The Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) celebrates women directors this year with a special section featuring films by Arab women and screenings of films by non-Arab women from around the world.

“Big Dreams,” the 40th edition of Egypt's oldest film festival, runs Nov. 20-29. According to festival director Mohammed Hefzi, this year's event will screen more than 160 movies from 59 countries, with 15% of the films directed by women. 

“It is not a small percentage compared to European festivals,” Hefzi told the Al-Watan newspaper. “For example, in the Venice film festival, there is only one film by a female director in the official competition with 19 films for male directors.”

CIFF organizers said that the Arab Female Directors section was developed with the aim of making the presence of women more visible. The directors featured are Hala Khalil and Hala Lotfy from Egypt, Mai Masri and Annemarie Jacir from Palestine, Haifaa Al-Mansour from Saudi Arabia, Kaouther Ben Hania from Tunisia, Nujoom Alghanem from the United Arab Emirates and Sofia Djama from Algeria.