The Cairo International Film Festival is launching “Cairo’s XR”, a new section dedicated to immersive technologies
The Cairo International Film Festival innovates for its 46th edition, scheduled for 12 to 21 November 2025, by inaugurating a new section baptized “Cairo’s XR”first of its kind in the history of the demonstration. This initiative marks an important step for the festival, which thus confirms its pioneer role in the exploration of new forms of cinematographic narration.
With this unprecedented section, the festival intends to offer the region of the region a radically different, more interactive and more engaging narrative experience, based on the most advanced immersive technologies. Thought of as a bridge between cinema and new technologies, Cairo’s XR Welcome works that go beyond the traditional screen framework to offer widened universes, artificial intelligence stories, interactive facilities or virtual and augmented projects.
Mohamed Tarek, artistic director of the festival, explains:
“” Cairo’s XR offers another way of living cinema, integrating new media at the heart of the story. Thanks to XR technology, history is no longer looking at itself, it is seen: the spectator enters it, explores it, interacts with it and can even influence its course. This reflects our commitment to the future of cinema. »»
This new section is based on a strong conviction: technology is not an end in itself, but a lever to enrich the emotional, intellectual and spatial dimensions of a story. Whether it is a question of walking in a memory in virtual reality, of dialogue with a character controlled by an artificial intelligence, or of immersing yourself in a spatial installation, the projects selected for Cairo’s XR aim to push the limits of cinematographic language.
The program invites artists, creators and technicians to combine cinema, design, video game engines, artificial intelligence, and interactive environments, to imagine the narrative forms of tomorrow, without denying the artistic and emotional essence of cinema.
Applications are now open for projects mainly using extended reality (XR) and associated immersive formats, including:
- virtual reality experiences (VR),
- Augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) projects,
- Interactive immersive installations,
- stories managed by artificial intelligence,
- Gamified games and experiences.
Deposit date: August 30, 2025
Submission of projects via this link: https://ciff.org.eg/cairos-xr
The selected works will be presented worldwide during the CIFF 2025. They will benefit from international visibility, meetings with high -level professionals, and a unique opportunity to help shape the future of the cinematographic narrative, from the heart of the Arab world.
Neïla Driss
