Round Up of the 11th Panorama of European Film

The much-awaited Panorama of the European Film has kicked off, organized by Zawya Cinema, Egypt’s pioneering arthouse cinema, with screenings at three movie theatres in Cairo,  in addition to the Geothe and French cultural institutes, and scheduled screenings in six other governorates.

Expanding every year, this edition features filmmakers from all over Europe, and an interesting line up of documentary films, long feature films, animated movies, i.e. genres that cater to family viewers, film professionals and lovers of a different line up of movies than the ordinary go-to movies of the box office.

The side seminars and masterclasses with Egyptian and international filmmakers is also something to look out for, particularly the talk with Mariam Naom, Bergman’s Ghosts: A Video Essay, and the discussion of Those Who Work with its director Antoina Russbach.

The Distant Barking of Dogs (Watch Trailer)

A documentary film that follows the life of a 10-year old living with his grandmother in a frontline village in the war betweenRussia and Ukraine. The film explores life in an almost abandoned location, and the relationship between the grandson and his grandmother – told mostly from her viewpoint – but also growing up around gunpowder and shelling, even if they remain the backdrop to their life.

The war - like the distant barking of dogs, the chirping of birds, and the air raids that almost exclusively form the musical background to the film – remains somewhat far. We don’t actually see the dogs, the birds or the war, but we see their impact on those two people’s lives.

The film, lacking incidents and effects as such, is a bit of a slow watch, not quite easy to gulp in, but also exemplar of the kind of life in that remote village. The cadres a close, expanding only to show the plains of the village every now and then. The moments between the gramma and Oleg are the warmest, and most humanly touching aspects of the film.

What we’re looking forward to

Amateurs

Those Who Work

Girl

A Woman Captured

My Life as a Zucchini

For more info, check out the European Panorama website.