After three magical weeks, D-CAF’s lineup of the newest and brightest in theater, dance, visual arts and new media has come to an end. This year marked the tenth anniversary edition of the festival, bringing together more than 60 artists and 25 innovative works exhibited in a passionate mix of disciplines and culture.
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The festival kicked off on October 9 with two performances of the groundbreaking play Cook by Jesper Pedersen and Nassim Soleimanpour.
The performance featured an all-star lineup, with Egyptian TV and film stars Sayyed Ragab and Salwa Mohamed Ali each taking the stage to act out a script they had never seen before.
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Audiences were able to share a meal and a night full of laughter and excitement with these two madly talented performers, with a few lucky spectators even sharing the Rawabet Art Space stage with the beloved cast.
D-CAF’s performing arts program continued to stun, with a wonderfully diverse showcase of theater from Denmark, Austria, Morocco, Egypt, the UK and, for the first time ever, the Burkina Faso.
On October 11, Rawabet Art Space hosted the beautiful performance Traces – Address to the African Nations.
This stimulating text was written by the philosopher Felwine Sarr and skilfully performed by Etienne Minoungou, to the tunes of Simone Winse’s moving accompaniment on the korra.
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This powerful spectacle invited audiences to reflect on Africa’s colonial past, the inequalities that still plague its present, and how a better way forward is possible for African nations.
In what has now become a tradition, our new media and visual arts program brought a colorful selection of VR films and games to the Kodak Passageway, allowing visitors to embark on immersive journeys beyond the confines of space and time.
Our Art & Technology showcase also featured an innovative AI Painting installation, created by Egyptian multidisciplinary artist Omar Kamel to give the Egyptian public a glimpse of this amazing technology.
At the same time, this year’s program of special events honored dance in all its forms. On October 21, the public gathered in the garden of the TCC with popcorn and refreshments for two spectacular screenings.
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The evening kicked off with Haytham Sherif’s documentary film Characters of our Nether World, a revealing portrait of Ayman Farghaly, a madly talented sculptor, visual artist and dancer, whose disabilities never stopped him from pursuing his passion. for art.
This first screening was followed by the live performance Cosmogony, created by the Swiss Compagnie Gilles Jobin and featuring three dancers whose movements were captured at the company’s studio in Geneva and broadcast in real time to Cairo, challenging the laws of gravity throughout their spectacular cross-border journey.
And of course, the highlight of this year’s edition was the return of the Arab Arts Focus (AAF) program to Cairo – a one-of-a-kind event in the region where outstanding Arab artists have the chance to showcase their work. to an international audience of programmers and producers.
After four years of absence, the AAF is back in force with 30 artists, 100 international delegates, 12 pitches of new Arab works, 6 round tables and 13 spectacular works exhibited.
Among the performances presented, five spectacular works of contemporary dance choreographed and performed by women.
The dance frenzy kicked off at Rawabet Art Space on October 27 and 28, with Salma Salem’s Anchoring, a moving tribute to the strength and resilience of women’s bodies.
The night continued with Samaa Wakeem and Samar Haddad King’s Losing It, a powerful exploration of how the trauma of Palestinian occupation remains stored in the body; and finally, nasa4nasa’s No Mercy, a highly innovative tale of our feelings, clichés and conceits in the digital age, surprising and stunning at every turn.
On October 29 and 30, Rawabet Art Space saw two more groundbreaking shows: Nafaq Collective’s fourth exciting choreography, Nafaq 4: Extending Further; and renowned choreographer Shaymaa Shoukry’s performance, Womb, a dazzling ode to the female body, comparing the womb to the universe in all its vastness and mystery.
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This year’s AAF also hosted the first-ever International Society for Performing Arts (ISPA) lecture series in the Arab world.
ISPA is one of the largest and most established networks of performing arts professionals in the world, bringing together more than 500 artists, programmers and producers.
The lecture series hosted by D-CAF focused on the theme of arts and borders and how artists can overcome real and imagined barriers to international touring.
On October 31, D-CAF team members, attendees and international delegates attending the festival gathered at Cinema Radio for a closing ceremony. During the event, Ahmed El Attar delivered a word of celebration and gratitude for D-CAF’s first decade of success and innovation: “It was a wild ride, ten years passed very quickly,” said he declared.
He went on to thank the festival team for their hard work on each edition; co-founder Karim Shafei, for sharing and supporting the festival’s vision; the artists whose creative genius makes it a one-of-a-kind event; and delegates from all over the world to see them.
And of course, our beloved audience, without whom D-CAF would not exist. Thank you, because you inspire us to keep the festival going, year after year. You have made this tenth anniversary an unforgettable moment. In the words of Ahmed El Attar, we want to believe that this is only the “first of many great steps and hope to celebrate one day the twenty, or thirty years of D-CAF”.
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