NAAS: Mapping Cinema Audiences presentation

Sun Sep 23, 2018
4:30 PM - 6:00 PM (90 min)

TU BERLIN (G 30) Sunday, September 23, 4:30 PM

Mapping Cinema Audiences: Egypt is a research project that ran between June 2016 and early 2018. It approaches cinema as a social and cultural institution and explores the habits and motivations for collective film viewing. Egypt is its geographical focus. Through a series of conversations and essays, it also draws attention to the relationship cinema organizations have to their audiences as well as to broader concerns in contemporary cinema culture. The project consisted of two phases. The first took place between April and October 2017. During which time, we conducted fourteen discussion groups in seven cities across Egypt and completed six hundred surveys. The second phase began in November 2017 with reflecting on the information gathered through the discussion groups and surveys. This phase also saw the beginning of a series of conversations with researchers and individuals of various backgrounds in film exhibition and distribution. The project concluded in early 2018 with the release of this publication. Mapping Cinema Audiences: Egypt is a project led by Nour El Safoury and published by the Network of Arab Alternative Screens (NAAS) in collaboration with Al-Film magazine. Nour writes, edits and lives in Cairo. NAAS is a network of non-governmental cinema spaces in the Arabic-speaking region. It gathers initiatives that attempt through their programming, events, space, outreach and operation to support a vibrant and sustainable cinema culture. By organizing annual regional encounters, workshops and initiatives for film circulation¨ NAAS aims to broaden the scope of films available to the Arab public and to encourage dialogue around cinema and its history with the hope of tapping into the potential presented by the collective experience of watching film in a public setting.