Since its founding in 1998, the El-Nahda Association for Scientific and Cultural Renaissance (the Cairo Jesuits) has built a reputation for its diverse educational and cultural programmes. Yet, as project director Mohamed Tarek points out, “cinema has always been one of our most prominent and influential pillars. It is the best recognised part of the Jesuits activities and the most deeply connected to its community.”
Over the years, the centre’s film activities have expanded geographically, reaching increasingly diverse audiences and evolving in both form and vision. This evolution, he stresses, was never just about keeping pace with technology, but about responding to people’s real needs.
That spirit carried into 2025, when Cairo Jesuits launched Films That Matter, a project Tarek describes as “a bold new step”, bringing together three interconnected components: the re-envisioning of the Upper Egypt Film School, the launch of the Jesuits Film Lab, and the creation of the Jesuits Industry Academy. He leads the project alongside filmmaker and Alexandria Jesuits graduate Maysoun Al-Masry, now deputy director. But, as he notes, these steps “stand on the shoulders of efforts that began more than twenty years ago.”
At 15 Al-Mahrani Street in the Cairo neighbourhood of Al-Faggala, just a short walk from the Collège de la Sainte Famille, Jesuit priest Father William Sedhom and his fellow cultural activists chose the association’s headquarters back in 1998. “The idea was simple,” Tarek recalls: “that everyone should have the right to learn film, writing, theatre, music, and photography.” The choice of building also carried symbolic weight: in 1937, it had housed Nassibian Studio, one of Egypt’s oldest film studios and the birthplace of some of the country’s greatest cinematic landmarks. That legacy, as Al- Masry puts it, “still lingers in the air. It’s part of what gives the Jesuits its spirit.”
By 2005, the association had established the Jesuits Cairo Film School, the first independent film school in Egypt. Father Sedhom entrusted its founding to young filmmaker Karim Hanafi, a member of the creative circle that helped shape Egypt’s new wave of independent cinema in the early 2000s. For its first decade, the school operated as an open workshop for young people, producing generations of graduates who went on to become actors, directors, producers, technicians, and critics. Those early years of experimentation and adventure led by filmmakers like Yasser Naeem and later Hani Sami, who carried on Hanafi’s vision of flexibility and mentorship rather than a rigid academic structure.
The second decade brought about change. Under the leadership of Marwa Abdallah, an academic, film programmer and cultural manager, the school adopted a more structured if still adaptable curriculum. From 2005 to 2025, 12 classes have graduated from it and the 13th is on its way. “That shift,” Al-Masry notes, “was crucial. It gave the school resilience, but without losing the human spirit that defines the Jesuits approach.”
Alongside the school, the Cairo Jesuits also built one of the city’s most renowned film clubs, among its oldest and most celebrated activities. More than a place for screenings and debates, the club became the base for Al-Film, a magazine founded in 2014, which has since become one of the most respected specialist publications on cinema and visual culture in Egypt today.
By 2016, the association had pushed further south, announcing the Documentary Film School in Assiut as a way to develop a more advanced, structured activity for Upper Egypt. This built on years of filmmaking workshops through Hekayat Al-Ganoub (Stories of the South), which had produced documentaries screened at the Jesuits Film Festival. That festival, as Tarek recalls, was “a pioneering platform for short films at a time when there was little space for such works.” Eventually, the festival’s touring programme across Upper Egypt was discontinued, as many workshop graduates began founding their own festivals in their governorates, “a sign that the seeds we planted had begun to grow,” Tarek says.
The Documentary Film School, later renamed the Upper Egypt Film School, marked the culmination of those efforts. Based first in Assiut and then relocated to Luxor, it drew students from across Minya, Assiut, and Sohag. Its first edition was led by acclaimed filmmaker Nadia Kamel, whose Salata Baladi (2007) remains a landmark of autobiographical documentary filmmaking. The second, in 2018, was led by Mustafa Al-Dali. From the very beginning, the school revealed new voices, men and women who have since become part of Upper Egypt’s film training scene.
For Tarek, this focus on access has always been the Jesuits’ mission: “making sure the tools of cinema, the language of storytelling, and the space for creativity reach those who wouldn’t otherwise have them.” The new project, Films That Matter, he explains, is the latest iteration of that mission: “An initiative that reimagines existing programmes while opening up new paths for Egypt’s next generation of filmmakers.”
The Cairo Jesuits’ new project, Films That Matter (2025–2027), funded by the Drosos Foundation, is built on the idea of creating a fully integrated environment for filmmaking, one that carries the filmmaker from their first steps in education through to the broadest ecosystem of the industry. As Tarek explains, “it’s a journey that begins with beginners in Upper Egypt, continues with the incubation of projects through the Film Lab, and expands into the wider sphere of the industry with the Industry Academy.”
