AN ANAL ALOGUE E ZONE 3 3 OB OBJECTIVES Organized by - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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AN ANAL ALOGUE E ZONE 3 3

Organized by LaborBerlin and Cimatheque in partnership with LabA September - November 2013

Co Contact Lab Labor

• rBer

erlin Michel Balagué michel.balague@googlemail.com +49.160.966.251.61 Co Contact Ci Cimatheque Hana Al Bayaty hana@cimatheque.org +20.10.00.277.964

Analogue Zone is a eighteen months work in progress based on a celluloid film training program, involving more than 30 filmmakers, artists, and amateurs from Egypt, Germany, Greece and Lebanon. The program consists in a collective and collaborative reflection and production on the theme of Transitions - in its widest sense - whether political, cultural, social, economic, artistic, or aesthetic. “Analogue Zone 3” is the last phase and the culmination of the project. Following the workshops 1 and 2 that were organized throughout 2012 in Cairo and Berlin, it will take place over two months in Autumn 2013 and will include a two-week long film production session associated with performances held in Cairo, Athens and Berlin. Analogue Zone is based on the exchange between the stakeholders of the newly created Cimatheque Lab film laboratory, and two already existing analogue film laboratories, LaborBerlin (Berlin) and LabA (Athens). Each of these entities are specialized in cinema. They are considered pioneers in their respective countries, through their projects and culture, due to their support for independent filmmaking as an art form. LaborBerlin and LabA have

• rganized regular celluloid film trainings in various European countries,

Lebanon and in China for the past two years. OB OBJECTIVES Analogue Zone intends to engineer a collaborative reflection on the overall theme of Transitions, affecting each of these artistic communities, via collective analogue cinema experimentation and production. ! Provide alternative and independent means of expression for Egyptian artists in this transitional period. ! Promote the creation of a sustainable venue for independent analogue filmmaking in Egypt through a partnership with the Lab film laboratory at Cimatheque's premises (Cairo), also serving regional needs. ! Initiate a deeper understanding between European and Arab artists and filmmakers through collective artistic reflection and production. ! Experiment collaborative, trans disciplinary and multi cultural film production and expose Egyptian filmmakers/artists to their regional and international counterparts. ! Create a multi cultural network based on strong transnational and trans border experiences and connections between German, Greek and Egyptian filmmakers and artists by working collectively on the production of films and art pieces. ! Provide the technical equipment and the mentoring support for independent and low budget capacity to shoot, develop and screen in film material in Egypt, thereby supporting the creation of a new aesthetic proposal and paradigm of production. ! Create an online open platform consisting of a website working as a hub for analogue independent film, able to incubate films, organize

• nline events such as film festivals, host open forums on celluloid

film practices favoring cultural dialogue amongst various artistic communities.

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DE DESCRI CRIPTION N Analogue Zone 3 will take place throughout three phases: Pr Production: A two week long production workshop will be held at Cimatheque’s premises with 16 participants. It will result in the production of around 16 short films in Super 8 and 16mm. Ex Exhibi bitions: : The short films produced during the workshop and the productions of the two previous Analogue Zone sessions will be screened during a three-day long festival including panel discussions, performances and installations. The festival will tour in Cimatheque (Cairo), LabA (Athens) and LaborBerlin (Germany). Pu Publications: The Analogue Zone project will be documented through the publication of a DVD compiling the works produced during the process, along with a small booklet presenting the films. A bilingual (English/Arabic) technical tool kit on analogue film making, processing and projecting will be created and made available online under creative commons licensing thereby at the disposal of others. Pr Production The workshop will be implemented under the supervision of two artistic directors identified among the Egyptian and the German partners. It will host 4 Greek, 5 German and 7 Egyptian participants at the Lab located in Cimatheque’s premises in Cairo. The latter is equipped with celluloid and film material, 8mm and 16mm cameras, a lomo tank, a moviola editing facility, and projectors. Over two weeks and with the assistance of the two artistic directors, the participants will go through the different phases of preparation, production and post-production of a short film. They will work by pair, each person developing his/her own project and simultaneously assisting the project of his/her counterpart. The collaboration between the pairs will start ahead of the workshop through exchanges on Skype and by email. The workshop will also include several closed-door discussions, screenings, and presentation

• f the work previously produced by the participants.

