”What you see in the frame is not limited to its visual depiction, but is a pointer to something stretching out beyond the frame and to infinity; a pointer to life.”
- Andrei Tarkovsky, Sculpting in Time
In 2018, Saudi Arabia reintroduced public movie theatres, markedly changing the experience of viewing moving image in the Kingdom. Meanwhile, moving images displayed in other forms and manners are still calling for our attention: billboards, pop-up windows, smart phone screens, VR headsets. Whether on the big screen or a tiny one, a single screen or multiple ones, moving images can surprise us with what we have never imagined before. They can mediate our experience of the world, frame our perceptions of reality, and point to horizons of endless possibilities and unrequited aspirations.
Even as we celebrate and enjoy these new ways of seeing moving images, such changes also invite us to think critically about the growing centrality of mediated moving images in our everyday life, and demand more out of how film and cinema are consumed and received, and how precisely these images allow us to see ourselves and others in new lights.
One approach is to turn our attention away from the images themselves and look, instead, askance at these virtual and material windows and the frames around them. A frame shapes, constrains, and defines what we see and how we see it. Filmmakers choose their frames deliberately, to shape viewers’ experience and orient their attention. The frame can create visual balance and convey meaning: Do we see an open space—and feel expansive as a result? Or does the frame limit and confine us? The frame is not just a physical border, however, but also a conceptual construct that invites interpretation and encourages us to consider what lies beyond its edges. What are we not meant to see, and why? If we look past the frame, does it bring us closer to the “actual,” or drive it farther away? Does the horizon of endless possibilities lie within the frame, or beyond it?
Join us for Beyond the Frame, the first edition of the Riyadh international Film Criticism Conference, in which we focus on the vital role that film criticism plays in the ever increasingly complex media ecosystem. Criticism itself is a kind of frame that highlights critical engagement with understanding and acknowledgement of the shifting role and structures of cinema in a changing world
To open our conference, director and former critic Yousry Nasrallah recounts his steps toward filmmaking, which began by understanding cinema through criticism. Growing up in 1960s Egypt, he read magazines like Cahiers du cinéma, Positif, and Sight and Sound. Through them he learned about important films and imagined them sometimes years before he actually saw them. Later, writing about film became his way of defining what in cinema he yearned to see and make. And reading such film critics as Samir Farid, Raafat El-Mihi, Serge Daney, François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Marguerite Duras, and David Robinson immersed him directly in the aesthetic debates in and around cinema, which empowered him to make his own judgments.
Radwan El-Kashef was born in the Sayeda Zeinab neighborhood of Cairo in 1952, and his roots trace back to Sohag in Upper Egypt. He obtained a BA in Philosophy from Cairo University, then enrolled in the Cinema Institute; his final project, the short film "Al-Janoubiya" ("The Southern Woman"), later received the First Work Award from the Ministry of Culture. El-Kashef worked as assistant director on some twenty films, with directors such as Youssef Chahine, Raafat El-Mihi, and Daoud Abdel Sayed. He then co-wrote and directed the films Leh Ya Banafsaj (Why, Violet?, 1993) and Araq Al-Balah (Date Wine, 1998). His last film, in 2001, was Al-Saher (The Magician), and he passed away in June 2002.
To open our conference, director and former critic Yousry Nasrallah recounts his steps toward filmmaking, which began by understanding cinema through criticism. Growing up in 1960s Egypt, he read magazines like Cahiers du cinéma, Positif, and Sight and Sound. Through them he learned about important films and imagined them sometimes years before he actually saw them. Later, writing about film became his way of defining what in cinema he yearned to see and make. And reading such film critics as Samir Farid, Raafat El-Mihi, Serge Daney, François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Marguerite Duras, and David Robinson immersed him directly in the aesthetic debates in and around cinema, which empowered him to make his own judgments.
Radwan El-Kashef was born in the Sayeda Zeinab neighborhood of Cairo in 1952, and his roots trace back to Sohag in Upper Egypt. He obtained a BA in Philosophy from Cairo University, then enrolled in the Cinema Institute; his final project, the short film "Al-Janoubiya" ("The Southern Woman"), later received the First Work Award from the Ministry of Culture. El-Kashef worked as assistant director on some twenty films, with directors such as Youssef Chahine, Raafat El-Mihi, and Daoud Abdel Sayed. He then co-wrote and directed the films Leh Ya Banafsaj (Why, Violet?, 1993) and Araq Al-Balah (Date Wine, 1998). His last film, in 2001, was Al-Saher (The Magician), and he passed away in June 2002.
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Upon his return to Alexandria, Khaled becomes intrigued with a graffiti mural opposite his apartment. As he pursues this further, a larger underground arts scene slowly reveals itself, composed of musicians, filmmakers, and graffiti artists. As they struggle to get their voices heard, Khaled is compelled to help them acquire some much-deserved visibility.
Ahmad Abdalla is a film editor, producer, and director from Cairo. He studied music in the late 1990s before beginning his career in cinema as a film editor on shorts, features, and documentaries. Abdalla made his directorial debut in 2008 with the film Heliopolis. This has since been followed by Microphone (2010), Rags & Tatters (2013), Decor (2014), EXT/Night (2018), and 19B (2022). In 2022, he also had his first solo photography exhibition. Currently, he is working on another feature, Berleen.
Upon his return to Alexandria, Khaled becomes intrigued with a graffiti mural opposite his apartment. As he pursues this further, a larger underground arts scene slowly reveals itself, composed of musicians, filmmakers, and graffiti artists. As they struggle to get their voices heard, Khaled is compelled to help them acquire some much-deserved visibility.
Ahmad Abdalla is a film editor, producer, and director from Cairo. He studied music in the late 1990s before beginning his career in cinema as a film editor on shorts, features, and documentaries. Abdalla made his directorial debut in 2008 with the film Heliopolis. This has since been followed by Microphone (2010), Rags & Tatters (2013), Decor (2014), EXT/Night (2018), and 19B (2022). In 2022, he also had his first solo photography exhibition. Currently, he is working on another feature, Berleen.
Jalal Toufic, Thinker and Filmmaker, Professor of Film Studies at the American University in Cairo
- Moderated by
Chafic Tabbara
Are there frames outside cinema (and painting)? Yes, there are frames, radical ones, in the universe, for example, a black hole’s event horizon, the cosmological horizon, and the light cone. Ostensibly, nothing can reach us from beyond these frames. A radically closed space is one that is disconnected from the environment but open to the diagram (for example, the Red Room in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, 1992), or to an unworldly elsewhere, or to nothing (the one referred to in the Latin ex nihilo, out of nothing)—or to what is beyond the aforementioned frames in the universe? Different radical-closure artists, writers, and filmmakers tend to have an affinity with, for the most part, different characteristics of this kind of closure, for example, Francis Bacon was more affined to the unworldly ahistorical entities that irrupt fully-formed in such a closure, while Alain Robbe-Grillet was more affined to the exhaustive permutations that take place in such a closure.
Jalal Toufic, Thinker and Filmmaker, Professor of Film Studies at the American University in Cairo
- Moderated by
Chafic Tabbara
Are there frames outside cinema (and painting)? Yes, there are frames, radical ones, in the universe, for example, a black hole’s event horizon, the cosmological horizon, and the light cone. Ostensibly, nothing can reach us from beyond these frames. A radically closed space is one that is disconnected from the environment but open to the diagram (for example, the Red Room in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, 1992), or to an unworldly elsewhere, or to nothing (the one referred to in the Latin ex nihilo, out of nothing)—or to what is beyond the aforementioned frames in the universe? Different radical-closure artists, writers, and filmmakers tend to have an affinity with, for the most part, different characteristics of this kind of closure, for example, Francis Bacon was more affined to the unworldly ahistorical entities that irrupt fully-formed in such a closure, while Alain Robbe-Grillet was more affined to the exhaustive permutations that take place in such a closure.
