Cinema and cultural and creative industries

Cinema

Every week, the IFE in Cairo invites to its weekly cinema screening, “le cinéma”. Screenings are also organized in Alexandria and Heliopolis.

The Institute has partnered up with several film festivals through the provision of films, inviting directors, and the award of grants. The Institute notably supports the Panorama of the European film festival ever since its creation, on a bilateral basis but also as part of the EUNIC cluster (grouping of EU member states’ cultural institutes and services of present in Egypt). The Institute also accompanies the International Cairo Film Festival notably by inviting French participants (actors, producers, directors, etc.).
Lastly, the French Institute in Egypt hosts and supports the Animatex animation film festival.

The Institute is also eager to support the training of future Egyptian directors, notably by organizing master classes and the residency program.

Lastly, the IFE supports the presence of Egyptian films and directors in numerous French festivals (Cannes International Film Festival, Cinéma du Réel, AFLAM, etc.).

The IFE also lends its support to the broadcasting industry, including figures in the Egyptian media landscape, mostly independent and sometimes francophone, and who are primarily interested in new digital electronic media.

Cultural and creative industries (ICC) and Sports

The ICC landscape is changing in Egypt and lies at the premises of a future great network. The IFE accompanies its development by best identifying actors and opportunities to perpetuate its action in the long run, thereby targeting priority cooperation actions including through skills strengthening. Four main areas are identified: fashion and artistic professions, photography, graphism, and design.

Support for the biennial Cairo Photo Week (photography) and the Cairopolitan (graphic arts) continues, both of which have already become hallmark events in their respective area. The wealth of creation and current research fields on fashion, as well as artistic and design professions, open up a major scope of action and structuring.

The IFE relays international sports events in a genuine Franco-Egyptian sportsmanship dialogue. Sport plays an essential role in Egypt and notably for the youth, with the cooperation action taking shape around the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Debates of ideas and support to civil society

Throughout the year, the French Institute in Egypt organizes various highlight events gathering experts, decision makers and civil society actors to discuss current global issues. In partnership with Egyptian and French organizations, interveners from different backgrounds (private or public sectors, civil society, scientists, intellectuals, artists, etc.) discuss and debate various themes with the aim of providing audiences certain insights on the contemporary world.

The programing features various discussions around the environment, history, political science, Egyptology, music and art. Every month, in partnership with the CEDEJ, the IFAO and the IDEO, the French Institute participates in and hosts the Midan Mounira conferences, addressed to the general public, on the theme “Egypt and Middle East – Dynamics, issues and temporalities.”

Special attention is also brought to the topics of the environment and sustainable development, two prominent issues the Egyptian civil society faces day-to-day. Asides from La Fabrique de la ville durable (Sustainable City Making), International Women’s Right Day in 2022 was dedicated to the theme “Women and the Environment” – an opportunity to host a debate of ideas and usher in the Institute’s financial support to a civil society association committed to gender equality.

Through its debate of ideas events and its action in other sectors, the French Institute in Egypt aims to support a number of civil society initiatives in areas of cooperation between France and Egypt, including the environment, with the purpose of assisting in their structuring and reinforcing its ties with the French civil society.
This multifaceted support aims to reach various actors who work in rural areas, popular neighborhoods, or areas outside the Institute’s typical radius of action.