Speech by , honorary president of the International Theatre Institute/UNESCO, New York, and chairperson of the selection committee for the 18th CIFET, given on at the opening ceremony of the festival on 10 September "Once again, my colleagues, Ginka Tscholakova Henle and Jean Michel Meunier, and I have served on the Viewing Committee to determine which performances are experimental and, therefore, eligible for the official festival. In the several years we have worked together we have watched the will and the work that have gone into organising these festivals. Often the world seems to overwhelm our cultures by diminishing them or ignoring them. But for the last 17 years, the Cairo Festival has endured and flourished. Whatever the obstacles, the theatre artists come to perform. Some live in places where theatre is a dangerous activity. Some come from places where living itself is a dangerous activity. They all tell their stories so that we will know one another the next time we meet. The others become part of us. I remember that, five years ago tomorrow, on 11 September 2001, the very first e-mail message of solidarity and sympathy to arrive in my office came from the Palestinian Cultural Centre for Children in Ramallah. If danger knows no boundaries in this world, then neither does the life-saving support of our friends. These precious connections make it impossible to overstate the importance of the Cairo Festival to this region of the world and all the regions that circle the globe. As we worked this year, we were moved and amazed at how theatre tells us stories and reminds us that we are all in this world together. This year we saw 61 performances from 47 countries. The work this year comes from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas and the middle of it all, the Middle East. The performances were vibrant, hopeful, contentious, beautiful, ferocious, strange, hilarious and brave. This festival has come of age this year. Eighteen years is the beginning of a long, exciting life of gathering our stories. Festivals show us that there are other people on the planet; other artists that have amazing truths to tell in other theatres. Festivals like yours here in Cairo remind us that theatre is remembered in the heart. Theatre artists have homes that disappear each night, but we theatre people also know that our real homes lie in the hearts of our friends. Here in the land of Pharaohs and nomads, Egypt has given us a stage for our stories and a rest n the journey. All of us who have worked on the Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre -- once, or more than once -- know what a treasure it is. Your welcome honours and protects us. So, it is a logical, necessary, enormous miracle that the 18th season begins tonight. Thank you all."
