focus on the quantity of films; instead, we prioritised presenting each movie in the most meaningful way possible for audiences. Still, despite this selectivity, our programme features 80 feature-length films spanning a wide range of genres – fiction, documentary, animation and experimental works – coming from more than 45 countries,” says Mohamed Tarek, the newly appointed artistic director of CIFF, in a press release.

In the International Competition, which boasts the Golden Pyramid as its grand prize, 12 films will be presented, including three European titles and six co-productions with European countries. These are, respectively: Dragonfly [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda film] by Paul Andrew Williams (UK), Renovation [+leggi anche:
recensione
intervista: Gabrielė Urbonaitė
scheda film] by Gabrielė Urbonaitė (Lithuania/Latvia/Belgium) and Zafzifa by Peter Sant (Malta); and Calle Malaga [+leggi anche:
recensione
intervista: Maryam Touzani
scheda film] by Maryam Touzani (Morocco/France/Spain/Germany/Belgium), Exile [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda film] by Mehdi Hmili (Tunisia/Luxembourg/France/Qatar/Saudi Arabia), Once Upon a Time in Gaza [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Tarzan Nasser
scheda film] by Tarzan and Arab Nasser (France/Palestine/UK/Germany/Portugal/Qatar/Jordan), The Silent Run by Marta Bergman (Belgium/Canada), The Things You Kill [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Alireza Khatami
scheda film] by Alireza Khatami (Turkey/Canada/France/Poland) and Death Does Not Exist [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Félix Dufour-Laperrière
scheda film] by Félix Dufour-Laperrière (Canada/France). The remaining titles in the International Competition are One More Show by Mai Saad and Ahmed Eldanf (Egypt/Palestine), Sand City by Mahde Hasan (Bangladesh), and Souraya, Mon Amour by Nicolas Khoury (Lebanon/Qatar).

Additionally, European representatives are present in the parallel competitive and non-competitive sections. Azza [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda film] by Stefanie Brockhaus (Germany) and Flana by Zahraa Ghandour (Iraq/France/Qatar) will be presented in Horizons of Arab Cinema. In My Parent’s House [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Tim Ellrich
scheda film] by Tim Ellrich (Germany), The Odyssey of Joy by Zgjim Terziqi (Kosovo/France), Reedland [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] by Sven Bresser (Netherlands/Belgium), Siblings [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda film] by Greta Scarano (Italy) and That Summer in Paris [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Valentine Cadic
scheda film] by Valentine Cadic (France), as well as the European co-productions Do You Love Me [+leggi anche:
recensione
intervista: Lana Daher
scheda film] by Lana Daher (France/Lebanon/Germany/Qatar) and Habibi Hussein by Alex Bakri (Palestine/Germany/Saudi Arabia/Sweden), are going head to head in the Critics’ Week Official Competition.

The Out of Competition section will screen recent works by celebrated European filmmakers, including Agnieszka Holland’s Franz [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Agnieszka Holland
scheda film] (Czech Republic/Germany/Poland/France), Radu Jude’s Kontinental ’25 [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] (Romania/Brazil/Switzerland/UK/Luxembourg), Christian Petzold’s Mirrors No. 3 [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Christian Petzold
scheda film] (Germany), Ildikó Enyedi’s Silent Friend [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Ildikó Enyedi
scheda film] (Germany/France/Hungary), Dominik Moll’s Case 137 [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Dominik Moll
scheda film] (France) and Andrea Di Stefano’s My Tennis Maestro [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Andrea Di Stefano
scheda film] (Italy), as well as Gabriel Mascaro’s The Blue Trail [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] (Brazil/Mexico/Chile/Netherlands) and Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Voice of Hind Rajab [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Kaouther Ben Hania
scheda film] (Tunisia/France).

Furthermore, the presence of Europe is discernible in other ways at the Egyptian gathering. The Career Achievement Award will be presented to Ildikó Enyedi, as well as to Palestinian actress-writer-director Hiam Abbas and three Egyptian artists: thesp Khaled El Nabawy, cinematographer Mahmoud Abdel Samie and director Mohamed Abdel Aziz. The International Competition jury, headed up by Turkish auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan, includes a couple of Europeans (Romanian helmer and scribe Bogdan Muresanu, and Italian editor Simona Paggi) as well as Egyptian actress Basma, and directors Guan Hu from China and Leyla Bouzid from Tunisia.