Thabit Khamis
Our general view of how we perceive films is a product of the nature of the cinematic medium, which contains a vast spectrum of sights, sounds, locations, processes, and adjustments. When we watch a movie, we live an integrated emotional experience within the cognitive and emotional scope of what is before us. That is, we deal with the film as a phenomenon. Analysis using the phenomenological methodology focuses on studying the phenomena in the film and reveals the cognitive processes and expressive and perceptual embodiment in the cinematic spectacle. Jerzy Skolimowski’s film EO presents us with a multitude of factors that fan the flames of contemplation. Because the hero in the film is a donkey, this methodology sheds light on the phenomenon by which a human filmmaker can use film to humanize an animal, in order to express the human condition.
Kais Kasim
The critical assessment compares the film EO (2022) by Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski and the film Au hasard Balthazar (1966), by French director Robert Bresson, both of which involve animals in a leading role. In this way, a certain view of the world is presented as if through the eyes of a “donkey,” which adds strangeness to the cinematic perception, while being an innovative study of the serious topics of human life. Critical analysis of EO can also look at the film’s plot points and their internal connection to recent Polish reality, especially its connection to the Western world, as depicted by the main character of the donkey, with all its symbolism and connotations.
Thabit Khamis
Our general view of how we perceive films is a product of the nature of the cinematic medium, which contains a vast spectrum of sights, sounds, locations, processes, and adjustments. When we watch a movie, we live an integrated emotional experience within the cognitive and emotional scope of what is before us. That is, we deal with the film as a phenomenon. Analysis using the phenomenological methodology focuses on studying the phenomena in the film and reveals the cognitive processes and expressive and perceptual embodiment in the cinematic spectacle. Jerzy Skolimowski’s film EO presents us with a multitude of factors that fan the flames of contemplation. Because the hero in the film is a donkey, this methodology sheds light on the phenomenon by which a human filmmaker can use film to humanize an animal, in order to express the human condition.
Kais Kasim
The critical assessment compares the film EO (2022) by Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski and the film Au hasard Balthazar (1966), by French director Robert Bresson, both of which involve animals in a leading role. In this way, a certain view of the world is presented as if through the eyes of a “donkey,” which adds strangeness to the cinematic perception, while being an innovative study of the serious topics of human life. Critical analysis of EO can also look at the film’s plot points and their internal connection to recent Polish reality, especially its connection to the Western world, as depicted by the main character of the donkey, with all its symbolism and connotations.
As digital technology blurs old distinctions between film and video, this panel explores the multiplying avenues for visual storytelling and artistic expression, from film to video, VR, AR, and more. Artists whose works are on view in the conference’s exhibition will discuss how their chosen media have shaped their visions and how specific sites of exhibition—museum, gallery, cinema, or even conference center—can act as analytical frameworks for our understanding of the growing field of expanded media.
As digital technology blurs old distinctions between film and video, this panel explores the multiplying avenues for visual storytelling and artistic expression, from film to video, VR, AR, and more. Artists whose works are on view in the conference’s exhibition will discuss how their chosen media have shaped their visions and how specific sites of exhibition—museum, gallery, cinema, or even conference center—can act as analytical frameworks for our understanding of the growing field of expanded media.
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Butheina Kazim, Founder, Cinema Akil
Curating a film program involves much more than selecting movies and securing their screening. Curatorial work enhances the effect of selected artworks while generating additional effects inspired by the unique assembly and juxtaposition of a given program. The work of curation is not performed in isolation but often as a member of a team, and always with audiences in mind. This workshop explores film curation as an occupation, a career, and a creative act.
Butheina Kazim, Founder, Cinema Akil
Curating a film program involves much more than selecting movies and securing their screening. Curatorial work enhances the effect of selected artworks while generating additional effects inspired by the unique assembly and juxtaposition of a given program. The work of curation is not performed in isolation but often as a member of a team, and always with audiences in mind. This workshop explores film curation as an occupation, a career, and a creative act.
Amal Ahmed, Audiovisual Archivist and Writer
The film industries of Bombay, Calcutta, Lahore, Karachi, and Dhaka have long been culturally intertwined, even after the Great Partition of 1947. Yet Pakistan’s cinema is largely absent from India’s and Bangladesh’s film archives. Meanwhile, Pakistani television dramas, films, and songs are thoroughly enjoyed across the Global South. How, then, can we work toward a more inclusive archival model for South Asian audiovisual cultural heritage and build bridges across postcolonial divides? To answer, this presentation looks to Noor Jehan, a Pakistani Punjabi singer, actress, and director who is a cultural icon across the South Asian diaspora. Through the so-called Queen of Melodies and figures like her, we may acknowledge intercultural, linguistic, and migratory practices in South Asian filmmaking.
Amal Ahmed, Audiovisual Archivist and Writer
The film industries of Bombay, Calcutta, Lahore, Karachi, and Dhaka have long been culturally intertwined, even after the Great Partition of 1947. Yet Pakistan’s cinema is largely absent from India’s and Bangladesh’s film archives. Meanwhile, Pakistani television dramas, films, and songs are thoroughly enjoyed across the Global South. How, then, can we work toward a more inclusive archival model for South Asian audiovisual cultural heritage and build bridges across postcolonial divides? To answer, this presentation looks to Noor Jehan, a Pakistani Punjabi singer, actress, and director who is a cultural icon across the South Asian diaspora. Through the so-called Queen of Melodies and figures like her, we may acknowledge intercultural, linguistic, and migratory practices in South Asian filmmaking.
Ayman Tamano, Filmmaker
In this presentation, Saudi filmmaker Ayman Tamano reflects on his use of archival and found footage to express his own lived experience. Tamano is a dedicated filmmaker who has spent the past decade capturing the evolution of the music industry, from documenting pivotal moments in live performances to embarking on unconventional filmmaking projects. His filmmaking practice has incorporated personal tragedy, but ultimately, by emphasizing the importance of storytelling and authenticity, and by documenting both extraordinary and everyday moments, he has created a narrative of transformation and purpose, as a means of leaving a lasting legacy in the creative landscape of film.
Ayman Tamano, Filmmaker
In this presentation, Saudi filmmaker Ayman Tamano reflects on his use of archival and found footage to express his own lived experience. Tamano is a dedicated filmmaker who has spent the past decade capturing the evolution of the music industry, from documenting pivotal moments in live performances to embarking on unconventional filmmaking projects. His filmmaking practice has incorporated personal tragedy, but ultimately, by emphasizing the importance of storytelling and authenticity, and by documenting both extraordinary and everyday moments, he has created a narrative of transformation and purpose, as a means of leaving a lasting legacy in the creative landscape of film.
Ali Hussein Al-Adawy, Curator, Researcher, and Critic
The curatorial trend of restitution ideology, which promotes the repatriation of artifacts, objects, images, and films from colonial museums and archives to their home countries, is inherently focused on objects and materiality, even as its proponents—often diasporic cultural elites engaged in larger decolonization—consider it subjective and immaterial. This presentation rethinks the restitution debate, going beyond the materiality/immateriality binary to question the ontology of cultural artifacts and film images, to engage with sociopolitical contexts beyond the limits of their production moments.
Ali Hussein Al-Adawy, Curator, Researcher, and Critic
The curatorial trend of restitution ideology, which promotes the repatriation of artifacts, objects, images, and films from colonial museums and archives to their home countries, is inherently focused on objects and materiality, even as its proponents—often diasporic cultural elites engaged in larger decolonization—consider it subjective and immaterial. This presentation rethinks the restitution debate, going beyond the materiality/immateriality binary to question the ontology of cultural artifacts and film images, to engage with sociopolitical contexts beyond the limits of their production moments.
Story and narrative are often thought of on a linear trajectory, with a beginning, middle, and end. This panel considers the ways filmmakers tamper with these linear assumptions by experimenting with form and content, as well as with different viewing experiences, particularly in the realm of digital media, that don’t rely on linear narratives. Images on film can now be generated and regenerated online, such as in referential memes that circulate endlessly—just one of many future possibilities of storytelling in a digital world.
