Cairo’s emerging alternative film scene

On Saturday 6 June, a packed audience at Cairo’s Zawya cinema watched three programmes of short films from the BFI National Archive. Fired by the energy of the audience, it is a screening I will remember for a long time.

Founded in 2014 by Youssef Shazly and an impressive team of collaborators, for the last 12 months Zawya has been the only venue in Cairo — a mega-city with a metropolitan population of around 20 million — to offer an alternative to mainstream cinema. Leasing a screen from the adjoining Odeon, its entrance, carved out of a former fire exit, is discreet, to say the least. But its audience is resolutely loyal and could not have been more warm, engaged or vocal, especially in their group effort at translating the various subtleties of English into Arabic.

First up was a programme of recently remastered films showing the Arab world on the eve of WW1. Among them were mesmerising images of Cairo in 1905, Algiers in 1910 and Morocco in 1910. One film depicted a startling method of removing cattle from a boat: you place a plank under the cow, then, with nothing but brute force, lever her unceremoniously into the water. The programme ended with the flags of Egypt and the UK flying together in Egypt and Her Defenders (1914). It was accompanied by a thoughtful and hugely evocative performance by Cairo-based musicians Procession Towards the Unknown, reclaiming the Arabness of the films that were shot through the somewhat orientalist lens of European filmmakers.

The central section of the evening’s entertainment included two UK government-funded propaganda films aimed at Middle Eastern audiences. The unintentionally hilarious delights of Moslems in Britain: Manchester (1961) was a highlight. In the context of Britain’s current attitude towards immigration, the irony of the fact that the film was made to encourage people from the region to move to the UK was lost on nobody. And all presented by what one audience member described as ‘the Egyptian Mr Bean’. The film will be available to watch on BFI Player from July as part of the major initiative Britain on Film.

And, finally, four short films from the BFI Southbank’s forthcoming London season. John Krish’s The Elephant Will Never Forget (1953), a paean to the last days of the city’s trams, hit a resonant note with the universality of its theme of loss. All the more poignant given Cairo’s own vanishing tram system.

After the screening it was great to meet Booker-prize nominated author Ahdaf Soueif, and actress Amira Ghazalla, whose fantastic performance in My Brother the Devil can be seen at BFI Southbank in August. They both spoke eloquently about the importance of such events in Egypt.

The screening was included as part of a five-day workshop organised by Cimatheque and the Network of Arab Arthouse Screens (NAAS), bringing together members from Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates. Underlining the complexity of relationships across the region, members from four countries were unable to obtain Egyptian visas to attend the workshop.

The workshop, supported by the British Council and other international cultural bodies, provided a space for members and outside participants (including me) to share experiences and explore collaborative ways of working. In an era of cuts to the arts funding in the UK, listening to the challenges encountered by a number of NAAS members was humbling, and made what they had achieved seem all the more remarkable. It was alarming to hear of one member who had recently been arrested for programming films. 

A desire by NAAS members to show a wider range of contemporary independent cinema and archive film is frequently hampered by unaffordable fees and the additional costs required to subtitle films into Arabic. The challenges of working with archives across the region seemed particularly acute. There were stories of archives that refuse access to or information about what they hold; archives with films kept in poor conditions; and lost films and recent titles only available in substandard materials. One key national collection was jokingly, but not inaccurately, described as a ‘film prison’. But the workshop was far more than an opportunity to let off steam, and it ended with a series of smart ideas that NAAS members would be taking forward.

Part of the workshop was held at Cimatheque, Cairo’s brand new alternative film centre. Combining a cinema with informal meeting, eating and workshop spaces, as well as an exhibitions and resources room, Cimatheque is another post-revolution initiative that will give a boost to Cairo’s downtown cultural quarter. Importantly, it will provide a space where filmmakers and audiences can meet to discuss and develop work and ideas. Located on the fifth floor of a wonderful 1940s building, Cimatheque is also blessed with sensational views across the city.

One of the forces behind Cimatheque, and one of the workshop organisers, is British-Egyptian actor, filmmaker and activist Khalid Abdalla. Probably best known to international audiences for his roles in The Kite Runner, United 93 and Green Zone, Khalid traces the genesis of Cimatheque back to a meeting with filmmaker Tamer El Said at BFI Southbank, when their collaboration began. Indeed, inspired in part by the BFI’s mediatheques, the team — which also includes Hana Al Bayaty — plan that such a space will become part of the Cimatheque mix in the next few months.

On my afternoon off I visited the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities, just off Tahrir Square, the focus of the 2011 revolution. When I was nine, my father’s refusal to queue with me for hours to get into the British Museum’s Tutankhamun exhibition proved a major disappointment, so I was determined to make amends in Cairo. I was captivated and moved by the boy-pharaoh’s treasures, but not only in ways that I was expecting. I stood alone in the gallery containing the gold mask and coffins for 20 minutes — just me, the guard and the world’s most iconic ancient treasures. The massive museum was practically empty. Four years on from the revolution, tourism in Egypt, and the livelihoods associated with it, remains decimated. And it’s probably not likely to get much better soon: as I write this, I have just heard about an attempted suicide bomber attack at the Temple of Karnak in Luxor.

However, I left Cairo feeling positive. The energy and creativity of the emerging independent cinema scene is palpable. With initiatives such as Cimatheque and Zawya, and the start of collaborative working between cinemas across the region, it’s hard not to feel the small waves of an exciting and all-important cultural revolution.

With many thanks to Khalid Abdalla (Cimatheque); Mohammad Shawky Hassan and Nancy Eid (NAAS); Cathy Costain (British Council, Cairo); Youssef Shazly (Zawya); Cressida Trew and all the NAAS members and workshop participants who made my visit so rewarding.