The Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) has just announced the launch of a brand new professional program called “Cairo Pro-Meet”, organized as part of the Cairo Film Market, within the Cairo Industry Days platform, the branch dedicated to professionals in the film industry. This unique initiative will be inaugurated during the 46th edition of the Cairo International Film Festival, which will be held from November 12 to 21, 2025.
Designed as a space for meeting, dialogue and collaboration, Cairo Pro-Meet aims to bring together emerging and established Arab filmmakers with major figures in the industry, from Egypt, the Arab world and internationally. By relying on structured professional meetings and targeted networking activities, the program aims to stimulate the exchange of ideas, encourage co-production and support the development of new cinematographic projects.
A platform to build bridges between Arab cinemas and the world
With Cairo Pro-Meet, the festival strengthens its desire to make Cairo a strategic crossroads for regional film creation and production. Through this initiative, the aim is to highlight Egypt’s leading role in structuring the Arab and African cinematic landscape, while consolidating its links with the European, Asian and American markets. Invited professionals will thus be able to explore new avenues of collaboration, whether financing, dissemination, co-production or mentoring.
The program is a continuation of the work undertaken by Cairo Industry Days, which in just a few years has become an essential event for cinema stakeholders in the MENA region. By providing a space for dialogue between producers, directors, screenwriters, distributors, institutions and digital platforms, Cairo Pro-Meet intends to accelerate the circulation of talents and ideas, in a global context where the boundaries between auteur cinema and independent production are increasingly blurring.
Structured meetings to support creation
At the heart of Cairo Pro-Meet, a series of personalized meetings and working sessions will allow participants to concretely approach the different stages of the cinematographic process: writing, development, financing, co-production, post-production and distribution. These direct exchanges will offer filmmakers the opportunity to obtain strategic advice on the feasibility of their projects, possible economic models and international financing circuits.
The organizers also plan the presence of international experts from major festivals, support funds, television channels, streaming platforms and independent production companies, in order to encourage projects with high potential. One of the essential objectives of Cairo Pro-Meet is to help Arab creators adapt their projects to the demands of a changing global market, while preserving the singularity of their voices and their stories.
A mission at the service of Arab talents
Through this new initiative, the Cairo International Film Festival reaffirms its role as mediator between the younger generations of filmmakers and the great professionals of the sector. By actively supporting emerging talents, the festival intends to favorize the emergence of new narrative perspectives, while consolidating the visibility of Arab cinema on the world stage.
For several years, the CIFF has worked to make Cairo Industry Days a true laboratory of ideas and a project incubator, in line with the technological and artistic changes in contemporary cinema. Cairo Pro-Meet extends this dynamic by offering a concrete framework for exchanges and cooperation, designed to lead to real collaborations, international co-productions and increased circulation of Arab works on global markets.
Cairo, at the heart of cinematographic exchanges
By initiating Cairo Pro-Meet, the festival is not only adding a section to its professional network: it is setting an additional milestone in the construction of a solid regional network, where Cairo is establishing itself more than ever as a cultural and creative pivot. Egypt, with its cinematic history and geographical position, remains a natural point of convergence between the cinemas of the Arab world, Africa and the Mediterranean.
With this initiative, the CIFF reaffirms its dual artistic and strategic vocation: supporting creation and strengthening cooperation between the cinema industries on an international scale. Cairo Pro-Meet is already shaping up to be an essential step in the evolution of the festival, consolidating its reputation as a platform open to the future and the diversity of voices in contemporary cinema.
The Cairo International Film Festival thus confirms its commitment to free, bold and connected cinema, where Arab creators finally find the necessary space to express themselves, exchange and build the future of the seventh art in the region and beyond.
Neila Driss
