This event is organized in collaboration with Metropolis’ project Cinematheque Beirut, in the framework of the Film Festival “The Second Encounter”.

Abstract:
This talk traces the history of the Arab Film Club in Beirut, a film-society established in 1973 that testifies to the growing importance of alternative Arab cinema of the times. This cinematic movement started in Damascus in 1972 and was characterized by an innovative approach to film forms and narratives while participating in the political struggles of the global 68. The talk aims at documenting the activation practices around films that were part of the alternative cinema movement and explores specifically this little-known history of cinema in Lebanon by questioning the politicization of ‘cinephilia’ in the early 1970s in the country, as well as the current patrimonialisation of some films made and/or screened by members of this initiative.

Bio:
Anaïs Farine is a cinema studies researcher and a film curator. She holds a Ph.D from the University of La Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris III. Her Ph.D thesis focused on the so-called “Euro-Mediterranean dialogue” and its Filmic Imaginary (1995 – 2017). Her writings have been published in Kohl, Cinematheque Beirut, Trouble dans les collections, Ettijahat, Débordements, The Funambulist Magazine, Africultures, and Aniki, among others. She is a member of the organizing committee of the Festival Ciné-Palestine (Paris). Anaïs Farine is currently a Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow at the Orient Institut Beirut. She joined the OIB in October 2022 and is currently working on the research project "The making of “Arab alternative cinema” and its audiences: Babelsberg, Beirut, Damascus, Leipzig".

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