The Panorama of European Cinema is a film festival dedicated to European and Greek Cinema, past and present, which is organized for the last 20 years by �Eleftherotypia�, one of the most prestigious Greek daily newspapers, in co-operation with the Ministry of Culture and a number of other Greek and foreign cultural institutions � i.e. the Greek Film Center, the Greek Cinemateque, The Municipality of Athens, the British Council, the French Institute of Athens, The Italian Cultural Institute, the Goethe Institute and several Embassies.

Throughout its 20 years of existence, the Panorama, the first and biggest Film Festival of Athens, has become a well-established cultural event that adds its own kind of �glamour� to the Athenean Cultural lifestyle, having hosted, during these 20 years, a large number of cinema legends such as: Michelangelo Antonioni, Harold Pinter, Arthur Penn, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Stephen Frears, Emir Kusturica, Abbas Kiarostami, Karel Reiz, Roger Corman, Costa-Gavras, Francesco Rosi, Ettore Scola, Claude Sautet, Max Von Sydow, Agnes Varda, Elem Klimov, Goran Paskaljevic, Alfonso Guaron, and others, many of which have received the Panorama's Special Award for their contribution to the art of the cinema. An Award also presented to a number of well-known Greek artists, such as: Michael Cacoyannis, Irene Papas, Theo Aggelopoulos, Jules Dassin, Mikis Theodorakis, Nicos Koundouros, Alexis Damianos, Pantelis Voulgaris, Dinos Demopoulos, Eva Kotamanidou, Yiorgos Arvanitis, Eleni Karaindrou, Alekos Alexandrakis, Nicos Kourkoulos, and others.