“Sunday Cinema” is a monthly film program prepared and delivered by the BA Arts Center, which started in September 2017. It is an extension of the series of film programs that the Center implemented in February 2002, with the inauguration of the Library, and continued until December 2016, in collaboration with the distinguished film critic Samir Farid, the Library’s advisor for cinematic affairs during that period. The new program aims to exploit the cinematic momentum created by film programs over fifteen years by expanding the circle of cinematic activities to meet the growing and evolving needs of the Alexandrian society, especially in light of the increasing presence of the Internet and its impact on the nature of receiving cinematic works, as well as the great diversity and continuous development of the language of cinema worldwide. In addition to cinematic screenings of fiction, documentary, experimental and art films, the program also features a series of monthly meetings and lectures across various cinematic fields. It also comprises a number of workshops that target amateur and professional filmmakers from Alexandria and the Delta provinces.
Although the program is open to all types of films from different countries around the world, it tends to choose certain films that cannot be screened in commercial theaters in Egypt due to complex distribution mechanisms that depend mainly on the size of revenues, regardless of the artistic or historical value of the works. The program seeks to be a model for the "Art and Experiment" cinema halls that have been prevalent in Europe since the first half of the last century. The Sunday Cinema program also aims to support low-budget Egyptian and Arab films in particular, by providing opportunities for the screening and discussion of these films in the presence of their creators, as long as they meet the minimum level of artistic quality. The program is keen to display the films in the best possible technical display. The choice of films is based as much as possible on the diversity of film genres and nationalities. Hence, the program seeks to cooperate with various foreign cultural entities operating in Egypt, Egyptian governmental institutions as well as the film distribution and production companies that are interested in disseminating cinematic culture and raising awareness of the aesthetics of the seventh art and how to appreciate it.
To view May and June 2023 program, please click here.