Story and narrative are often thought of on a linear trajectory, with a beginning, middle, and end. This panel considers the ways filmmakers tamper with these linear assumptions by experimenting with form and content, as well as with different viewing experiences, particularly in the realm of digital media, that don’t rely on linear narratives. Images on film can now be generated and regenerated online, such as in referential memes that circulate endlessly—just one of many future possibilities of storytelling in a digital world.
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Mariam El Ajraoui, Researcher, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
In interactive films and series, the viewer participates in creating the storyline and is free to choose the fate of the characters. But is this true freedom, or just an illusion? By comparing the choices available in interactive cinema to those in traditional films, such as A Thousand Months (2002), by Moroccan director Faouzi Bensaïdi, and Oedipus Rex (1967), by Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini, this presentation will discuss the issue of choice and the viewer’s freedom. How did filmmakers push the boundaries of the frame even before the invention of interactive technology? And what can new filmmakers learn from previous generations to help interrogate and develop this new technology?
Mariam El Ajraoui, Researcher, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
In interactive films and series, the viewer participates in creating the storyline and is free to choose the fate of the characters. But is this true freedom, or just an illusion? By comparing the choices available in interactive cinema to those in traditional films, such as A Thousand Months (2002), by Moroccan director Faouzi Bensaïdi, and Oedipus Rex (1967), by Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini, this presentation will discuss the issue of choice and the viewer’s freedom. How did filmmakers push the boundaries of the frame even before the invention of interactive technology? And what can new filmmakers learn from previous generations to help interrogate and develop this new technology?
Alia Yunis, Visiting Research Fellow, Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington
In the era of real-time AI chatbots, the existing body of film and literature around robots and other artificial intelligence has become outmoded: It is science fiction of the past. Playing on Einstein’s space-time continuum, this presentation looks at the story-time continuum, to see what kinds of science fiction stories manage to stay current. Ranging from the first science fiction novel (Zakariya al-Qazwini’s Awaj bin Anaq) to contemporary films, we will consider places of production, formats of production, and how audiences interact to illustrate the influence of time and space on our stories of the future.
Alia Yunis, Visiting Research Fellow, Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington
In the era of real-time AI chatbots, the existing body of film and literature around robots and other artificial intelligence has become outmoded: It is science fiction of the past. Playing on Einstein’s space-time continuum, this presentation looks at the story-time continuum, to see what kinds of science fiction stories manage to stay current. Ranging from the first science fiction novel (Zakariya al-Qazwini’s Awaj bin Anaq) to contemporary films, we will consider places of production, formats of production, and how audiences interact to illustrate the influence of time and space on our stories of the future.
Tariq Khawaji, Cultural Consultant and Chief Librarian, Ithra
This presentation explores the notion that the future of narrative in cinema hinges on viewers transitioning from the third person, as passive recipients, to the second or first person, as active participants in the narrative process. While a few select cinematic experiments accomplished this transformation ahead of significant shifts in technology and social psychology, it hasn’t yet become standard. We will also look to philosophers Henri Bergson and Gilles Deleuze: The illusion Bergson warned against and that Deleuze interpreted in his book Cinema 1: The Movement-Image may be the essence of cinema’s future today.
Tariq Khawaji, Cultural Consultant and Chief Librarian, Ithra
This presentation explores the notion that the future of narrative in cinema hinges on viewers transitioning from the third person, as passive recipients, to the second or first person, as active participants in the narrative process. While a few select cinematic experiments accomplished this transformation ahead of significant shifts in technology and social psychology, it hasn’t yet become standard. We will also look to philosophers Henri Bergson and Gilles Deleuze: The illusion Bergson warned against and that Deleuze interpreted in his book Cinema 1: The Movement-Image may be the essence of cinema’s future today.
Aboubakar Sanogo, Associate Professor of Film Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa
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Moderated by
Carmen Victor
France’s Lumière Brothers are renowned for their invention of the Cinématographe, a portable camera that enabled outdoor filming and, in turn, the development of post-WWII new cinemas such as Italian neorealism and French New Wave. While their names are synonymous with classic short films such as “Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory” and “The Arrival of a Train,” very little is known about their work in Africa, when they traveled with their Cinématographe and shot nearly 100 films around the continent between 1896 and 1903. This presentation examines the main throughlines of the Lumière Africa Corpus (LAC) and its tremendous significance for film culture and history.
Aboubakar Sanogo, Associate Professor of Film Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa
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Moderated by
Carmen Victor
France’s Lumière Brothers are renowned for their invention of the Cinématographe, a portable camera that enabled outdoor filming and, in turn, the development of post-WWII new cinemas such as Italian neorealism and French New Wave. While their names are synonymous with classic short films such as “Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory” and “The Arrival of a Train,” very little is known about their work in Africa, when they traveled with their Cinématographe and shot nearly 100 films around the continent between 1896 and 1903. This presentation examines the main throughlines of the Lumière Africa Corpus (LAC) and its tremendous significance for film culture and history.
Hédi Khelil, Professor, Sousse University
- Moderated by
Ahmed Alayyad
This lecture delves into the concept of “effect” in art, specifically in photography. Among notable Saudi and Arab artists, the late photographer Saleh Al-Azzaz (1959–2002) stands out for his celebration of his homeland through objects, nature, and cultural traditions. His work showcases Saudi Arabia’s blend of ancientness, seen in its rocks, trees, and mud houses, and its modernity in the joys, songs, and dances of its people. His art is a testament to the past and a vision for the future. As Saudi cinema seeks to rejuvenate itself, it can draw artistic and aesthetic inspiration from the creativity of artists like Saleh Al-Azzaz, an illuminator of details and a caretaker of the nuances of light.
Hédi Khelil, Professor, Sousse University
- Moderated by
Ahmed Alayyad
This lecture delves into the concept of “effect” in art, specifically in photography. Among notable Saudi and Arab artists, the late photographer Saleh Al-Azzaz (1959–2002) stands out for his celebration of his homeland through objects, nature, and cultural traditions. His work showcases Saudi Arabia’s blend of ancientness, seen in its rocks, trees, and mud houses, and its modernity in the joys, songs, and dances of its people. His art is a testament to the past and a vision for the future. As Saudi cinema seeks to rejuvenate itself, it can draw artistic and aesthetic inspiration from the creativity of artists like Saleh Al-Azzaz, an illuminator of details and a caretaker of the nuances of light.
Saad Albazei, Professor Emeritus, King Saud University, Riyadh
- Moderated by
Rania Haddad
This presentation focuses on the concept of meta-fiction and meta-cinema, a technique in which an author or character intervenes to tell the reader/audience that the work is mere fiction. At the center of discussion is work by two Arab novelists, the Kuwaiti Taleb Alrefai and the Saudi Ibrahim Badi, which we will set alongside films by the Tunisian director Nouri Bouzid and the American Woody Allen. The analysis focuses on the objectives behind the use of such a technique in Arab fiction and films on the one hand, and the Western films on the other, and how cultural diversity might explain the difference.
Saad Albazei, Professor Emeritus, King Saud University, Riyadh
- Moderated by
Rania Haddad
This presentation focuses on the concept of meta-fiction and meta-cinema, a technique in which an author or character intervenes to tell the reader/audience that the work is mere fiction. At the center of discussion is work by two Arab novelists, the Kuwaiti Taleb Alrefai and the Saudi Ibrahim Badi, which we will set alongside films by the Tunisian director Nouri Bouzid and the American Woody Allen. The analysis focuses on the objectives behind the use of such a technique in Arab fiction and films on the one hand, and the Western films on the other, and how cultural diversity might explain the difference.
Feras Almadi:
In cinema, sound has risen to a pivotal position alongside visual components. A meticulously crafted sound design enriches the visual experience. It intersects seamlessly with the narrative, molding how the audience perceives the story. This exploration focuses on sound design methodology in Alfred Hitchcock's iconic film The Birds (1963), uncovering its subtle yet powerful impact on the audience's subconscious
Rania Haddad, Film Critic:
Alfred Hitchcock is considered a master of building suspense and inciting horror. An example of this is a sequence in The Birds in which birds attack children in school. It became one of the most iconic sequences in cinema history and one of the scariest scenes of its time. What made it such an iconic sequence? How did Hitchcock build a sense of excitement, horror, and suspense within the scenes? We try to approach the secrets of this intriguing clip by analyzing its internal structure, and the relationship of the various cinematic elements (shot sizes, camera movement, shooting angles, sound), and how they work together to create the desired feeling of horror and suspense within the viewer.
