The supreme committee of the 28th Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre (CIFET) revealed the modified dates for its upcoming edition. The 28th round of the festival will take place between 14 and 19 December 2021, changed from 7 to 15 December. Earlier this month, the festival announced a call for submissions to all local and international theatre makes. The submission's deadline is 7 August. According to a statement, the change of dates aims to give a broader opportunity for theatre practitioners to participate in CIFET and avoid the overlapping with other regional theatre and music events taking place around this time. The Carthage Theatre Days (Carthage Journées théâtrales de Carthage) will take place between 4 and 12 December. Since its founding in 1983, the festival has established itself as one of the most important theatre events in the region, attracting a large number of regional and international theatrical communities to the Tunisian city. The committee underscores that the decision of changing the CIFET's dates is taken as the festival's administration is always keen on enhancing and encouraging all gifted artistic participants from around the world to take part in all festivals. The CIFET's committee also added that starting 2022, the festival will return to its regular schedule and will take place in September. The December edition comes as an exceptional date and is linked to the pandemic that characterized the past months and continues to create obstacles of movement for many countries. Founded in 1988, the Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre was taking place annually in the first days of September. The festival's continuity was interrupted by the January 2011 Revolution and the many changes that took place in Egypt's artistic scene in the following years. After a five-year hiatus, the festival returned in 2016 with its 23rd edition and a new name: the Cairo International Festival for Contemporary and Experimental Theatre (CIFCET) and a few editions change of timing, a fact that continued until 2019. During this period of time, the festival has also dropped its competitive character and focused on presenting a limited number of local and international plays. In its 27th edition (2020), the CIFET was held in first days of September with Alaa Abdel Aziz as its president. Among the major changes that Abdel Aziz intruduced is returning to the event's competitive character and bringing back the event's original name: Cairo International Festival for Contemporary Theatre. Due to the global pandemic, the 27th CIFET was limited to local live performances by Egyptian troupes and international online plays. The festival's 28th edition to take place in December is presided over by Gamal Yakout. The artistic managers are Mohamed Abdelrahman El-Shafei and Saeed Kabeel. For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at@AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture
