D-CAF aims to bring the latest of contemporary arts from all around the world to Cairo in order to increase artists’ literacy to help them expand their approaches to their practice. More importantly, we aim to build a strong audience that is eager, willing, and curious about contemporary arts, who waits for our programme every year. We are celebrating our 9th anniversary this year, which is a major milestone. We are proud that we have built loyalty and that audiences who have attended the first edition continue to do so.
This year, we welcomed a total of 3,800 audience members across the 32 different dance and theatre performances, visual arts and new media exhibitions, workshops, and special events carried out by 96 different artists and speakers. Our occupancy rate was 99%, signifying a consistent and eager participation.
D-CAF in Numbers
Orient for Film and Theatre Productions is a production company based in Cairo. Founded in 2007, its mission is to develop quality projects in the fields of arts, culture, and entertainment with the involvement of practitioners from Egypt, the Arab world, and beyond. Since its inception, Orient Productions has produced and hosted numerous events showcasing innovative works in these different fields.
Orient Productions encompasses a number of art spaces and projects. Oldest among them is The Temple Independent Theater Company, which has been presenting the artistic work of Egyptian director and playwright Ahmed El Attar to local and international audiences since 1993. Orient also oversees Studio Emad Eddin, a one-of-its-kind initiative providing rehearsal spaces as well as workshops and training programs to independent Egyptian performing artists since 2005.
The two latest additions to the group are Maktabi Creative Office spaces, which provides private offices in the heart of Downtown Cairo for creatives in need of a long-term workspace; and Rawabet Art Space. This emblematic venue, Cairo’s first and oldest independent performance space, was renovated by Orient Productions and revamped into a multipurpose, multidisciplinary art space, and reopened its doors in September 2021.
Most recently, Orient Productions has undertaken the Theatre in Translation – Contemporary European Theatre in Arabic project, which aims to translate eighteen contemporary European dramas into Arabic over a period of three years. The texts, which have all been written from 2010 onwards, will be published both in print and online to allow their dissemination to the widest possible audience across the Arab world.
Orient Productions also provides a variety of services to artists and cultural practitioners including marketing, PR, production, stage management and front of house coordination. Orient Productions takes pride in handling a project’s complete journey from conceptualization to completion with an unremitting attention to detail that ensures high quality, successful events.
Since 2012, Orient Productions has been organizing the annual Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival (D-CAF), the largest international, multidisciplinary arts festival in Egypt.
