Roving Arab-Mediterranean cinema festival goes to lisbon

The Arab-Mediterranean itinerant festival "Cinemamed" held in seven European cities and Amman (Jordan) is in Lisbon this March 21 through April 10.

The festival, financially supported by the European Union as part of he Euromed audio-visual program, started in Palermo, Italy last January.

The Lisbon leg features movies shot by Arab directors between 1997 and 2000. Three Moroccan long movies are featured.

A one million Euro budget was allocated to this cultural event, including 80% brought by the EU and 20% by partner countries. The program features a workshop on script writing in Beirut, and a project in 2003 to re-produce movies by Egyptian prolific director, Salah Abu Seif.