6th Cairo Video Festival 

Video Art and Experimental Films 2014

Generator

In 2013 we released “The Swarm”, and like seasonal locust swarms flocking the city every fall, it’s time for our Annual Cairo Video Festival, titled “Generator”.

The generator is a survival mechanism we are becoming more and more acquainted with and dependent upon, due to the constant power cuts in Egypt the past couple of years. It’s almost ironic that the same times that impose restrictions on cultural productions, are those that witness a talent “boom”, based on the resurrection of human conscience and self/other awareness. In times of cuts, alternative ways should be smartly considered.

 

Medrar for Contemporary Art launched the Cairo Video Festival in 2005 with a vision to highlight experiments in a medium that was immersed in Egypt. For an artist collective interested in the moving image, and particularly video art, the festival seemed like an ideal platform to bring in, collectively watch and discuss productions from around the world. Now, launching the festival’s sixth edition, and a broader vision reflected in the subtitle: Video Art and Experimental Film.

Over the past few years, local filmmakers and visual artists have been experimenting with breaking the familiar boundaries of the two mediums, mixing concepts and characteristics of video art with filmmaking techniques and genres. Some creatively telling the stories of disenfranchised communities while filming in Super 8. Others translate their artistic concepts through the medium of film; sound artists composing, performing and filming for the screen instead of playing live, sculptors projecting looped video of 3D models rather than exhibiting the physical objects, artists presenting critiques of performance-based industries via scripted film instead of live performance. Among many other signifiers of how much the practices of filmmakers and visual artists in Egypt are converging, overlapping and building off one another.

The 6th Cairo Video Festival seeks to highlight these experiments side by side with those in animation, documentary, video painting and more. Our vision is to narrow the perceived gaps between these genres, as well as the groups of artists and respective audiences because in reality they have become very close. We hope that the festival would build people’s interest in experimental filmmaking and become a platform for all those engaging with the medium of film. And while this might not be a new proposition in many parts of the world, we do believe that such clear-cut distinctions and divisions persist in Egypt. The Cairo Video Festival could thus play a role in opening up the field, especially since it is organized as an international competition rather than a geographically-focused, genre-based or thematically curated program.

For the 6th edition of Cairo Video Festival we are planning to expand and extend, joining forces with other venues for a broader screening space, creating opportunity for a maximized experience for our audience within the festival’s duration. We also plan for a larger scale workshop in advance of the festival, as a step towards launching our Video School.

One of our added missions through “Generator” is to enhance the immersion and start-up culture in the fields of video and experimental film production and curatorial practice. Creating an entrepreneur summit; that brings together international curators and rising artists, with immersing and rising local talent.Among the objectives is recreating and refreshing existing networks, broadening the scope and vision, and granting opportunities through direct exposure.

 

Hundreds of applications came in response to the festival’s open call last year. And the Medrar team, along with a specialized selection jury, handpicked 166 films and video works to be shown through the screening program and three alternating exhibitions over the course of two weeks. The two guiding selection criteria have been distinction and diversity. Films from Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon were shown side by side with American and Western European productions, but also a selection was made from China, Korea, Nepal, the Balkan countries, South America and Africa. The diversity was also evident in the visions, artistic languages, approaches and techniques used by the artists. We wanted to highlight and share the vision of what artists and filmmakers are currently engaging with.

Several film production and distribution companies and institutions have contributed to our quest, and we have invited them to present their work and discuss their model of supporting experimental filmmakers. The list included AV-arkki, The Distribution Centre for Finnish Media Art,LIMA, Netherlands, and Videographer, Canada.

We hope to “Generate” enough power to recharge our art scene, and add yet another dimension to understanding contemporary filmmaking, and that the festival’s program would broaden our perceptions and definitions of what constitutes art films.