Feras Almadi:
In cinema, sound has risen to a pivotal position alongside visual components. A meticulously crafted sound design enriches the visual experience. It intersects seamlessly with the narrative, molding how the audience perceives the story. This exploration focuses on sound design methodology in Alfred Hitchcock's iconic film The Birds (1963), uncovering its subtle yet powerful impact on the audience's subconscious
Rania Haddad, Film Critic:
Alfred Hitchcock is considered a master of building suspense and inciting horror. An example of this is a sequence in The Birds in which birds attack children in school. It became one of the most iconic sequences in cinema history and one of the scariest scenes of its time. What made it such an iconic sequence? How did Hitchcock build a sense of excitement, horror, and suspense within the scenes? We try to approach the secrets of this intriguing clip by analyzing its internal structure, and the relationship of the various cinematic elements (shot sizes, camera movement, shooting angles, sound), and how they work together to create the desired feeling of horror and suspense within the viewer.
Over the past ten years, the old-school film critic has almost gone extinct. At the same time, younger critics must work harder than ever for name recognition, with vlogs and TikTok clips as well as written reviews. Aggregators like Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic amplify a wider variety of voices—but how can the public distinguish between professional critics and amateurs? This panel will explore the pros and cons of the monumental digital shift in film criticism.
Over the past ten years, the old-school film critic has almost gone extinct. At the same time, younger critics must work harder than ever for name recognition, with vlogs and TikTok clips as well as written reviews. Aggregators like Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic amplify a wider variety of voices—but how can the public distinguish between professional critics and amateurs? This panel will explore the pros and cons of the monumental digital shift in film criticism.
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When cinema was in its infancy, film companies sent their camera operators to the four corners of the globe, in search of images to feed the voracious curiosity of a public who often hadn’t ventured outside their small towns. Everything was picturesque, whether it was the city one hour away or a destination known only through newspapers. This compilation of short films shot by Europeans in West Asia and North Africa in the 1910s and early 1920s covers a broad range of locations and topics, from Istanbul to Damascus, Tripoli to Marrakech. It also showcases the dazzling spectrum of original colors that was a little-known hallmark of early cinema.
Türkei - Konstantinopel - Aufnahmen von Istanbul in Pathécolor, France, c. 1925
Turkey: Stamboul et la Corne d’Or, France, c. 1915
Egypte et regions du haut Nil (Some Egyptian Towns), France, 1913
Bits & Pieces 50: Djibouti, c. 1920, and Jerusalem, c. 1925, France
Flying from Africa to India, France, c.1909–1911
Tripoli, Italy, c. 1915
Chasse au faucon dans le sud algérien, France, 1927
Constantine (Algeria), France, c. 1925
Tangier, France, 1917
De muren van Marrakesj (The Walls of Marrakesh)], France, 1924
Bits & Pieces 413: Les Evenements de Syrie. La ville de Damas après le bombardement (The Bombardment of Damascus), France, 1925
Les fontaines de Constantinople (The Fountains of Constantinople)], France, 1926
When cinema was in its infancy, film companies sent their camera operators to the four corners of the globe, in search of images to feed the voracious curiosity of a public who often hadn’t ventured outside their small towns. Everything was picturesque, whether it was the city one hour away or a destination known only through newspapers. This compilation of short films shot by Europeans in West Asia and North Africa in the 1910s and early 1920s covers a broad range of locations and topics, from Istanbul to Damascus, Tripoli to Marrakech. It also showcases the dazzling spectrum of original colors that was a little-known hallmark of early cinema.
Türkei - Konstantinopel - Aufnahmen von Istanbul in Pathécolor, France, c. 1925
Turkey: Stamboul et la Corne d’Or, France, c. 1915
Egypte et regions du haut Nil (Some Egyptian Towns), France, 1913
Bits & Pieces 50: Djibouti, c. 1920, and Jerusalem, c. 1925, France
Flying from Africa to India, France, c.1909–1911
Tripoli, Italy, c. 1915
Chasse au faucon dans le sud algérien, France, 1927
Constantine (Algeria), France, c. 1925
Tangier, France, 1917
De muren van Marrakesj (The Walls of Marrakesh)], France, 1924
Bits & Pieces 413: Les Evenements de Syrie. La ville de Damas après le bombardement (The Bombardment of Damascus), France, 1925
Les fontaines de Constantinople (The Fountains of Constantinople)], France, 1926
Legendary director Jerzy Skolimowski created one of his freest and most visually inventive films yet with this story of a gray donkey named EO. After being removed from an itinerant circus, EO begins a trek across the countryside, experiencing cruelty and kindness from a cast of characters that includes an Italian countess (Isabelle Huppert) and a Polish soccer team. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature and featuring stunning cinematography by Michał Dymek coupled with Paweł Mykietyn’s resonant score, EO presents the follies and triumphs of humankind from the perspective of its four-legged protagonist on a quest for freedom.
A Polish film director, screenwriter, dramatist, and actor, Jerzy Skolimowski is a graduate of the prestigious National Film School in Łódź. In 1967 he was awarded the Golden Bear prize for his film The Departure. For over twenty years, he lived in Los Angeles, where he painted in a figurative, expressionist mode and occasionally acted in films. He received the Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement at the 2016 Venice Film Festival.
Legendary director Jerzy Skolimowski created one of his freest and most visually inventive films yet with this story of a gray donkey named EO. After being removed from an itinerant circus, EO begins a trek across the countryside, experiencing cruelty and kindness from a cast of characters that includes an Italian countess (Isabelle Huppert) and a Polish soccer team. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature and featuring stunning cinematography by Michał Dymek coupled with Paweł Mykietyn’s resonant score, EO presents the follies and triumphs of humankind from the perspective of its four-legged protagonist on a quest for freedom.
A Polish film director, screenwriter, dramatist, and actor, Jerzy Skolimowski is a graduate of the prestigious National Film School in Łódź. In 1967 he was awarded the Golden Bear prize for his film The Departure. For over twenty years, he lived in Los Angeles, where he painted in a figurative, expressionist mode and occasionally acted in films. He received the Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement at the 2016 Venice Film Festival.
Barbie, who lives in Barbie Land, is kicked out of the country for being less than a perfect-looking doll; with nowhere to go, she leaves for the human world and seeks true happiness.
An American actress, writer, and director initially known for working on mumblecore films, Greta Gerwig has since expanded from acting in and co-writing independent films to directing major studio films. She wrote and directed the coming-of-age films Lady Bird (2017) and Little Women (2019), both nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Her fantasy comedy Barbie (2023), which she co-wrote, became the first film from a solo female director to gross more than $1 billion worldwide.
Barbie, who lives in Barbie Land, is kicked out of the country for being less than a perfect-looking doll; with nowhere to go, she leaves for the human world and seeks true happiness.
An American actress, writer, and director initially known for working on mumblecore films, Greta Gerwig has since expanded from acting in and co-writing independent films to directing major studio films. She wrote and directed the coming-of-age films Lady Bird (2017) and Little Women (2019), both nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Her fantasy comedy Barbie (2023), which she co-wrote, became the first film from a solo female director to gross more than $1 billion worldwide.
Masoud sets out with Salma on a road into the desert, on a journey with no destination and no plans to return. But after their vehicle breaks down near an abandoned theme park, the adventure takes an unexpected turn toward a reckoning with the self. Carnival City’s entrancing road trip pays homage to Wim Wenders’s Paris, Texas (1984).
