Cairo International Film Festival 2027

About the Festival

The Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) is the oldest film festival in Africa and the Arab world, running continuously since 1976 and holding full FIAPF accreditation alongside Cannes, Venice, and Berlin. The 48th edition is expected in November 2027, running for ten days as in previous years.

Note: Exact dates for the 2027 edition have not yet been announced. Based on the 47th edition (11–20 November 2026), the festival typically opens in the second or third week of November. Check the official CIFF website for confirmed dates as they become available.

The main competition programme screens international features competing for the Golden Pyramid award. Alongside the competition, CIFF runs several parallel sections: a retrospective strand, a short film programme, a children’s cinema section, and the Arabic Cinema panorama which showcases new Egyptian and regional Arab productions. Industry events, masterclasses, and Q&A sessions with filmmakers are woven through the schedule.

Why Attend

CIFF is one of the few international festivals that consistently programmes films from African, Arab, and Asian cinema that do not travel widely in European or North American distribution. If you are interested in cinema beyond the usual art-house circuit, the ten-day programme is genuinely distinctive.

Screenings take place at several Cairo venues including the Cairo Opera House on Gezira Island and cinemas in the downtown Wust el-Balad area. The opening and closing ceremonies at the Opera House are ticketed events that tend to sell out early; regular screenings are more accessible.

Practical Information

Tickets: Single screening tickets are available through the official CIFF website and at venue box offices. Passes covering multiple screenings or the full programme are sold in advance; check the festival website for current pricing as of 2027.

Getting around: Most venues cluster around Tahrir Square, Gezira Island, and downtown Cairo. The Cairo Metro serves Tahrir directly. Taxis and ride-hailing apps (Uber, Careem) are reliable for getting between venues in the evening.

Accommodation: Cairo hotel prices can rise slightly during festival week, particularly near the Opera House area on Gezira. Booking two to three weeks in advance is sufficient for most budgets. Downtown Cairo or Zamalek are the most convenient bases.

What to expect: Screenings are subtitled in English for non-Arabic films. The festival atmosphere in central Cairo during November is lively; temperatures are comfortable at around 22–25°C. We recommend building some slack into your schedule as programmes can shift, and queue times for popular screenings can be longer than the ticketing suggests.

See our Cairo city guide for hotel and restaurant recommendations during your stay.

If you want to make the most of your time in Cairo outside festival hours, guided tours of the Pyramids, Islamic Cairo, and the Egyptian Museum are easy to arrange. Browse Cairo tours on GetYourGuide.