During the shooting, 5 producers assistants will be appointed in order to assist the participants in the production. In continuity with the first two phases of the project, the Egyptian trainees who took part to Analogue Zone 1 and 2 will be invited to take part to this particular phase, whether it is as main participants or as producers assistants. This intensive two-week session will result in the production of 16 individual films and installations revolving around the theme of Transitions. They will document and bear witness to the initial questionings and responses of a generation of artists to the transition taking place in the region, and particularly Cairo. It will stand as an act of memory, capable of being revisited as an archive, which will have captured a state of mind responding to issues being raised at the very beginning of this historical process. Selection process While Analogue Zone 1 and 2 were aiming at training beginners to Super 8 and 16mm techniques, the third phase of the project will focus on the production and exhibition of short films by practitioners who already have an experience in working with this format. Analogue Zone’s initiative encompasses a multidisciplinary approach that promotes exchange and dialogue between various artistic practices. Emphasis will be made on the collaboration between the Analogue technique and other fields indirectly related to filmmaking, such as music and sound, writing, painting, and performing arts. In this framework, the workshop will be

• pened to artists belonging to these fields. They will bring with them new

skills that will enrich and diversify the artistic content of the films produced. Within a flexible framework that will allow them to work in pair with one or

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several filmmakers, they will also get assistance in the realization of their own film project. Ex Exhibi bitions The exhibition will tour between Cairo, Athens and Berlin, presenting a selection of the films shot during the entire Analogue Zones project, with a focus on the productions completed during the last workshop. In line with the project’s multidisciplinary approach, the screenings will be mixed with performances and installations. Panel discussions with the artists and filmmakers who took part to the project will be held as well as lectures from invited guest (critics, programmers...) around the following themes: ! Transition between analogue and digital ! Different systems of production ! Collaboration work in art and (experimental) filmmaking. ! Exchange within-between Europe and the Arab world. ! A small introduction of the production system from the other countries taking part to the project. Locat Location:

• n: The exhibition will take place at Cimatheque in Cairo, in Athens at

the national Cinematheque and in open air spaces, as well as in the Arsenal Institute for Film and Video Art in Berlin, benefitting from its extensive network and influence within the cinema and cultural fields, thereby ensuring great visibility and attraction for the produced films. Pu Publications The publications will document the overall Analogue Zones process and contribute to building an analogue community in Cairo and in the Arab region. Bilingual toolkit for practitioners To support and sustain the technical knowledge acquired throughout the workshops, a toolkit on the different equipment and knowhow required for analogue filmmaking will be written and translated in English and Arabic. In its printed version, it will be spread in Cimatheque and among similar entities in the region. The toolkit will also be uploaded on an online platform created during the project, alongside with video tutorials and texts collected from

• ther websites and translated into Arabic. This documentation will be the

start of an encompassing database of tutorials emanating from the constant collective updating of different tests and experiments’ results carried out during and after the workshops. Archive Following the completion of Analogue Zones, a booklet will be published that will provide documentation for the entire program. It will includes a presentation of the project’s different phaes, texts from the lectures held during the exhibitions, a description of the different films and art pieces produced during the project and the programs from the different screenings. A focus will be made on the works made during Analogue Zones 3. A DVD compiling a selection of the films will accompany the booklet. Online activity – Creation of a Website An active bi-lingual online open platform, via a website functioning as a hub for independent analogue filmmaking will be created. It will be able to incubate and publicize films and happenings, host online events such as film festivals, host discussions forums specialized in analogue film issues and a bilingual online toolkit on technicalities and knowhow surrounding analogue and celluloid film material, in addition to a database of tutorials in Arabic that will be regularly updated by the practitioners.