Tips from the culture desk: Panorama, jazzy covers, graphic novels and more 

As well as these arts tips below, consider going to Eish & Malh's monthly daylong Slow Downtown event on Friday. A collaboration with Slow Food Cairo, it includes special dishes of local and seasonal foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as a market of local producers and live music between 1 and 4 pm. The NVIC's Thursday lecture also sounds promising: an update by Lisa Sabahhy on the latest discoveries about health and disease in Ancient Egypt.

High Cinema Institute’s documentaries 'Pre-launch' — Sunday

Students in their third year at the High Cinema Institute screen their documentary shorts at Zawya to get feedback from viewers, critics and fellow filmmakers. It sounds interesting and diverse: Film topics include puppetry, what to do on one's last day on earth, Mickey Mouse’s family, Cairo, black magic and self-portraiture. All films in Arabic, and a discussion will be held afterward.

7 pm, October 30 at Zawya Cinema, Odeon Cinema, off Talaat Harb Street, downtown Cairo. Tickets LE25, Facebook event here.

Elisa Rodriguiez and Amro Salah trio — Sunday

For lovers of jazz and covers, this is likely a must-see. Portuguese singer Elisa Rodriguiez will be accompanied by composer and pianist Amro Salah (also founder of the Cairo Jazz Festival and part of popular band Eftekasat), along with Ahmed Ragab on bass and Ramy Samir on drums. The trio often perform covers with female vocalists, and with Rodriguez they will be performing English and Portugese covers, including Ain’t No Sunshine, Cry Me a River and Nirvana’s Dumb.

10 pm, October 30 at Cairo Jazz Club, 197 July 26 Street, Mohandessin, Cairo. Free entry, but you'll need to order something.

Bookcast #2 — Tuesday

The libraries of the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo, Contemporary Image Collective, Townhouse and the Cairo Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences are each hosting one of four bimonthly Bookcast encounters. Each library discusses one graphic novel, and this week it's French cartoonist and longtime Cairo resident Golo's adaptation of Albert Cossery's Colors of Infamy (1990), about a very laid back, elegant thief.

6.30 pm, November 1, Contemporary Image Collective, 22 Abdel Khalak Sarwat, 4th, downtown Cairo. Free entry, see event here.

Ma’at Ra — Friday and Saturday

In this novel artistic experiment combining theater, music, dance and visual arts, 10 Egyptian artists from different fields participate in a performance at the Falaki Theater. Influenced by John Cage, tarot cards and Ancient Egypt, the show grew out of six workshops for collaboration between Egyptian and Swiss composers, with the latest between Egyptian composer Wael Sami al-Kholy and Swiss composer, percussionist and performer Pascal Viglino. It looks promising.

November 4 and 5 at AUC’s Falaki Theater, 24 Falaki Street, downtown Cairo. Tickets are LE20. Read more about the project here.

Panorama of the European Film — starts Wednesday

November is upon us so the annual month-long film quest begins, starting with the 9th edition of the Panorama of the European Film. Screenings, filmmakers' discussions and workshops will place in Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said and Ismailia from 5 until 15 November. Organized by Misr International Films — Youssef Chahine, the parent company of Zawya cinema, the line-up includes over 50 feature films and 33 shorts, divided across eight sections, including two newly added sections: animation and a city focus, this year Berlin.

Full program to be released here. Photo during 8th Panorama of the European Film. courtesy: Zawya.

Meshwar at Geneina Theater — Saturday

Known for high-energy Arabic-reggae fusion, Meshwar take to Geneina’s stage to spread their signature “music for peace.” Formed in 2011, the nine-member band plays across a lively instrumentation of vocals (Ahmed Yousef), percussion (Waleed Abdo), brass (Mohamed Labib, Solly), drums (Ahmed Tito), guitar (Mohamed Diab, Mahmoud Fawzy) and keys (Mohamed Youssef). Their music is fun, feel-good reggae that usually leaves the audience dancing languidly and happily from the first slap of the bass to the last blows of the brass. They performed at Mada’s first birthday bash.

8 pm, November 5 at in Geneina Theater, inside Al-Azhar Park, Salah Salem Road, Cairo. Tickets LE30 (not including park entrance, 10 LE) and can be purchased at the event, or on Tickets Marche here.