The Cairo International Film Festival unveiled the programme for its 47th edition on Sunday, naming four recipients of its Golden Pyramid Lifetime Achievement Award, confirming the jury for its International Competition, and revealing that Egyptian director Ahmed Abdalla's new film, BerleeN, will have its world premiere in competition.
At a press conference on 11 October, organisers said the Golden Pyramid award - the festival's top honour - would go to Egyptian screenwriter and lyricist Medhat El Adl, veteran Egyptian cinematographer Saeed El Shimi, Italian director Matteo Garrone and Mauritanian-Malian filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako, according to a round-up of the announcements published by see.news. Separately, Egyptian actor Asser Yassin will receive the festival's Faten Hamama Excellence Award.
Shimi, born in Cairo's Abdeen district in 1943 and a graduate of the Higher Institute of Cinema, has worked on more than 100 feature films over a career spanning five decades, including collaborations with director Mohamed Khan on A Bird on the Road and The Street Player, and is recognised as a pioneer of underwater cinematography in Egyptian film. He has also taught cinematography and authored two books on the craft, and received Egypt's State Appreciation Award in Arts in 2024.
Yassin's award recognises a body of work that includes a Best Actor prize at the Carthage Film Festival in 2010 for Messages from the Sea and another at the Tetouan International Mediterranean Film Festival in 2015 for The Walls of the Moon, alongside television roles in 30 Days, B100 Wesh and the Arabic adaptation of Suits.
The festival also named the five-member jury for its International Competition, to be chaired by Moroccan-French director, screenwriter and producer Nabil Ayouch. He will be joined by Syrian-German director and screenwriter Ameer Fakher Eldin, British sound engineer Paul Davies, Chinese actress and producer Fan Bingbing, and Belgian director Laura Wandel, according to see.news.
Among the films selected for the International Competition is BerleeN, an Egyptian-German-Saudi co-production directed by Ahmed Abdalla and starring Menna Shalaby, Yosra Elozy, Haidar Helo, Mohamed Hatem, Fares Helou, Fadwa Abed, Gehad Hossameldin and Raed Yassin. Set over a single day in Berlin, the film follows three Arab migrants navigating identity and displacement in the German capital - one caught in a case of mistaken identity, one who discovers a camera revealing parallel worlds, and one who hears mysterious melodies while pursuing revenge - according to see.news. The festival has screened several of Abdalla's previous works, and his film 19B premiered there in 2022, according to CairoScene.
Other selections announced for the competition include the Iranian film Inherited, centred on a death-row inmate and also receiving its world premiere, and the Moroccan film Strawberries, about agricultural labourers, which will have its MENA premiere, organisers said in the see.news round-up of the announcements. The jury's international profile was also highlighted in coverage of the announcement: Fan Bingbing, one of Chinese cinema's best-known actresses and producers, and British sound engineer Paul Davies join directors from Morocco, Syria and Belgium on the five-member panel that will decide the festival's main competition prizes.
For me, a premiere night at the Cairo International Film Festival remains the most exceptional and important of all, even if a film has already screened elsewhere. — Ahmed Abdalla, director of BerleeN
Abdalla's previous features include Microphone, Rags and Tatters and Exterior/Night.
This year's festival, scheduled for 11 to 20 November at the Cairo Opera House, marks 50 years since CIFF's founding in 1976. It remains the only festival in the Arab world and Africa accredited as a Category A event by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations, according to a dispatch from the Qatar News Agency, which also reported that this year's edition will place added emphasis on restoring classic films and supporting book-to-film adaptation projects.
The announcement comes four days before a separate event, the El Gouna Film Festival, opens its ninth edition on the Red Sea coast on 15 October, where Egyptian actress Mona Zaki is set to receive a career achievement award. The two festivals, less than a month apart, give Egyptian cinema back-to-back moments in the regional spotlight this autumn.
Frequently asked questions
What did the Cairo International Film Festival announce on 11 October?
At a press conference, organisers of the 47th Cairo International Film Festival named the recipients of its Golden Pyramid Lifetime Achievement Award and Faten Hamama Excellence Award, confirmed the five-member jury for its International Competition, and announced that Ahmed Abdalla's film BerleeN would have its world premiere in that competition.
Who is receiving the festival's Golden Pyramid Lifetime Achievement Award?
Four honourees were named: Egyptian screenwriter and lyricist Medhat El Adl, Egyptian cinematographer Saeed El Shimi, Italian director Matteo Garrone and Mauritanian-Malian filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako. Separately, Egyptian actor Asser Yassin will receive the festival's Faten Hamama Excellence Award.
Which Egyptian film will premiere in the festival's International Competition?
BerleeN, an Egyptian-German-Saudi co-production directed by Ahmed Abdalla and starring Menna Shalaby, will have its world premiere in the International Competition. The film follows three Arab migrants navigating identity and displacement over a single day in Berlin.
When does the 47th Cairo International Film Festival take place?
The festival runs from 11 to 20 November 2026 at the Cairo Opera House, marking 50 years since its founding in 1976. It is the only festival in the Arab world and Africa with Category A accreditation from the International Federation of Film Producers Associations.
