Caravan of Euro-Arab Cinema

CARAVAN OF EURO-ARAB CINEMA -

Promotion of European and Arab Cinema

Countries: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey

Project initiated in: 2006

Presented by: SEMAT for production and distribution

Partners: Institut du monde Arabe , Foundation Arab Film Festival , Pioneers production company

Project budget: EUR 2 071 442. 80% funded by the European Union

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//Context

Cinema has been recognised as a vector of cultural understanding between the two shores of the Mediterranean since the Euro-Mediterranean conference in Thessaloniki (Greece) in 1997. The Euromed Audiovisual Programme aims to support the development of the film and audiovisual industry in all the countries of the Southern Mediterranean, and thus to help to promote intercultural exchanges and dialogue and to defend and promote the expression of cultural diversity

In cultural terms, the populations of the Mediterranean countries have more that brings them together than keeps them apart. Cinema, with its ability to act as a conduit for knowledge, is still too often confined to a generally urban elite. The Caravan project has brought a more human scale to the seventh art by targeting not only an educated public (students of cinema, audiovisual studies and multimedia) but also the general public through open air screenings. Screenings have been held in cultural centres, on university campuses, in local cinemas and at festivals.// Project objectivesEducating and raising the awareness of the public directly by introducing it to the new wave of European and Mediterranean film-makers, and encouraging commercial cinemas to be more open to European and Arab productions.

// Action and Impact

The Caravan of Euro-Arab cinema has attracted some 90 000 spectators and facilitated the screening of over 3000 films. Festivals and screenings in 2007, 2008 and 2009:

• Euro-Arab Cinema Days: Amman, Alexandria, Cairo, Paris
• Euro-Arab Cinema Nights (open-air screenings) Alexandria, Beirut, Amman, Marseille
• Caravan of the 8th Arab Film Festival: Rotterdam, Amsterdam, The Hague, Maastricht, Groningen
• Arab Cinema Biennale: Marseille, Paris
• Euro-Arab Cinema Caravan Workshop: Cairo, Ismailia (Egypt)
• Euro-Arab Documentaries and Shorts Caravan (Paris)

The three Euromed Audiovisual Programme II promotion projects - Euromed Cinemas, Med-Screen and the Caravan of Euro-Arab Cinema - drew over 3 million spectators altogether: 48% of the visitors were in Europe and 52% in the Southern Mediterranean countries. Through activities which included a large number of events in Europe and in the Mediterranean countries (screenings at festivals, participation in film fairs, film weeks and round tables), the project led to the projection of over 50 different films originating in the region at events organised in eleven countries, both in the Mediterranean area (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Occupied Territories and Turkey) and in Europe (France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden).

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