La voix est libre
D-CAF April 2014
Falaki Theater, Cairo, Egypt
French artist Blaise Merlin started “La voix est livre” (The throat is clear) as a trans-disciplinary arts festival in Paris in 2005. The idea behind the project was to bring together artists and art forms that seldom mix in contemporary scenes, and to focus on improvisation. Almost ten years down later, he met with Ahmed El Attar, director of the Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival (D-CAF) and agreed to bring his artistic team to Cairo and to develop new works with local artists. The show premiered in downtown Cairo's Falaki Theater on 9 April before going to Alexandria and returning for the finale at Scheherazade Nightclub in Cairo.
In this video interview, Merlin explains his vision in bringing the festival to the region, and what the Cairo shows mean to him. Thirteen French and Egyptian artists collaborated in the productions, including: Marlène Rostaing, Élise Caron, Élise Dabrowski, Médéric Collignon, Philippe Gleizes, Jörg Müller, Mehdi Haddab, Peter Corser, Mohamed Shafik, Abdullah Miniawy, Ahmed Saleh, Mohamed Sami, Dawsha, and Islam Chipsy.
For more info on D-CAF: www.d-caf.org