Beginning as a journalist in various renowned institutions, such as Al-Watan, Asharq Al-Awsat, and AFP, Wael Abumansour made his first short documentary, “The Qanadil of Uncle Salem,” in 2013. He went on to write, direct, and produce documentaries and shorts, including “Mozmarji” (2015), while also establishing various specialized publishing collaterals and media companies. In 2020, Abumansour completed his first feature, Carnival City, which premiered at the Red Sea International Film Festival.
Masoud sets out with Salma on a road into the desert, on a journey with no destination and no plans to return. But after their vehicle breaks down near an abandoned theme park, the adventure takes an unexpected turn toward a reckoning with the self. Carnival City’s entrancing road trip pays homage to Wim Wenders’s Paris, Texas (1984).
Beginning as a journalist in various renowned institutions, such as Al-Watan, Asharq Al-Awsat, and AFP, Wael Abumansour made his first short documentary, “The Qanadil of Uncle Salem,” in 2013. He went on to write, direct, and produce documentaries and shorts, including “Mozmarji” (2015), while also establishing various specialized publishing collaterals and media companies. In 2020, Abumansour completed his first feature, Carnival City, which premiered at the Red Sea International Film Festival.
Teenage Saudi sisters Salsabel and Wasan are battling for independence. A small act of rebellion causes first tension, then greater understanding, as they explore their dreams and hopes together in the dark.
A Saudi director based in Jeddah, Sara Mesfer holds a bachelor’s degree in Cinematic Art from Effat University, Saudi Arabia. She wrote and directed her first short film, “Balcony,” in 2018. “The Girls Who Burned the Night” earned a Jury Special Mention award at the Cairo Film Festival. She also contributed a short for the anthology Becoming (2020), consisting of five stories by Saudi women directors.
Teenage Saudi sisters Salsabel and Wasan are battling for independence. A small act of rebellion causes first tension, then greater understanding, as they explore their dreams and hopes together in the dark.
A Saudi director based in Jeddah, Sara Mesfer holds a bachelor’s degree in Cinematic Art from Effat University, Saudi Arabia. She wrote and directed her first short film, “Balcony,” in 2018. “The Girls Who Burned the Night” earned a Jury Special Mention award at the Cairo Film Festival. She also contributed a short for the anthology Becoming (2020), consisting of five stories by Saudi women directors.
When socialite Melanie meets a playful lawyer in a pet shop, she decides to play a joke on him and deliver a pair of lovebirds to his home on the California coast. However, the town soon finds itself under savage attack by wild birds, and Melanie plays a central role in the town’s bid for survival.
British-born director and filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock worked for a short time in engineering in London before entering the film industry in 1920. In 1939, he left for Hollywood, where his first American film, Rebecca, won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Hitchcock created more than fifty films, including the classics Rear Window, The 39 Steps, and Psycho. Nicknamed the “Master of Suspense,” Hitchcock received the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award in 1979. He died in 1980.
When socialite Melanie meets a playful lawyer in a pet shop, she decides to play a joke on him and deliver a pair of lovebirds to his home on the California coast. However, the town soon finds itself under savage attack by wild birds, and Melanie plays a central role in the town’s bid for survival.
British-born director and filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock worked for a short time in engineering in London before entering the film industry in 1920. In 1939, he left for Hollywood, where his first American film, Rebecca, won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Hitchcock created more than fifty films, including the classics Rear Window, The 39 Steps, and Psycho. Nicknamed the “Master of Suspense,” Hitchcock received the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award in 1979. He died in 1980.
Displaying an encyclopedic grasp of cinema and its history, Godard pieces together fragments and clips from some of the greatest films of the past, then digitally alters, bleaches, and washes them. While at times he reflects on time and space, and where meaning is found, he is ultimately more focused on the image itself, Godard’s obsession that anchors this film. The key issue is the legacy of the last century and its horrors: Hiroshima and Auschwitz, incomprehensible events that coincided with cinema but that have somehow eluded its gaze. And, movingly, The Image Book also reflects on Orientalism and the Arab world, grounding the film very much in the current century.
Jean-Luc Godard (1930–2022) was a Franco-Swiss filmmaker and a leading member of the Nouvelle Vague, or French New Wave. Known for stylistic innovations that challenged the conventions of Hollywood cinema, he is universally recognized as the most audacious and radical of the Nouvelle Vague filmmakers, as well as the most influential. His work reflects a fervent knowledge of film history, a comprehensive understanding of existential and Marxist philosophy, and a profound insight into the fragility of human relationships.
Displaying an encyclopedic grasp of cinema and its history, Godard pieces together fragments and clips from some of the greatest films of the past, then digitally alters, bleaches, and washes them. While at times he reflects on time and space, and where meaning is found, he is ultimately more focused on the image itself, Godard’s obsession that anchors this film. The key issue is the legacy of the last century and its horrors: Hiroshima and Auschwitz, incomprehensible events that coincided with cinema but that have somehow eluded its gaze. And, movingly, The Image Book also reflects on Orientalism and the Arab world, grounding the film very much in the current century.
Jean-Luc Godard (1930–2022) was a Franco-Swiss filmmaker and a leading member of the Nouvelle Vague, or French New Wave. Known for stylistic innovations that challenged the conventions of Hollywood cinema, he is universally recognized as the most audacious and radical of the Nouvelle Vague filmmakers, as well as the most influential. His work reflects a fervent knowledge of film history, a comprehensive understanding of existential and Marxist philosophy, and a profound insight into the fragility of human relationships.
This immersive, interactive installation is a sensory voyage that captures the surreal nature of dreams, where the line is blurred between the physical and the digital world, between the real and the imaginary. Dream-e-scape explores the concept of lucid dreaming, the sleep state in which we become aware we are dreaming and have the ability to control the dream and gain agency over our thoughts and desires. We are testing reality: Are we awake?
Laia Cabrera is an award-winning filmmaker and video artist based in New York, working in installation art and new cinema. Her work explores new ways of using space and the visual imaginary as a tool for narrative storytelling and audience connection, merging cinematic arts, dance, music, theater, and digital and interactive arts. With Isabelle Duverger, she co-founded Laia Cabrera & Co., which created The Now, a 72-foot-long interactive digital film at Port Authority Bus Terminal, Times Square, New York.
Born in France and based in New York City, Isabelle Duverger is an award-winning visual artist whose painting and immersive interactive installations have been presented throughout the US, Asia, and Europe, including such places as New York’s St. John the Divine Cathedral, Fabra i Coats in Barcelona, and Hong Kong City Hall. She makes public art with projection mapping on buildings, projection art for theater and dance, video art, and animation.
This immersive, interactive installation is a sensory voyage that captures the surreal nature of dreams, where the line is blurred between the physical and the digital world, between the real and the imaginary. Dream-e-scape explores the concept of lucid dreaming, the sleep state in which we become aware we are dreaming and have the ability to control the dream and gain agency over our thoughts and desires. We are testing reality: Are we awake?
Laia Cabrera is an award-winning filmmaker and video artist based in New York, working in installation art and new cinema. Her work explores new ways of using space and the visual imaginary as a tool for narrative storytelling and audience connection, merging cinematic arts, dance, music, theater, and digital and interactive arts. With Isabelle Duverger, she co-founded Laia Cabrera & Co., which created The Now, a 72-foot-long interactive digital film at Port Authority Bus Terminal, Times Square, New York.
Born in France and based in New York City, Isabelle Duverger is an award-winning visual artist whose painting and immersive interactive installations have been presented throughout the US, Asia, and Europe, including such places as New York’s St. John the Divine Cathedral, Fabra i Coats in Barcelona, and Hong Kong City Hall. She makes public art with projection mapping on buildings, projection art for theater and dance, video art, and animation.
An old Kuwaiti proverb known in many seafaring communities states that if more than one captain attempts to lead a ship, they’ll lead the crew to their deaths. In this installation, Alghanim uses digitized archival footage captured by Kuwait’s national television station from 1961 to 1979, along with her own recently captured video, to explore her community’s collaboration with the sea. The material travels across the multiple screens to create a visual poem that establishes the emotional context for historical narratives and brings archival engagement into a new framework.
