After the conclusion of the 17th Alexandria Film Festival, the head of the festival, writer and critic, Mohammed Saleh said that the Egyptian Panorama Contest would be cancelled as of next year.
Saleh told the London based daily Al Sharq Al Awsat that the festival officials had decided to cancel the panorama section, which screens the Egyptian films, as is the case with Cairo film festival. He suggested that the festival would screen one or two Egyptian films participating as part of the official Mediterranean contest, the main festival contest.
The number of the Egyptian Panorama films has reached 5 mostly produced by the Egyptian TV.
The Egyptian stars have ignored the festival this year and non of them attended it attributing that to their commitments to shooting artworks, the fact that has caused the festival to loose its brightness.
Meanwhile the festival head blasted the Egyptian cinema stars who boycotted the festival this year and said, “It seems that they (stars) are satisfied with their levels and do not want to develop their performance and cinema culture by seeing international productions. I am shocked by the circumstances which some of these stars have reached particularly the star who began singing and the other one who is currently starring a demagogue play” -- Albawaba.com
