At Cairo International Airport this year, the film festival will bring together Egyptian filmmakers not only to premiere their films, but also to stake a stake in the future of the country’s film industry. Once the center of Arab cinema, the Egyptian industry is no longer defined by its commercial past or nostalgic Golden Age. Instead, it is being reimagined by a generation that sees filmmaking as rebirth rather than revival. Through the festival lineup and Cairo Film Connection’s promotional platform, directors are creating bold films that are at once personal and political.
“I think my work is a combination of continuity and reinvention,” says documentarian Yomna Hattab, who brought her deeply personal project “I Have Other Friends” to Cairo Film Connection. “I am inspired by greats like Chahine, Khan, and Khairy Beshara. With a tradition like this, I feel a responsibility to create a story and visual style that is true to my generation, rather than copying it.”
“One More Show”
Courtesy of Mai Saad and Ahmed Al Danaf
For filmmaker Maye Zayed, whose feature film “Rainbows Don’t Last Long” in development is being screened at pitching competitions, this generational shift also means rewriting who gets noticed. “There weren’t enough female-led stories in Egyptian cinema,” she says. “That’s why I wanted to tell the stories of the women I know, the independent films that are still reaching Egyptian audiences and making a real impact.”
That spirit pervades this year’s Egyptian headlines, from Yasser Shafi’s deadpan satire “Complaint No. 713317,” to Mai Saad and Ahmed al-Danaf’s frontline documentary “One More Show,” filmed in Gaza, to Majid Nader’s meditative “All That the Wind Brings.” Some films are showing in competition, others are looking for partners, but all share the same quiet belief that the rebirth of Egyptian cinema starts with something personal.
For Abanoub Nabil, whose short story “The Unnamed” will premiere in competition, CIFF is more than just a platform, it’s a way home. “When we were students, we would often skip class to attend CIFF screenings and master classes,” he recalls. “That festival was where I first discovered world cinema. It was our real classroom. Now, standing there with my film, it feels like coming home.”
These filmmakers use fiction, documentary, and hybrid formats to construct films that speak first to themselves, and in doing so, to others.
“I have other friends.”
Courtesy of Yomna Hatab
International feature competition
“One More Show” (2025)
(My Saad, Ahmed Al-Danaf, Egypt, Palestine. Produced by Baho Baksh and Safei El-Din Mahmoud)
Filmed under shelling in Gaza, “One More Show” follows the Free Gaza Circus as they perform for displaced children amidst the devastation. Co-directed by Egyptian filmmaker Mai Saad and Gazan cinematographer Ahmed al-Danaf, this feature-length documentary is as much an act of defiance as it is a testimony.
“We made this film under continuous shelling and the constant threat of genocide,” says al-Danaf. His hope is that viewers will understand “how deeply we love life and how much we don’t want death.” The result is a haunting portrait of resilience and resistance, a reminder that even in times of war, art remains an act of survival.
“Everything the wind carries”
Courtesy of Maged Nader.
arab film horizon competition
“Complaint No. 713317” (2025)
(Yaser Shafie, Egypt. Produced by Red Star, Misr International Films, Film Squire, Filmology Productions)
Darkly comical and quietly subversive, his debut novel, Complaint No. 713317, turns a broken refrigerator into a metaphor for a society in repair mode. Starring Mahmoud Hemida and Sherine, the film is Shafi’s intimate character portrayal of a retired couple’s descent into bureaucratic absurdity. Dynamic in its minimalism, the film examines al-Qaal, the untranslatable sense of everyday oppression and injustice, with deadpan precision and emotional restraint, bringing a striking new voice to Egyptian social cinema. Shafei recalls: “This is not a story about refrigerators. It’s a story about what we learned with and without refrigerators.”
short film competition
“Anonymous”
(Abanoub Nabil, Egypt. Produced by Baho Baksh, Safei Eldin, Mark Lotfi)
Set in Alexandria, “The Unnamed” follows Gianna, the young daughter of a belly dancer, as she wanders the city streets alone, carrying a jar containing her mother’s body parts. What begins as a desperate errand turns into an unforgettable journey through fear, love, and survival. Writer and director Abanoub Nabil uses childhood memories and personal loss to explore how illness reshapes identity and how children silently inherit their parents’ pain. Dedicated to “all women, mothers and daughters living in precarious conditions,” the film’s realism and empathy mark Nabil as a bold new voice in Egyptian cinema.
cairo film connection
“Rainbows don’t last long” (in development, fiction)
(Mayye Zayed, Cleo Media, Egypt)
Following the critically acclaimed documentary Lift Like a Girl, Mayye Zayed returns with Rainbows Don’t Last Long. The film is a tender family road trip story about an 8-year-old girl who loses her eyesight. Salma races across Egypt with her estranged parents, traveling from Alexandria to the Red Sea to see the world’s colors before they fade. Developed through programs such as Film Independent’s Global Media Makers and Nipkow Residency, the project transforms the Egyptian landscape into an emotional map. Zayed describes Egypt as “the fourth character of the film…not something sophisticated or exotic, but something textured and authentic.”
“I have other friends” (in development, non-fiction)
(Yomna Hattab, Egypt)
In I Have Other Friends, documentarian Yomna Khattab turns her camera inward for an unflinching exploration of female friendships, adulthood, and the passage of time. This project, which combines diaries, correspondence, and confessions, reconsiders the relationship between the filmmaker, who is nearing 40, and five of his closest friends. “This is a coming-of-age story that happens later in life,” Hattab says. Poetic and personal, the film continues a long tradition of intimate Egyptian nonfiction, reimagined for a generation redefining connection and femininity.
“Everything the wind carries” (post-production, fiction)
(Maged Nader, Egypt, Qatar. Produced by Maged Nader and Tamer El Said)
Inspired by memories of his grandmother’s dementia, Majed Nader’s “All That the Wind Can Carry” blurs the lines between memory, dreams, and loss. As Susanna’s fading mind begins to fold past and present together, the film becomes a meditation on time and the imprint of a family’s story. Created in collaboration with Tamer El Said, this project combines intimacy and visual experimentation to explore how personal history shapes and distorts identity.