Archival material provided by the Ministry of Information - State of Kuwait
Sound design by Aron Seels Marquez
Haya Alghanim is an artist and filmmaker based between New York City and Kuwait City. Her work engages the subjects of digital activism, collective intelligence and action, and the politics of art, and it has been exhibited at various international venues, including the Sharjah Art Foundation, Misk Art Institute, the Arab American National Museum, and Lothringer 13 Halle. Her feature film in development is supported by the Red Sea Film Festival Foundation, TorinoFilmLab, and the Royal Film Commission - Jordan.
An old Kuwaiti proverb known in many seafaring communities states that if more than one captain attempts to lead a ship, they’ll lead the crew to their deaths. In this installation, Alghanim uses digitized archival footage captured by Kuwait’s national television station from 1961 to 1979, along with her own recently captured video, to explore her community’s collaboration with the sea. The material travels across the multiple screens to create a visual poem that establishes the emotional context for historical narratives and brings archival engagement into a new framework.
Archival material provided by the Ministry of Information - State of Kuwait
Sound design by Aron Seels Marquez
Haya Alghanim is an artist and filmmaker based between New York City and Kuwait City. Her work engages the subjects of digital activism, collective intelligence and action, and the politics of art, and it has been exhibited at various international venues, including the Sharjah Art Foundation, Misk Art Institute, the Arab American National Museum, and Lothringer 13 Halle. Her feature film in development is supported by the Red Sea Film Festival Foundation, TorinoFilmLab, and the Royal Film Commission - Jordan.
Using one VR headset for two people, The Collider is an interactive story about a machine built to decode the mysteries of human relationships. The machine, on a mission to identify the invisible force that passes between people, throws people together much the way atoms are thrown together in the Large Hadron Collider. Guiding two people along a journey, it creates a moving choreography that becomes its own private spectacle within the heart of the machine. When you meet someone else, do you dominate, surrender, or create something beautiful together?
May Abdalla is an acclaimed director and artist known for using physical experience, technology, and storytelling in groundbreaking ways. After graduating from Cambridge University, she directed character-led documentary films, then in 2013, with Amy Rose, co-founded Anagram. The studio, dedicated to immersive storytelling through VR and AR, has won multiple awards. In 2021, with co-director Barry Gene Murphy, Abdalla won the Venice Film Festival’s Grand Jury Award for Best VR for Goliath: Playing with Reality.
Amy Rose is a celebrated director and maker, known for creating sensory stories that experiment with new technologies. With an MFA in directing from Edinburgh College of Art, she began as a documentary filmmaker, and in 2013, she co-founded Anagram studio, with May Abdalla. Anagram’s mission is nonfiction storytelling via creative use of immersive technologies and audience participation, and its work, such as The Collider (2019), has won international awards for its profound approach.
Using one VR headset for two people, The Collider is an interactive story about a machine built to decode the mysteries of human relationships. The machine, on a mission to identify the invisible force that passes between people, throws people together much the way atoms are thrown together in the Large Hadron Collider. Guiding two people along a journey, it creates a moving choreography that becomes its own private spectacle within the heart of the machine. When you meet someone else, do you dominate, surrender, or create something beautiful together?
May Abdalla is an acclaimed director and artist known for using physical experience, technology, and storytelling in groundbreaking ways. After graduating from Cambridge University, she directed character-led documentary films, then in 2013, with Amy Rose, co-founded Anagram. The studio, dedicated to immersive storytelling through VR and AR, has won multiple awards. In 2021, with co-director Barry Gene Murphy, Abdalla won the Venice Film Festival’s Grand Jury Award for Best VR for Goliath: Playing with Reality.
Amy Rose is a celebrated director and maker, known for creating sensory stories that experiment with new technologies. With an MFA in directing from Edinburgh College of Art, she began as a documentary filmmaker, and in 2013, she co-founded Anagram studio, with May Abdalla. Anagram’s mission is nonfiction storytelling via creative use of immersive technologies and audience participation, and its work, such as The Collider (2019), has won international awards for its profound approach.
In this VR documentary, you follow the footsteps of Kubo, a Korean writer strolling the streets of Seoul in 1934, when Korea was under Japanese occupation. Like an “ethno-detective,” you discover the city through press caricatures that mock the part of Korean society that is emerging from poverty and old customs and recklessly discovering the modernity and prosperity that has come with the occupation. Then you are confronted with another part of society, those who resist the occupation, as told through the story of a Korean athlete, whose resistance efforts are erased by censorship, but who goes on to win, in Berlin in 1936, Korea’s first Olympic medal.
Hayoun Kwon studied at France’s Le Fresnoy art school then co-founded Innerspace VR, one of the first virtual reality studios. Her work explores heritage and memory and the fragile balance between storytelling and interactivity, via documentaries, 360-degree fictions, and, until recently, video games. Her previous projects include one of the first VR documentaries, DMZ: Memories of No Man’s Land, and several installations for museums and art centers, such as Kubo Walks the City (2021), which was awarded at Tribeca Film Festival.
In this VR documentary, you follow the footsteps of Kubo, a Korean writer strolling the streets of Seoul in 1934, when Korea was under Japanese occupation. Like an “ethno-detective,” you discover the city through press caricatures that mock the part of Korean society that is emerging from poverty and old customs and recklessly discovering the modernity and prosperity that has come with the occupation. Then you are confronted with another part of society, those who resist the occupation, as told through the story of a Korean athlete, whose resistance efforts are erased by censorship, but who goes on to win, in Berlin in 1936, Korea’s first Olympic medal.
Hayoun Kwon studied at France’s Le Fresnoy art school then co-founded Innerspace VR, one of the first virtual reality studios. Her work explores heritage and memory and the fragile balance between storytelling and interactivity, via documentaries, 360-degree fictions, and, until recently, video games. Her previous projects include one of the first VR documentaries, DMZ: Memories of No Man’s Land, and several installations for museums and art centers, such as Kubo Walks the City (2021), which was awarded at Tribeca Film Festival.
Ernst Mo (an anagram of Monster) is a female delivery rider who works for a platform called Delivery Dancer in a fictitious version of Seoul that is a labyrinth of endlessly regenerating routes, under the control of a master algorithm called Dancemaster. From time to time, Ernst Mo arrives at points through which leak another possible world, perfectly identical to her own, inhabited by another entity, also identical, called En Storm. Delivery Dancer’s Sphere uses montage editing to smooth time and disrupt causality, so that routes multiply, characters die and reappear, and the world is rebuilt and written differently.
In her multifaceted art practice, Ayoung Kim decisively integrates geopolitics, mythology, technology, and futuristic iconography, and she retroactively seeks speculative time to infiltrate the present. She establishes connections between biopolitics and border controls, the memories of stones and virtual memories, and ancestral origins and imminent futures. The resulting narratives can take the form of video, moving image, VR, game simulation, sonic fiction, diagrams, and texts.
Ernst Mo (an anagram of Monster) is a female delivery rider who works for a platform called Delivery Dancer in a fictitious version of Seoul that is a labyrinth of endlessly regenerating routes, under the control of a master algorithm called Dancemaster. From time to time, Ernst Mo arrives at points through which leak another possible world, perfectly identical to her own, inhabited by another entity, also identical, called En Storm. Delivery Dancer’s Sphere uses montage editing to smooth time and disrupt causality, so that routes multiply, characters die and reappear, and the world is rebuilt and written differently.
In her multifaceted art practice, Ayoung Kim decisively integrates geopolitics, mythology, technology, and futuristic iconography, and she retroactively seeks speculative time to infiltrate the present. She establishes connections between biopolitics and border controls, the memories of stones and virtual memories, and ancestral origins and imminent futures. The resulting narratives can take the form of video, moving image, VR, game simulation, sonic fiction, diagrams, and texts.
