CAIRO, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Belarusian performance "Zhenya + Tanya = Love" won the Best Performance award at the 33rd Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre (CIFET), which concluded Tuesday evening with an awards ceremony at the Cairo Opera House.
The work, a contemporary theatrical adaptation of Alexander Pushkin's classic verse novel "Eugene Onegin," blends classical text with movement, laughter and dance to explore youthful idealism, unrequited love, missed opportunities and misunderstandings.
Tunisia's Taher Issa Ben Larbi won Best Director for "Show Off," a drama that blends cinematic elements with fashion to critique consumerism, commercial dominance, and art's role in contemporary crises.
The Best Actor award was shared by Aleksei Titkov of Russia for "Poor Liza" and Amir Dridi of Tunisia for "Show Off." "Poor Liza," based on Nikolay Karamzin's well-known story, follows the tragic first love between a peasant girl and a young nobleman.
Held from Sept. 1 to 8, the 33rd CIFET featured 19 theatrical performances, including 15 works from 13 countries in the official competition, as well as 14 intellectual and research sessions and seven theatre workshops.
Established in 1988 by Egypt's Ministry of Culture, CIFET is one of the Arab world's longest-running international festivals for experimental theatre and a key platform for theatrical exchange. ■