Anna Ozbek
May 17, 2016
My research explores film and video within the Arabic-speaking nations of the Middle East and North Africa region, and specifically the evolving relationship patterns between funding and distribution methods, national and regional political context, and the form and content of works created by media makers in these countries.
A starting point for this inquiry was in the so-called golden age of the national cinemas of Egypt and Syria, framed by the unique context of the Pan-Arabist and Arab Socialist movements birthed after the political revolutions in these countries during this period. Both cinemas experienced periods of decline starting in the 1970s, and in later years, many nations in this region would begin dismantling and drastically reducing arts and culture funding under forced economic restructuring by international financial institutions.
At the same time these national cinemas were reaching the end of their most productive period, the theory of Third Cinema was being forged from the revolutionary struggles of Latin American activists and filmmakers, the effects of which continue to resound throughout the MENA region.
The last two decades have seen a tremendous surge in the number of works produced and cinema institutions established in the MENA region. Some of these works are produced via state apparatus, others via co-production with Western funders, still others via new Gulf media funding institutions.
Most compelling, however, are the revolutionary works being produced and distributed on radical new distribution platforms.
These works have tremendous challenges to overcome in their emergence into the world. Funding sources are rare and frequently raise ethical concerns in their hopeful recipients. The resulting works must beguile global audiences bombarded by the hegemony of Western film and media domination.These makers must fight for the right to counter Orientalist narratives and represent themselves, just as they must fight for the right not to create works of representation by which sweeping conclusions are drawn about the whole of Arab society. Perhaps most formidably, some of those engaged in revolutionary media practice must struggle to both figuratively and literally survive in the political context of their realities.
How has media distribution landscape in the Arabic-speaking region changed within these decades? How has the relationship between economic and political climate, distribution methods, and the form of the work itself changed specifically in the five years since the beginnings of popular uprisings in many countries of the MENA region? How do these new subversive practices expand upon the theory of Third Cinema, both in their regional and global frameworks?
My exploration of these questions remains in a fledgling state, but already these lines of inquiry have proved enlightening and inspiring to me in their results. The following organizations and institutions reflect a smattering of woefully incomplete notes on the film production and distribution landscapes of the Arabic-speaking world, with a specific focus on those based in Egypt, Lebanon and Syria.
REVOLUTIONARY MEDIA
Though clearly a very limited list, these groups are engaged in radical new approaches to content, form, and distribution in revolutionary media making within their respective countries.
Screen capture from home page of abounaddara.com
Abounaddara is a Syrian media collective that refers to their practice as emergency cinema. Its members are anonymous volunteer documentary filmmakers, except for a single public representative. Their core campaign is to establish the right to the image as a universal human right.
Their primary distribution platforms are YouTube and Vimeo, where they release one short film every week. Their films very clearly counter media depictions of non-stop violence and destruction, instead choosing to focus on more intimate portraits of Syrian experience and demanding the acknowledgment of the dignified voice of the Syrian people. These careful choices in content and open-ended form create a subversive, humanizing, and aesthetically complex body of work that affirms the right to create work free from externally imposed notions of representation.
Screen capture from Abounaddara, 2011
The Creative Memory of the Syrian Revolution
“Refugee” by Mohammed Sida, 2015, from The Creative Memory of the Syrian Revolution
Creative Memory is an living creative commons archive of the creative expressions of the Syrian revolution that preserves and makes available works of video documentation, films, music, poetry, visual arts, theater, and calligraphy, amongst others. It unifies these works to present a more comprehensive vision of the shared struggles and experiences of the Syrian people and seeks to ensure that these expressions will continue to exist within collective memory.
Screen capture from Prayer of Fear, Mahmoud Ezzat, Mosireen
The non-profit media collective Mosireen formed in 2011 during the Egyptian Revolution by citizen media activists working to counter the dominant state narrative via grassroots documentation. Group members film and publish revolutionary activities, provide training and technical resources to citizen media makers, organize film screenings and maintain an expanding archive of footage from the revolution.
Their work has been extremely impactful both domestically and internationally, having repeatedly been ranked as the most watched non-profit YouTube channel in Egypt, with nearly six million total views of their work.
Screen capture from Houses Without Doors, Avo Kaprealian, Bidayyat
Bidayyat for Audiovisual Arts is a non-profit Syrian arts center that offers grants, education, production and distribution for Syrian and Syrian Palestinian documentary and experimental filmmakers. Bidayyat works seek to explore the complexity of the relationship between the image and the revolution through the untold narratives of personal experiences and multi-layered traumas. The work produced by the center questions the conventions of traditional documentary methods and rejects the idea of objectivity, seeing it instead as an impossibility within the form.
Screen capture from Kazeboon YouTube Channel
Kazeboon is an Egyptian collective media campaign that creates short political video works and engages in radical distribution practices, frequently screening on walls or white sheets in public outdoor spaces. The group is made up of activists seeking to open all public spaces to the possibility of revolutionary dialogue.
Kazeboon (or “liars”) formed in 2011 as a challenge to the repressive Egyptian state media coverage of revolutionary activities in Tahrir Square and the false narratives painted by this coverage. Their video works are frequently satirical and employ strategies 0f audiovisual dissonance – pairing video of the police attacking protesters, for example, with audio of a politician publicly describing the same event in very different terms – to draw attention to the misinformation campaigns spread by state media.