Siren Speaks considers the emergence and disappearance of myths of mermaids and sirens as a way to examine hybrid bodies, between technological possibilities and new forms of humanity. Created as both a live audiovisual performance and a video installation, the work experiments with digital tools, methods of filming the body, and processing digital data as a sculpture. Siren Speaks emerged as a reflection on the Shakespearean character of Ophelia, the desire to imagine an afterlife where she is powerful, and the artist’s own fears stemming from an astrologer’s warning to her family when she was born that she should stay away from water. Through the embodiment of the myth of the siren, the artist creates a self-portrait that transforms the site of Ophelia’s demise, the water, as an extension of the body. An entity swimming in pixels.
Harshini J. Karunaratne is a Sri Lankan–Peruvian digital artist working at the intersections of film, theater, and technology. Her work has been shown at the FILE Festival in Sao Paulo, Burning Man in Black Rock City, Nevada, and Art Dubai. Based in Berlin, Karunaratne lectures at local universities on media theory and performance studies. She is also the organizer and lead curator for MANIFEST:IO, a symposium for new media and electronic art that launched in Berlin in February 2023.
Siren Speaks considers the emergence and disappearance of myths of mermaids and sirens as a way to examine hybrid bodies, between technological possibilities and new forms of humanity. Created as both a live audiovisual performance and a video installation, the work experiments with digital tools, methods of filming the body, and processing digital data as a sculpture. Siren Speaks emerged as a reflection on the Shakespearean character of Ophelia, the desire to imagine an afterlife where she is powerful, and the artist’s own fears stemming from an astrologer’s warning to her family when she was born that she should stay away from water. Through the embodiment of the myth of the siren, the artist creates a self-portrait that transforms the site of Ophelia’s demise, the water, as an extension of the body. An entity swimming in pixels.
Harshini J. Karunaratne is a Sri Lankan–Peruvian digital artist working at the intersections of film, theater, and technology. Her work has been shown at the FILE Festival in Sao Paulo, Burning Man in Black Rock City, Nevada, and Art Dubai. Based in Berlin, Karunaratne lectures at local universities on media theory and performance studies. She is also the organizer and lead curator for MANIFEST:IO, a symposium for new media and electronic art that launched in Berlin in February 2023.
#INFINITESINCE83 is an experimental short film that serves as an introspective examination of Hammad’s immigration from Saudi Arabia prior to Vision 2030 and his return during the socio-economic change. Through a collage of footage from his travels abroad and photos of his family, narrated by voice messages from his mother, the film is an immersive audiovisual experience that demonstrates the strong cultural roots that become embedded with immigrating travelers wherever they may go. The film’s title, #INFINITESINCE83, is a reference to the year of the artist’s birth, the pre-internet era, immortalized through the hashtag, the ubiquitous symbol of the participatory nature of Web 2.0.
Over fifteen years in film and TV production, Jeddah-based Mohammed Hammad has worked for MTV Arabia, MBC, and DMI; most recently he was creative director for Saudi’s electronic music festival MDLBEAST. Hammad creates immersive art films that navigate his upbringing in London and Paris while maintaining his cultural roots. His latest work, a musical comedy horror mash-up, Yallah, Yallah Beenah!, was selected for 21,39 Jeddah Arts and showcased at the Red Sea International Film Festival
#INFINITESINCE83 is an experimental short film that serves as an introspective examination of Hammad’s immigration from Saudi Arabia prior to Vision 2030 and his return during the socio-economic change. Through a collage of footage from his travels abroad and photos of his family, narrated by voice messages from his mother, the film is an immersive audiovisual experience that demonstrates the strong cultural roots that become embedded with immigrating travelers wherever they may go. The film’s title, #INFINITESINCE83, is a reference to the year of the artist’s birth, the pre-internet era, immortalized through the hashtag, the ubiquitous symbol of the participatory nature of Web 2.0.
Over fifteen years in film and TV production, Jeddah-based Mohammed Hammad has worked for MTV Arabia, MBC, and DMI; most recently he was creative director for Saudi’s electronic music festival MDLBEAST. Hammad creates immersive art films that navigate his upbringing in London and Paris while maintaining his cultural roots. His latest work, a musical comedy horror mash-up, Yallah, Yallah Beenah!, was selected for 21,39 Jeddah Arts and showcased at the Red Sea International Film Festival
The comedy adventure is about a young mute boy, Ali, who lives in a remote Saudi village, with his stern father and doting elder sister Siham, who is studying in a nearby city. His father takes him on a trip through their picturesque mountain valley, seeking to get him “cured” by the local doctor
Saudi writer and film director. He began his career in Canada with the “miniseries Haneen (2012)”. He won multiple awards in screenwriting and filmmaking, including the American Film Award for the screenplay The Little Bird, the Dutch Golden Eagle Award for the screenplay for The Investor, and the Saudi Film Festival Award for the film “The Little Bird.” Khaled participated in local and international film festivals after his first short film, “The Investor” (2017). He worked as a creative director with media institutions and companies and participated in writing feature-length films.
The comedy adventure is about a young mute boy, Ali, who lives in a remote Saudi village, with his stern father and doting elder sister Siham, who is studying in a nearby city. His father takes him on a trip through their picturesque mountain valley, seeking to get him “cured” by the local doctor
Saudi writer and film director. He began his career in Canada with the “miniseries Haneen (2012)”. He won multiple awards in screenwriting and filmmaking, including the American Film Award for the screenplay The Little Bird, the Dutch Golden Eagle Award for the screenplay for The Investor, and the Saudi Film Festival Award for the film “The Little Bird.” Khaled participated in local and international film festivals after his first short film, “The Investor” (2017). He worked as a creative director with media institutions and companies and participated in writing feature-length films.
In Recife, hometown of football legend Rivaldo, almost everyone is crazy about football. As it is overrun by the 2014 World Cup, it also faces enormous social problems and poverty.
Born in Recife, Brazil, Kleber Mendonça Filho premiered his first feature, Neighboring Sounds, at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2012. His second feature, Aquarius (2016), starring Sonia Braga, was in competition at Cannes and nominated for a César. In 2019, Bacurau, co-directed with Juliano Dornelles, won the Cannes Jury Prize. He is a film programmer for Instituto Moreira Salles in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo and the artistic director of Janela Internacional de Cinema do Recife.
In Recife, hometown of football legend Rivaldo, almost everyone is crazy about football. As it is overrun by the 2014 World Cup, it also faces enormous social problems and poverty.
Born in Recife, Brazil, Kleber Mendonça Filho premiered his first feature, Neighboring Sounds, at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2012. His second feature, Aquarius (2016), starring Sonia Braga, was in competition at Cannes and nominated for a César. In 2019, Bacurau, co-directed with Juliano Dornelles, won the Cannes Jury Prize. He is a film programmer for Instituto Moreira Salles in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo and the artistic director of Janela Internacional de Cinema do Recife.
On a busy, noisy high-traffic street corner in Alexandria, Egypt, a seemingly vacant corner lot surrounded by chain link fencing is the training site of Egypt’s most elite champions – female weightlifters. Zebiba (Arabic for “raisin”) has been training at the site for five years, since she was 9, following in the footsteps of Egypt’s most famous athletes of all time – including the first Arab, female, two-time Olympic medalist, Abeer Abdel Rahman, and World champion and Olympic athlete, Nahla Ramadan. Nahla’s father, the visionary Captain Ramadan, has bred champions, female champions, from his makeshift corner–lot training site for over two decades – 4 Olympic, 9 World and 17 Pan African champions. Now it is Zebiba’s turn. But can Zebiba put aside her youthful instincts, and direct her focus to be the weightlifting champion the Captain is sure she is?
An Egyptian filmmaker and the founder of Cléo Media for production and impact distribution in Alexandria. After studying Telecommunications & Electronics Engineering in Alexandria University, she studied filmmaking in the Jesuits Film workshop. Then she received the Fulbright scholarship and studied cinema and media studies in Wellesley College and Innovations in Documentary in MIT in 2011/2012 in the US. She is the recipient of Film Independent's Global Media Makers Fellowship in 2017 and 2019. She’s also an alumna of Berlinale Talents, Mediterranean Film Institute, Documentary Campus Masterschool, DOX BOX and the American Film Showcase documentary program in USC School of Cinematic Arts. Mayye is a film director, producer, director of photography and editor.
