Cairo film festival called off

The 36th edition of the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF), which was scheduled for November, has been cancelled and rescheduled in September 2014.

The festival's board of directors said the move would allow the prestigious event to be organised "in a manner befitting an international festival that carries the name of the Egyptian capital." The board stipulated that the Cairo film festival would continue to organise various activities throughout the coming year. Among these initiatives is the participation in a number of major international film festivals such as Venice (which began on 29 August), Berlin in February and Cannes in May.

This is not the first time that the festival has been cancelled; it was called off following the 2011 uprising that led to the ousting of former president Hosni Mubarak. Last November organisers cancelled the festival's closing ceremony because the venue at the Cairo Opera House was too near Tahrir Square, at the time the scene of mass protests against the constitutional declaration issued by ex-president Mohamed Morsi.

However the 29th edition of the Alexandria Film Festival is set to go ahead as planned in the Mediterranean Egyptian city from 11-16 September.