Zawya’s 13th Panorama of the European Film Festival Scheduled to Take Place April 1

After cancelling the annual event two times as a result of the covid-19 pandemic, Zawya Cinema announced that the 13th Panorama of the European Film Festival will take place starting April 1.

The greatly anticipated film festival was originally scheduled to take place in November 2020, but was cancelled due to covid-19-related purposes. The event was then announced to take place in January 2021, but then had to be postponed once again for the same reason.

Following the covid-19 pandemic, many cultural events and festivals have had to be cancelled or postponed in order to avoid large gatherings and halt the spread of the virus. One such annual cultural event that had to face cancellation was last year’s D-CAF (Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival).

“Launched in 2004, the Panorama of the European Film is an annual 10 day film event, showcasing some of the latest award-winning feature and documentary films as well as cinematic landmarks and classics,” reads a brief description on the event’s page. The films and documentaries showcased are usually of European origin or production.

Zawya Cinema, one of the first art-house cinemas in Egypt, was launched in 2014 with the aim of showcasing both local and international independent films and documentaries. As described on their website, “Zawya screens an alternative selection of films from different parts of the world, varying from feature films, shorts, documentaries, to experimental works and retrospectives. Zawya’s program also focuses on local independent films to encourage and promote the work of young Egyptian and Arab filmmakers across different platforms.”

Ever since its opening, Zawya has been known to host a variety of events and film festivals including Cairo Cinema Days, Zawya Shorts and – of course – the greatly anticipated Panorama of the European Film.

Following the covid-19 pandemic, Zawya was one of many cultural venues that had to stop its operations. They re-opened their doors in July with strict covid-19 regulations, including regular sanitization, enforcing mask-wear and a limited audience capacity.

The 13th Panorama of the European Film Festival will take place from April 1 until April 10 and will be operating between Zawya Cinema’s headquarters in downtown Cairo and Galaxy Cinema in El Manial.