Cairo Film Festival Under Fire For Alleged Censorship After Turkish Director Pulls His Film ‘Dancing Angels’

The Cairo Film Festival has come under fire for attempted censorship from Turkish director Ferit Kılıç who has pulled his feature film “Dancing Angels” from the event in protest.

According to reps for the director, “Dancing Angels” had been selected as a Cairo Critics Week competition entry. This was announced during the fest’s Oct. 12 press conference and amplified by official social media posts. However the fest’s management subsequently sent an email to the film’s team announcing its abrupt removal from the lineup.

The 47th edition of the Cairo Film Festival runs Nov. 11-20.

In the email, which has been seen by Variety, the fest’s management underlined that Turkish producers Diloy Gülün and Beste Yamalıoğlu had previously co-produced Tarik Saleh’s political thriller “Eagles of the Republic,” about an Egyptian star forced to make a propaganda film, that competed at Cannes in 2025. They stated that they considered “Eagles of the Republic” to be against the Egyptian state and “hostile” to the Egyptian people and the festival’s audience.

After the Cairo Critics’ Week pulled “Dancing Angels,” a backlash ensued prompted by the fact that the film’s enraged producers contacted representatives from European trade orgs including the International Federation of Film Producers Associations, Fiapf, the European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs, EAVE and Turkey’s Meetings on the Bridge co-production platform to request sanctions against the festival. In response to pressure from the international film community, Cairo Film Festival management then backtracked and re-invited the film and its team, according to “Dancing Angels” reps.

But Kılıç decided to decline to hold his film’s world premiere at the Cairo fest following the alleged censorship attempt, choosing to withdraw “Dancing Angels” from the Egyptian event.

“Dancing Angels” follows the story of Ali, a 15-year-old boy, as he tries to navigate a world marked by violence, reflecting on the invisible burdens and pressures that society imposes on both young people and adults, the synopsis says.

Asked for comment by Variety, the Cairo Film Festival issued the following statement:

Since its inception, the Critics Week competition has been a place for feature filmmakers – all standing at the beginning of their career, but coming from various different cultural, religious, and political backgrounds. CIFF is proud to be a platform for all these filmmakers, to provide them with an opportunity to showcase their artistic vision and support them on their way to excelling careers.

We are saddened that it is one of these young directors, Ferit Kilic, who is now subjected to this situation. On more than one occasion, the CIFF management apologised for the miscommunication, reaffirming the festival’s commitment to the presentation of exceptional works of art and its support of young artists.

Indeed, it was the CIFF management’s decision to renew the invitation to the film, after having been informed of the circumstances. Unfortunately, the producers, as well as the filmmaker, were not inclined to accept it. We respect their decision to withdraw the film, as CIFF is committed to being a space of artistic freedom and open dialogue. The festival hopes to maintain a constructive relationship with the filmmakers in the future.