Perhaps what attracts Arab and Western film critics’ attention to Arab films, is how they resemble a reality happening locally and known internationally, or at least that’s what I imagine. Critical essays, at their best, are limited with the films’ stories and their social/political signification, neglecting aesthetics and form and how both can be incorporated in a treatment of a certain reality. Accordingly, the cinematic effort is devoid of any artistic elements, and is considered a mirror reflecting the paths of certain characters in a society. This perception of Arab films, locally and internationally, can be counted as a result of a decades-long prevalence of naturalism in most of the films produced in the region;  development of style was seldom an objective for Arab directors, which led to widespread stereotyping in most of the produced films. 

Through this workshop, we will focus on a group of directors who voluntarily chose to be on the margins of mainstream and institutionalized cinema, and made films in which cinema as an art form had the most pivotal role. Films that question the art form without formality, and collide with the prevailing anecdotage of Arab films. This choice stems from a belief in the importance of exposition to cinematic experiments that have not gained publicity due to the radical aesthetic choices taken to realize them. These films can be considered cinema in opposition, if we agree that opposition in art questions its form.

The programme:
- Bidoun 2 by Jilani Saâdi - 16 August
Fiction - Tunisia - Tunisian dialect with Arabic subtitles - 2014 - 92min

- 1958 by Ghassan Salhab - 17 August
Fiction - Lebanon - Arabic with English subtitles - 2009 - 66min

- Rome Rather Than You by Tariq Teguia - 18 August
Fiction - Algeria - Algerian dialect with Arabic subtitles - 2008 - 111min

- Microphone by Ahmed Abdullah - 19 August
Fiction - Egypt - Arabic with English subtitles - 2010 - 122min

- Thirst by Tawfik Abu Wael - 20 August
Fiction - Palestine - Arabic with English subtitles - 2004 - 109min