The Cairo Independent Film Festival opened yesterday after being abruptly postponed hours before its scheduled opening on Nov. 21. As one Rawabet Theater official put it, the postponment was due to the failure of the festival's organizers to submit required paperwork containing the approval of the Ministry of Culture. "There will be a total of 46 films from around the globe screened during the festival, all of equal importance, Mohamed Abdel Fattah, director of the festival, said. "Audiences will have a chance during the festival to come and see something different, a new genre that is completely different from what they see at the mainstream cinema. For the new round, the festival changed venue from Rawabet Theater to the Goethe Institute. "We are offering them our premises as this is a very good project held for the second time, said Friedrich Dahlhaus, head of the Culture Department of Goethe Institute. "We are giving them an opportunity as we strongly support young filmmakers and the film scene, he said. "We were told that if it was held at Rawabet Theater, the theater will simply be shut down and we didn't want this to happen as it is a key location for cultural activities and events, said Abdel Fattah, refusing to identify the source which warned them. "On the other hand, there is a special treatment for foreigners and foreign institutions in Egypt so we thought there wouldn't be any problems if we held it at the Goethe Institute as it is affiliated with the German Embassy and they welcomed the idea, he explained. Tonight's screenings include "Eyes in the Eyes (Italy), "A Father's Prayer's (Germany), "The Whistler's Tale (France), "The Journey (Egypt), "Dinner (Bahrain), "Voices (Egypt), "Tooche & Osman (Cyprus), "Smile, You're in the Southern Lebanon (Jordan), among others. Cairo Independent Film Festival Dec. 3 and 4Goethe Institute, 5 Bostan St., DowntownTel: 2575 9877. Open 5 pm-10:30 pm