On a busy, noisy high-traffic street corner in Alexandria, Egypt, a seemingly vacant corner lot surrounded by chain link fencing is the training site of Egypt’s most elite champions – female weightlifters. Zebiba (Arabic for “raisin”) has been training at the site for five years, since she was 9, following in the footsteps of Egypt’s most famous athletes of all time – including the first Arab, female, two-time Olympic medalist, Abeer Abdel Rahman, and World champion and Olympic athlete, Nahla Ramadan. Nahla’s father, the visionary Captain Ramadan, has bred champions, female champions, from his makeshift corner–lot training site for over two decades – 4 Olympic, 9 World and 17 Pan African champions. Now it is Zebiba’s turn. But can Zebiba put aside her youthful instincts, and direct her focus to be the weightlifting champion the Captain is sure she is?
An Egyptian filmmaker and the founder of Cléo Media for production and impact distribution in Alexandria. After studying Telecommunications & Electronics Engineering in Alexandria University, she studied filmmaking in the Jesuits Film workshop. Then she received the Fulbright scholarship and studied cinema and media studies in Wellesley College and Innovations in Documentary in MIT in 2011/2012 in the US. She is the recipient of Film Independent's Global Media Makers Fellowship in 2017 and 2019. She’s also an alumna of Berlinale Talents, Mediterranean Film Institute, Documentary Campus Masterschool, DOX BOX and the American Film Showcase documentary program in USC School of Cinematic Arts. Mayye is a film director, producer, director of photography and editor.
My Vibe is a film directed by Faiza Ambah, released in 2021, and lasts 35 minutes. The film addresses daily life issues for marginalized and oppressed communities. It presents a reading of the reality of the place and refers to cinema as an expressive form of a different existence of this forgotten life. It is worth noting that My Vibe achieved success, won the “Tuwaiq Mountain” Award at the Saudi Film Festival, and participated in other festivals such as the Sharjah Film Festival, the Bahrain Film Festival, and the Casablanca Arab Film Festival.
Fayza Ambah is a Saudi director and screenwriter. She was born in the city of Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. She began her career in the film industry in 2010. She presented several short narrative and documentary films that were shown at prestigious international film festivals. Among her most prominent works are the films “Shatha Al-Riyah” (2013), “January” (2013), “The Rain” (2018), and “The Voice of the Angel” (2021). Fayza Amba is considered one of the prominent female figures in the Saudi film industry and seeks to develop and strengthen the film sector in the Kingdom.
My Vibe is a film directed by Faiza Ambah, released in 2021, and lasts 35 minutes. The film addresses daily life issues for marginalized and oppressed communities. It presents a reading of the reality of the place and refers to cinema as an expressive form of a different existence of this forgotten life. It is worth noting that My Vibe achieved success, won the “Tuwaiq Mountain” Award at the Saudi Film Festival, and participated in other festivals such as the Sharjah Film Festival, the Bahrain Film Festival, and the Casablanca Arab Film Festival.
Fayza Ambah is a Saudi director and screenwriter. She was born in the city of Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. She began her career in the film industry in 2010. She presented several short narrative and documentary films that were shown at prestigious international film festivals. Among her most prominent works are the films “Shatha Al-Riyah” (2013), “January” (2013), “The Rain” (2018), and “The Voice of the Angel” (2021). Fayza Amba is considered one of the prominent female figures in the Saudi film industry and seeks to develop and strengthen the film sector in the Kingdom.
“Saleeg” is an exciting and suspenseful film directed by Afnan Bawyan, released in 2023, with the duration of the film being 10 minutes. It tells the story of an old woman named Hajar and her lonely life in the city of Jeddah. After her children left for different reasons, Hajar became accustomed to having her eldest son visit her, accompanied by her granddaughter Lulu, who loves the Saleeg dish. On the day they were expected to visit, an unpleasant surprise occurred in the form of a phone call from her son apologizing for not coming due to an emergency. Hajar prepares the saleeg as usual, but she is exposed to a funny and unexpected incident when birds accidentally enter the kitchen while she is on the phone. Rice falls from the boiling pot and starts piling up, causing a flood and endangering her home. Hajar lives in a state of difficulty and isolation, as she lives in a neighborhood that has become empty of its residents and inhabited by communities of different nationalities. The film is a stop-motion animation that took approximately ten months of production time, reflecting the dedication and hard work invested into developing the film and visualizing the director’s vision in the best way possible.
A Saudi director and screenwriter known for her first film Saleeg (2023). Bawyan is currently developing her first feature film, “City Photographer.” This film is expected to explore other issues in Saudi society and enhance communication and mutual understanding between people. “Bawyan” seeks to present films that inspire and spark discussion in Saudi Arabia and worldwide.
“Saleeg” is an exciting and suspenseful film directed by Afnan Bawyan, released in 2023, with the duration of the film being 10 minutes. It tells the story of an old woman named Hajar and her lonely life in the city of Jeddah. After her children left for different reasons, Hajar became accustomed to having her eldest son visit her, accompanied by her granddaughter Lulu, who loves the Saleeg dish. On the day they were expected to visit, an unpleasant surprise occurred in the form of a phone call from her son apologizing for not coming due to an emergency. Hajar prepares the saleeg as usual, but she is exposed to a funny and unexpected incident when birds accidentally enter the kitchen while she is on the phone. Rice falls from the boiling pot and starts piling up, causing a flood and endangering her home. Hajar lives in a state of difficulty and isolation, as she lives in a neighborhood that has become empty of its residents and inhabited by communities of different nationalities. The film is a stop-motion animation that took approximately ten months of production time, reflecting the dedication and hard work invested into developing the film and visualizing the director’s vision in the best way possible.
A Saudi director and screenwriter known for her first film Saleeg (2023). Bawyan is currently developing her first feature film, “City Photographer.” This film is expected to explore other issues in Saudi society and enhance communication and mutual understanding between people. “Bawyan” seeks to present films that inspire and spark discussion in Saudi Arabia and worldwide.
Maryam Khayyat is a talented Saudi writer and animation producer known for her works in contemporary Arabic fiction and novels. She directed and produced the film “Menace from Above” (2023) and produced the Saudi short film “Saleeg” (2023). Her other works include novels and short stories that explore different themes and give a unique look at life and humanity. Through her film “Menace from Above,” Maryam Khayyat hopes to inspire readers and provoke their thoughts about the challenges we face in a world full of mysteriousness and danger.
A Saudi writer and animation producer known for directing and producing the film “The Menace From Above” (2023). She produced the Saudi short film “Saleeg” (2023). Her other works include short films that explore different themes and give a unique look at life and humanity.
Maryam Khayyat is a talented Saudi writer and animation producer known for her works in contemporary Arabic fiction and novels. She directed and produced the film “Menace from Above” (2023) and produced the Saudi short film “Saleeg” (2023). Her other works include novels and short stories that explore different themes and give a unique look at life and humanity. Through her film “Menace from Above,” Maryam Khayyat hopes to inspire readers and provoke their thoughts about the challenges we face in a world full of mysteriousness and danger.
A Saudi writer and animation producer known for directing and producing the film “The Menace From Above” (2023). She produced the Saudi short film “Saleeg” (2023). Her other works include short films that explore different themes and give a unique look at life and humanity.
Coffee! follows the harrowing journey of a young woman named Suhad, whose life is plagued by relentless nightmares as a result of her stressful lifestyle and chronic insomnia. The boundaries between reality and the world of dreams blur, entangling Suhad in a treacherous web of distorted perceptions. In this tumultuous landscape of dreams, the laws of physics give way to strange occurrences as the signals of the various elements collide inexplicably, sometimes sharply.
Coffee! follows the harrowing journey of a young woman named Suhad, whose life is plagued by relentless nightmares as a result of her stressful lifestyle and chronic insomnia. The boundaries between reality and the world of dreams blur, entangling Suhad in a treacherous web of distorted perceptions. In this tumultuous landscape of dreams, the laws of physics give way to strange occurrences as the signals of the various elements collide inexplicably, sometimes sharply.
