Egyptian Film Week in Belgrade achieves huge success

CAIRO – 15 July 2018: The Egyptian Film Week held in Belgrade achieved a booming success, and witnessed the attendance of a large number of people. The film week was organised by the Egyptian Embassy in Belgrade, in cooperation with the Yugoslav Film Museum (Kinoteka) and the Arab Cultural Centre in Serbia; it hosted five film screenings, covering diverse eras of production, and genres.

Marjan Vujovic, the international director of Kinoteka, recounted that the museum wishes to increase the number of contemporary Egyptian films in the museum's archives, while welcoming cooperation with counterpart institutions in Egypt, including the National Film Centre.

Vujovic elaborated that Kinoteka had translated the films into Serbian to facilitate the cultural outreach to the public. Ena Pavlovic, the president of the Arab Cultural Centre, expressed his happiness for the centre's participation in organizing activities related to Egyptian cinema which is the leading in the Arab World. “The centre, which gathers a group of graduates of the Department of Arabic Language in the Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade, also promotes audio, visual and printed instruments for Arab culture,” Pavlovic added.

The Egyptian ambassador to Serbia stressed that selecting a variety of films that satisfies different tastes was the main reason behind the Film Week's success. The week hosted screenings of the following movies: "Ihky ya Shahrazad" (Shahrazad, Tell me a Story), "Betawkeet el-Kahera" (Cairo Time), "Fatet el Masnaa" (Factory Girl), "El-Ard" (The Land) and "Gharam Fel Karnak" (Love in Karnak).

“This prompted a number of local television channels in Serbia and the Balkans to request the screening of Egyptian films for a wider audience base,” the Egyptian ambassador added. He pointed out to the ability of the Egyptian film industry to communicate with wider societal circles in Serbia and neighbouring countries, noting that the embassy will continue to promote the Egyptian cinematic presence in the Serbian cultural institutions.

The ambassador called on the Egyptian film industry leaders to prepare for the Belgrade Film Festival. The festival is usually held in February and is considered the largest in Eastern and Southern Europe.