Returning to Cairo this fall is the Panorama of the European Film festival, now in its 9th edition. Organised by Misr International Films in partnership with the European Union and Zawya, the festival runs from 2 November to 12 November. It is presided over by Marianne Khoury, with artistic director Stephanie Sicard.
Drawing cinephiles and mainstream movie goers alike, Panorama has been bringing European films to the Cairo film scene since 2004.
This year's programme brings to Cairo 43 feature films, 11 documentaries, and a selection of short films from 32 countries.
Traditionally held in cinemas and other venues across Cairo and Alexandria, Panorama announced last week that it will be expanding screenings to Port Said and Ismailia this year. The decision follows successful screenings in Tanta and Minya last year, and an announcement by Youssef Shazli, managing director of Zawya, that popular demand encouraged the Panorama to expand to new cities.
Cinemas and other venues
In Cairo, the Panorama will screen films in Cinema Karim and Zawya in Downtown Cairo, Point 90 Cinemas in Fifth Settlement (Tagamo’a El-Khamis), and Plaza Cinemas in Sheikh Zayed. Additional screenings will be held free of charge at Institut Francais d'Egypte, Goethe Institut, and Istituto Italiano de Cultura.
In Alexandria, screenings will take place in Cinema Rio; in Ismailia at Cinema Donia; and in Port Said at Cinema Arkan.
One feature of this year’s Panorama is a series of workshops and discussions aimed at bringing audiences and filmmakers together.
A number of directors will join Q&A sessions during which they will discuss their films. They include Soner Caner and Baris Kaya (Rauf, 2016), Mikko Kuparinen (2 Nights Till Morning, 2015), Fredrik Gertten (Becoming Zlatan, 2015), George Amponsah (The Hard Stop, 2015), Grégoire Verbeke (the director of The Last Omelette which is the making of The Land of the Enlightened), and Jihane Chouaib (Go Home, 2015). More directors are soon to be announced.
Screening Sections
As with previous editions, films will be screened in several sections.
The European Cinema section brings us films produced over the past two years which have gained international recognition in festivals around the world.
The Emerging Directors section consists of films produced by up-and-coming filmmakers, such as Rauf—one of several Turkish films coming to the festival for the first time.
The Documentary Rendez-Vous section brings documentaries highlighting contemporary issues and discussions going on around the world. Those Who Jump, which revolves around the lives of African migrants in Northern Morocco attempting to migrate to Europe, brings a new perspective to Europe's refugee crisis.
For the third time, Panorama will also include Carte Blanche, a section in which three of our very own directors—this year Khairy Beshara, Mohammed Hammad, and Hala Lotfy—each select a European film to screen and discuss how the piece impacted their work.
New to the Panorama this year is a section titled “Urban Lens: Spotlight on Berlin," which will include five films revolving around the featured city. According to organisers, Berlin was chosen for its demonstrated integration of different stories and cultures.
The Panorama Classics section introduces three restored films that have charmed us in the past and are ready to do so again. Films include Youssef Chahine’s Adieu Bonaparte, on the French invasion of Egypt; Adenoid Hynkel’s The Great Dictator, starring none other than Charlie Chaplin; and Robert Rossellini’s Rome, Open City.
Returning for a second time this year is the Crossroads section, which features nine films portraying the realities and day-to-day lives of Arabs told through the eyes of European filmmakers. The programme has the potential to spark important discussion, with films like Sonita, the story of an Afghani female rapper in Iran, and Speed Sisters, which follows an all-women drag racing team in Palestine.
The final section of this year's festival, Panoranimation, is brought to us in collaboration with the French Cultural Network Abroad, which holds screenings of animated films around the world throughout October. This section’s films include a series of long and short animated films that employ a variety of animation techniques and bring back to the big screen some classic stories.
