Redefining cinema in Egypt
Some heavy-hitters in Egypt's cinema world have helped create a home for independent movies.
An old concept is breathing new life into Cairo's cinema scene.
When the emergence of 3-D films threatened to flatten attendance at the Odeon Cinema in downtown Cairo, the old theater added a new dimension of its own: "A cinema for movies not screened in the cinema."
That is the slogan of Zawya, an art-house theater that opened inside the Odeon in 2014. Zawya has developed a following by screening independent and documentary films, both old and new, that cannot be found in old theaters.
Marianne Khoury, a niece of the late film director Youssef Chahine, is head of the Panorama of the European Film in Egypt project and the producer at global Misr International Films, which founded Zawya. Khoury said she had been contemplating for years the idea of launching a theater dedicated to independent movies.