The Upper Egypt Film School, a cornerstone of this project, builds on its two previous rounds of 2016 and 2018 while also adding new elements shaped by lessons from the ground. It now provides 500 hours of training over two years, through intensive workshops that cover every aspect of the craft: writing, directing, cinematography, sound, and editing. Students collaborate on five graduation films, ensuring everyone participates in every project. This year, the school is under the direction of filmmaker and screenwriter Yomna Khattab, and for the first time its curriculum goes beyond documentary to include fiction. “That was important,” Al-Masry notes, “because it reflects both the students’ ambitions and the broader creative possibilities of Upper Egypt.”
At the intermediate level comes the Jesuits Film Lab, an 18-month intensive programme aimed at filmmakers who already have a short film in development. Starting in early 2025, it will select 15 projects for full development, offering mentorship in writing, directing, cinematography, sound, editing and production management. Ten of these projects will ultimately receive production grants, with their filmmakers directing the resulting films. The Lab will accompany these works all the way, from concept to festival strategy and distribution, ensuring — in Tarek’s words — that “our films don’t just get made but also find their place in the world.”
The circle closes with the Jesuits Industry Academy, a two-year professional training track designed for those already working in the mediation side of cinema: criticism, programming, distribution, marketing, or festivals. Running from 2025 to 2027, it combines 500 hours of practical and theoretical learning across four semesters, with case studies and graduation projects tied to real productions. “These are the missing pieces in Egypt’s film education,” Tarek stresses, “because no one teaches distribution, PR, or marketing. But these are essential for a healthy film ecosystem.” Led by award-winning filmmaker and producer Ayman Al-Amir, the academy offers participants not just knowledge but access to networks across the region and beyond.
The roots of this collaboration go back to 2018, when the Cairo Jesuits entered its first three-year partnership with Drosos on Cinema for Development. That phase, as Tarek recalls, “supported the Cairo Film School, the Upper Egypt Film School — which had just launched in Assiut — and Al-Film magazine, plus a number of independent workshops.” But when that cycle ended, Drosos asked for new components. “That’s how Films That Matter was born,” he explains, “with the lab, the Industry Academy, and the development of Upper Egypt at its core.”
For Tarek, the difference between the two collaborations is clear: “The first was about freedom of expression — which remains essential — but now the focus is on the creative economy, on sustainability, turning creativity into livelihood.” He insists the relationship is not a donor–beneficiary one: “It’s an intellectual partnership. Drosos doesn’t work on a charity model, but empowers partners through trust, management support, and capacity building.” With an office in Cairo staffed by Egyptian professionals, the foundation has been able to adapt to local realities, a factor Tarek finds crucial.
The results, he adds, are visible: “Graduates in Upper Egypt are now running their own festivals, or opening cultural centres to teach film. That’s sustainability, not dependency — planting a seed and watching it grow.” It has also raised the Jesuits’ profile internationally. “Because of the professionalism we’ve developed, CinéFabrique in France chose us as executive producer of their Egypt-Tunisia-France school,” he says. “Today, Jesuits graduates can find real opportunities at home and abroad.”
Both he and Al-Masry stress that the curricula now deliberately bridge training and real work environments. Students learn how to prepare professional dossiers, pitch projects, and connect with production companies. In Upper Egypt, the previous three years expanded the school’s reputation, with more applicants than ever. But the human dimension remains central. As Tarek puts it, “we integrate humanities into the curriculum: vision, critical thinking and self-expression, not just technical skill. And the diversity of stories from Upper Egypt continues to enrich Egyptian cinema, breaking stereotypes.”
Al-Masry, for her part, agrees that the Industry Academy as filling a crucial gap: “There’s little training in the business side of cinema here. Our graduates will work directly on films coming from the Lab and Upper Egypt, closing the circle of the project.”
But both cultural workers acknowledge that sustainability is the real test. “The biggest question is how to survive without funding,” Tarek admits. The Cairo Film School, now running independently after support shifted, is the experiment. “If the Jesuits can sustain itself,” he says, “that will be the breakthrough that makes us a truly resilient institution.” He argues that the way forward must rely on Egyptian partners: “We need national money, support from inside the industry. The Jesuits is a non-profit, but it has to generate at least part of its own resources.”
For her part, Al-Masry frames the challenge differently: “The question has always been how to stay true to our vision without turning commercial. Some activities focus on income, others on accessibility. It’s about balance.” She adds that through working with Drosos, the Jesuits itself has learned to think differently: “We were dreamers who weren’t used to thinking in terms of management or long-term impact. They taught us that. And on their side, they came to understand our artistic vision more deeply. That’s partnership.”
Her personal connection is deeply felt. “As a graduate of the Alexandria Jesuits, I’ve always feared this experience might end. But the Jesuits was never just about learning a craft. It’s a human experience, about culture’s role in society. We realised we had to evolve to survive, but it will always remain something different from anything else.”
* A version of this article appears in print in the 28 August, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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