REGIONAL NPO/NGO FUNDING
In the past two decades the number of regional organizations dedicated to the funding and production of video and film works in the Arabic-speaking world have greatly increased. The following are a few notable examples, each of which are themselves funded by various international organizations, including the Ford Foundation, the Open Society Foundation, the European Commission, and the Goethe-Institut in addition to Gulf and larger regional funding institutions.
Poster for Diaries of a Flying Dog, Bassem Fayad, 2014, produced by Beirut DC
One of the longest-running institutions of its kind, Beirut DC, has engaged in production funding in support of independent Arab filmmakers pursuing non-commercial projects outside of the mainstream since 1999. Beirut DC also provides education and training opportunities for Arab media makers towards the growth of a more vibrant and productive regional network of media makers. The organization also programs the Ayam Beirut Al Cinema’iya Film Festival and a traveling exhibition of films known as The Arab Film Week.
Still from Becoming Wreckage, Maxime Hourani, 2015, Video Works grantee
Established by the Lebanese non-profit organization Ashkal Alwan in 2006, Video Works is a grant-making and exhibition platform that nurtures and showcases the work of filmmakers and video artists based in Lebanon.
The Lebanese Associate for Plastic Arts, Ashkal Alwan, was itself founded in 1993 as an institution dedication to the fostering of a wide range of creative practices via local initiatives, including artist residency programs, educational and production space, intellectual and artist book publication, and the prominent Home Works Forum on Cultural Practices, in addition to its video production projects.
Arab Fund for Arts and Culture
Still from Coming Forth By Day, Hala Lotfy, 2008, Arab Fund for Arts and Culture grantee
Founded in 2007, The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) funds contemporary artists in the fields of film, performing arts, literature, visual arts and music. It also seeks to bridge gaps of access to the arts and improve engagement with contemporary audiences in the Arabic-speaking region. It seeks to build a more sustainable arts community in the region via local patronage, though their list of funders also currently includes large Western NGOs.
GULF FUNDERS
In recent years, the oil-rich Gulf states have made huge financial investments in the establishment of film institutions within their countries. Some regional filmmakers have cited an greater level of artistic freedom when receiving financial support from these organizations in comparison to more traditional production and co-production grants from European sources.
Doha Film Institute’s Qatari Film Fund
Screen capture from DFI’s call for a crowdsourced documentary, DariQatar
The Doha Film Institute’s Qatari Film Fund seeks to elevate Qatari voices in global cinema via educational, productive, and distribution initiatives. In addition has dedicated film funding and distribution support for works produced by makers from the MENA region, as well as limited grants for makers outside of the region. It also pursues co-production opportunities with Western production companies.
Still from Cursed be the Phosphate, Sami Tlili, 2012, funded by Sanad Fund
The Sanad Fund provides development and post-production funding for Arab filmmakers pursuing feature length works. The fund operates under the structure of twofour54, Abu Dhabi’s tax free media production zone which seeks to establish itself as the production powerhouse of the region. Despite being state-controlled, it has funded a number of challenging and subversive works which do not conform to the norms of traditional filmmaking practice.
Still from Baghdad Night, Furat Al Jamil, 2013, Funded by Enjazz
The Dubai Film Market’s Enjazz program provides production funds to Gulf filmmakers and post-production funds to Arab filmmakers from the wider region. It seeks to raise the global profile of works created by Arab media makers and to establish a more sustainable film industry in the region.
FESTIVALS & EXHIBITIONS
Regional film festivals and contemporary art exhibitions continue to be the most prominent form of exhibition of works created in the Arabic-speaking world. Certain festivals actively program creatively challenging
DocuDays – Beirut International Documentary Festival
Promotional poster from DocuDays 2003
Established in Beirut in 1999, DocuDays was one of the region’s first film festivals devoted to the exhibition of non-fiction documentary works. Its iterations are sporadic, with the most recent festival held in 2012.
Cairo Video Festival: Video Art and Experimental Films
Promotional poster from Medrar
The ten day Cairo Video Festival focuses on the programming of experimental video artworks with the intent of incubating new media works in Egypt and the wider region. The festival is a project of the non-profit Medrar collective, a organization that attempts to foster mutually beneficial development and cooperation amongst Arab contemporary artists.
“The Myths and Legends Room”, Hala Elkoussy, 2010, displayed the 2013 Sharjah Biennial
Founded in 1993 and organized by the Emirate’s Sharjah Art Foundation, the Sharjah Biennial is an internationally prominent exhibition of contemporary works which seeks to reach past regional concentration. It has a history of more traditionally focused works, and has sparked controversy over its censorship of political artists multiple times over its history.
Screen capture from Stories Untold, exhibited at Townhouse
Established in Cairo in 1998, the non-profit Townhouse Gallery has been a long-established exhibitor, educator, and producer of contemporary Egyptian artworks. It also hosts artist residencies, film screenings, an archive of creative works, and dialogues amongst intellectuals and artists.
NAAS – Network of Arab Arthouse Screens
Promotional poster for the Federation of Tunisian Cinema Clubs, NAAS member
The Network of Arab Arthouse Screens is a transnational alliance of film exhibition spaces and cine-clubs in Arabic speaking countries dedicated to the exhibition of alternative films and the development of a more thoughtful film culture through their audiences.