The expanded 8th Cairo Video Festival (CVF) will run for 24 days, from 5 to 28 February, with a program of screenings and an exhibition, at four different venues.

CVF opened on Monday with a live video performance by Japanese artist Masayuki Kawai at Rawabet Theatre.

This year 119 works will be showcased, from 63 countries, selected by artists and the following jury members: Egyptian artist Muhammed Hassan Shawky, Ghassan Salhab from Lebanon, and Jeroen Kooijmans from the Netherlands.

The programme is divided into 9 curated sections, which are screened across the duration of the festival. Some sections are divided into two parts that will be screened on different days.

The programme's sections include: It's Too Hot to Think, which features 11 films, CINEVID Theatre with 14 films, Attention Span with seven films, /ˈstɛrʌɪl/ with 14 films, Three Questions About Contemporary Visual Alphabet with eight films, Worthy Appearances with 10 films, Inevitable Overlaps with eight films, The Mesh with four films and Rethinking Poor Images with five films.

Persistence of Vision, The Traverse and Forgiven Time are three other sections, with films that will be part of the exhibitions at Medrar and 29 Hoda Shaarawy, running daily from 3pm to 9pm except Fridays.

A number of special parallel events are also part of CVF. These include ‘Running 15 minutes late’ a lecture performance by Merve Ünsal and Serkan Özkaya on the relationship between work and the production process to be held on 9 February.

A presentation and round table titled Videofreex will be led by Zachary Vanes, the distribution manager of Video Data Bank -- a leading resource in the US for video by and about contemporary artists.

The presentation will take place at the French Institute on 23 February, and will focus on vanishing archives and video preservation. Vanes will look at the Video Data Bank’s project of handling a massive archive of 1970s videos from the US-based Videofreex film collective, which are recorded on now-obsolete formats and range in subject from installations, multimedia events, artists’ tapes and performances, to behind-the-scenes coverage of national politics and alternative culture.

The festival can also be experienced online, including ‘Please Try Again Later’ -- an online video program available at m-est.org during the festival. The organisers will also make available Medrar’s online archive of video works submitted since 2005.

Programme:

Wednesday 8 February, 7pm
It's Too Hot to Think - 64’ 
CINEVID Theatre - 47’
At Zawya

Thursday 9 February, 7pm
‘Running 15 minutes late’ a lecture performance by Merve Ünsaland Serkan Özkaya
At 29 Hoda Shaarawy

Saturday 11 February, 7pm
Attention Span - 66’
/ˈstɛrʌɪl/ - 64’
At Zawya

Sunday 12 February, 7pm 
Three Questions About Contemporary Visual Alphabet - 39’
-Worthy Appearances - 83’
At Zawya

Tuesday 14 February, 7pm 
Worthy Appearances - 83’
/ˈstɛrʌɪl/ - 67’
At French Institute

Thursday 16 February, 7pm 
It's Too Hot to Think - 85’ 
Inevitable Overlaps - 53’
At French Institute

Tuesday, 21 February, 7pm
CINEVID Theatre - 68’
Inevitable Overlaps - 51’
At French Institute

Thursday 23, February, 7pm 
The Mesh - 11’
Rethinking Poor Images - 32’
At French Institute

Thursday, 23 February, 5pm
Videofreex
At French Institute

Venues:

Medrar for Contemporary Art
7 Gamal El Din Abou El Mahasen St., 1st Floor, Apartment 4, Garden City, Cairo

29 Hoda Sharawy, (Al-Ismailia Company)
29 Hoda Sharawy St., 3rd Floor, Downtown, Cairo

Zawya
behind Odeon Cinema, 4 Abdel Hamid Said, off Talaat Harb St, Downtown, Cairo

Institut Français
1 Madresset El Huquq El Frinseya St., El Mounira, Downtown Cairo

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