{"id":80,"date":"2019-04-14T18:32:43","date_gmt":"2019-04-14T18:32:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/19\/?p=80"},"modified":"2023-03-01T16:39:56","modified_gmt":"2023-03-01T16:39:56","slug":"reflecting-on-cairos-international-festival-for-contemporary-and-experimental-theatre-interview-with-dina-amin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/19\/reflecting-on-cairos-international-festival-for-contemporary-and-experimental-theatre-interview-with-dina-amin\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflecting on Cairo\u2019s International Festival for Contemporary and Experimental Theatre: Interview with Dina Amin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Savas Patsalidis<\/strong>*<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dina Amin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cairo\u2019s International Festival for Contemporary and Experimental Theatre (<\/strong>CIFCET)<\/strong> is a noncompetitive annual festival funded by the Ministry of Culture of the Arab Republic of Egypt. As stated on its website, its mission is \u201cto create a forum for communication and dialogue among diverse populations and communities by means of the various forms of theatre and performance. It aims to introduce the latest developments in the international theatre scene to Egyptian and Arab audiences, while also serving as a platform for local and regional theatre productions for the benefit of specialists and interested festivals from all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The logo of Cairo\u2019s International Festival for Contemporary and Experimental Theatre. Photo: From the Festival\u2019s Facebook site<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It is considered one of the\nmost important festivals established in the Arab world. It was launched in 1988\nand, according to the Minister of Culture of those days, Farouk Hosni, its aim\nfrom the start was \u201cto deepen the idea of dialogue and of accepting the other\nand to create a space that [would allow] for the free play of passions and the\nimagination.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the collapse of\nthe Mubarak regime, the Festival ceased to operate, just like many other state\ninstitutions. Five years later, and after long and heated discussions, the\nFestival came back to life, this time carrying the word \u201ccontemporary\u201d on its\ntitle to differentiate itself from its earlier association with the Mubarak\nregime and, at the same time, to indicate its new course which, in the words\nof its new protagonists, was \u201cto broaden the space for mutual understanding\u201d and\nto \u201cintroduce the latest developments in the international theatre scene to\nEgyptian and Arab audiences.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first edition of the revised Festival was announced\nin 2015 and launched in 2016. The Festival now hosts about 20-25 productions in\neach edition. One third comes from Egypt and the rest from the Arab and the\nWestern world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dina Amin, its artistic director, was on the\nFestival\u2019s first five-member executive committee, established in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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President of CIFCET, Sameh Mahran, addressing the guests of the Festival\u2019s opening night 2018. Photo: Adel Sabri, courtesy of the Festival<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dina is also a stage director and an Associate Professor of Drama and Performance at Cairo University\u2019s English Department, Faculty of Arts. She is the author of Alfred Farag and Egyptian Theatre<\/em> (2008), co-editor of Salaam: Anthology of Middle-Eastern-American Drama<\/em> (2009) and From Orientalists to Arabists: The Shifts in Arabic Literary Studies<\/em>, Journal of Arabic Literature<\/em> (2010). Dina holds a PhD in Dramatic Literature from the University of Pennsylvania and an MFA in Directing from Carnegie Mellon University. She is the recipient of the West Coast Drama Clan Award (in honor of William Ball) for best director at CMU for her production of Ibsen\u2019s A Lady from the Sea<\/em>. She directs in both the U.S. and Egypt, in Arabic and English. Her most recent production in Cairo is Al-Farafir<\/em> (Flip Flop and His Master<\/em>, 2017), Arden<\/em> (an Egyptian adaptation of A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/em>, 2016), Matsanafneesh<\/em> (Don\u2019t Label Me<\/em>, 2015), and Segn al-Nisaa<\/em> (Women\u2019s Prison<\/em>) by FatHeyyah al-`Assa (2013).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I first met Dina in\nThessaloniki (Greece), as a guest of Dimitria Festival (Oct. 5-10, 2018). It\nwas then that the idea of this interview occurred<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VIDEO 1<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n