What do we do with the rifts in our organization of peripheral knowledge?

What is a film that stutters?

If dialogue is a means of connection, what happens when it breaks down? 

Can we produce image-sound sequences without a certain subject?

Is it possible to understand the artist’s search for information aesthetically?

Is the experience that places hold, and not places per se, representable?

 

This edition presents 9 programs. Together, they capture the spirit of formal and conceptual playfulness that has accompanied Cairo Video Festival since its inaugural edition 14 years ago. In collaboration with local artists, filmmakers and writers, Cairo Video Festival highlights the most recent global video art and experimental film productions.

 

The official selection, a total of 101 video works produced after January 2017, will hit the city in the fall, like the seasonal locust swarm, inspiring a continuity of working and experimenting in the field. Through the open call, we received 783 video submissions,  our team then preselected a number of works which were sent to the Selection and Programmers Committee. The eight members selected 76 video works from more than 30 countries, and, by way of interlocution with the works, created programs including: a workshop, a performance and a podcast, and invited additional video works. The invited works include 4 new works, that are specifically produced for the festival’s 9th edition, by Mohamed El Maghraby, Mostafa El-Baroody, Rikke Benborg and Shoto Hayakawa. All videos have Arabic and English subtitles wherever intended.

 

Video’s excessive transformations have indeed altered the way we see and perceive reality. Each program contains a selection that will be screened and installed across the city, extending video art and experimental film to different publics. In addition to online venues, programs will be screened amongst venues such as public vitrines, bookstores and community spaces, to promote, expand and harvest attention to the practice. Audiences will be moving between the different spaces as they see fit. Every work is related – on its own terms – with other works in the program, but every iteration stands alone as a singular experience. For a Traceur (a person who takes part in the activity of Parkour or free running), Parkour is a personal voyage created by efficient and effective movement through an area. Despite Parkour’s self-contained nature, the Traceur will frequently attract an accidental crowd, thus expanding its reach to other fields.

 

As an attempt to delve deeper into visual media productions, Cairo Video Festival’s publication includes theoretical text contributions, including academic research and artistic proposals. The texts, some of which are excerpts of longer pieces, are regarded as a valuable contribution to moving image culture, as they accompany the programs, initiating dialogue and activating the official selection.

 

The works in this edition have been nominated and selected by the festival’s team, as well as the Selection and Programmers Committee, including: Ahmed Refaat, Alaa Abdelhamid, Islam Kamal, Mai Elwakil, Mona Gamil, Sarrah Abdelrahman and 96 negatives. The 9th edition contains reflections and input from contributors including Islam Shabana, Lara El Gibaly, Marwan Elgamal, Nour El Safoury, Samir El Kordy and Wael Abdel Fattah.

[flipbook pdf=https://www.cvf.medrar.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/9th-CVF-Catalogue.pdf]