Motion pictures are a strong tool of communication within which society can express social, political and economic narratives. Being associated with the built environment, it has a great impact on social communication from and within public spaces.
The 21st century has witnessed, and still is, constant transformations in major cities around the world as a result of some familiar phenomena such as globalization and phases of economic and social crisis. There has been an increased recognition to re think the way cities should re-structure themselves around these continuous changes, and from here emerged the notion of how creativity can encompass an urban catalytic characteristic to provide alternative solutions to several urban issues.
What Happened to Public Spaces?
Public spaces’ roles are gradually being diminished as “social outlets that enhance the general well-being of collective society”. Specifically in post-revolutionary cities like Cairo, the role of public spaces have undergone dramatic transformations within two poles: On one hand, the installation of security and surveillance methods to prevent even the simplest acts of peaceful expressions thereby “militarization” of space. On the other hand, the erection of new developments mostly on the suburban regions of the city as a response to the state’s adoption strategies of neoliberalism. Within both contexts, citizens’ relations to space have become increasingly vague and, in some cases, socially corrupt, thus the image of the city, which is a direct social product of such relationship, is now distorted.
This image of the city is considered to be one of the social foundations for a creative city because it is one of the tools for a creative milieu. Citizens living within a city have the ability to maximize their skills and potentials to reclaim their relationship with the city by coming together and enhancing a network of soft infrastructure that can be implemented within public spaces. As today public arenas have become a tension field between private entities and state power, they should be able to counter act via free emergence of “society’s inner contradictions…and, where people could begin to deal with these contradictions”.
Why Cinema? And Why the Streets?
Cinema is a visual tool that mirrors society onto the big screen, achieving a visual triumph in setting up a relation between society, its environments and spaces and the political and social surrounding framework. Since the turn of the 20th century, cinema has become a strong visual intervention tool within politics and culture.
Such visual material has been enclosed within theaters and allowed access to certain privileged social classes. Cinema has become a commodity being sold to the audience for a valuable price for the sake of maximized profits. Such enclosed theaters, which happened to be enclosed within huge malls which happened to be enclosed within larger commercial complexes, have replaced public spaces and have diminished the role of the public in expressing their voices out loud. Recent attempts have taken place to reclaim public spaces via street art, e.g. graffiti, “where a sense of belonging and dialogue restore [public space] to a meaningful place”. From here emerges the proposal of the possibility of cinema acting as an art form for the public, giving a revolutionary status to public space, i.e. a counterpoint to the top-down approaches of authorities, either from the private sector or governmental bodies.
"Film is a reflection of society, both past and present….[it] has become a powerful vehicle for culture, education, leisure and propaganda" - TOM SHERAK
Setting the Scene: Post-Revolution Cairo
During the uprising in January 2011, Tahrir Square has become an iconic image of resistance and opposition to the old regime. The public gatherings that took place within the square were triggers for new political and social ideologies that drove the people towards a new level of self-organization. Since public space “plays an important role in understanding socio-political changes occurring within the rapidly transforming Cairene society”, and since cinema is probably the best artistic medium that can capture such changes, it is therefore necessary to consider cinema as an artistic intervention that can develop a strong sense of creativity and innovation resulting from the interactive social exchange of thoughts and alternatives.
The revolution sparked a number of artistic interventions within the street walls ranging from street graffiti to film screens. Tahrir Cinema, an independent revolutionary project, aimed to offer a space in Downtown and view archival footage of the ongoing events to the various classes of society. Towards the final days of the uprising, independent filmmakers have withdrawn themselves from enclosed theaters, “avoiding the state owned spaces to open new avenues for creativity”.
Another project called Cinema Shareana – Our Street Cinema in Arabic – addresses the public’s right to reclaim the streets via evening screenings. Though it does not encompass a revolutionary context, it does aim to strengthen the community by bringing them together, eventually, according to the project’s curator, “the community itself must be the curators and managers of this initiative….because it’s theirs, the people’s project”.
In conclusion, cinematic interventions have the ability to physically transform a certain space into a creative one that can pump out ideas and solutions. Thus, by laying the foundations for the emergence of a creative milieu, and also removing bureaucratic obstacles enforced by governmental and private bodies, the city is able once again to restore the public realm. Like street graffiti, cinema should first be detached from closed theaters, and also be able to address critical social, political and urbanistic issues.
The following article will explore the underlying creative meaning of outdoor screening.
Do you think it is possible for cinema to revive the right to the city in Cairo? Do you have similar initiatives in your hometown? Please share your comments, ideas, thoughts, criticism, and/or any sort of information and/or interesting facts.
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