Art Alert: 6th Cairo Video Festival

Ahram Online , Monday 3 Nov 2014

The 6th edition of Cairo's video art and experimental film festival will run between 8-20 November

Medrar Video Festival
5th Cairo Video Festival (Photo: Courtesy of Medrar)

For the 6th edition of the Cairo Video Festival, organisers at Medrar for Contemporary Art found inspiration in the string of power outages that gripped Egypt in recent months.

"A generator offers an alternative to keep life in motion. Similarly, we are hoping through the festival to create alternative channels, which can assimilate the creative energy bursting in the region despite the difficult production conditions," the contemporary art platform announced yesterday. 

The festival will run between 8 and 20 November and will hold screenings across three venues: Medrar, Zawya Cinema and Gezira Art Centre. On each day, between 8 and 12 films from a range countries will be screened. Participating countries include Poland, the US, Egypt, Palestine, Germany, France, Slovakia, Italy, Sweden, Kuwait, Chile and Cuba.  

The festival screens video art and experimental films submitted by international as well as local artists, with a focus on showcasing new talents. It is also meant to promote video as an art forum among Egyptian audiences, a medium that remains familiar to only a small segment of art buffs.   

Alongside the screenings, festival organisers have invited a number of producers, distributors and curators to create a platform for aspiring video artists to meet experts in the industry. A number of workshops will also run throughout the festival, laying the groundwork for Medrar's upcoming project, a Video and Experimental Film School. 

Since 2005, Medrar has hosted festivals and workshops, provided a collaborative space for a growing movement of media artists and disseminated audio-visual material documenting the local contemporary art scene through its three core projects: the festival, Open Lab Egypt and Medrar TV.

Opening: Saturday 8 November at Gezira Art Centre
Daily programs and exhibitions: 8-20 November, except Fridays
Full program: here.

Screening venues:

Medrar for Contemporary Art
7 Gamal El-Din Abou El-Mahasen St., Garden City

Gezira Art Centre
1 Al-Sheikh Al-Marsafi St., Zamalek

Zawya Cinema
Cinema Odeon, Downtown

 

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