Spring 2022, CairoThematic Course
The Whatness of Cinematic Urbanism
Course details
- Cycle
- Spring 2022, Cairo
- Length
- 7 weeks
- Format
- In person
- Taught in
- English
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About the course
The aim of this course is to fuel further curiosity in discovering and understanding cities through cinematic images; to use films as tools to analyze the spatial relationships between society and its surrounding urban scenery. The main idea is not mere camera movement and angles, rather it is the underlying narrative that reveals hidden elements of our cities and societies. The course will explore the very essence of cinematic urbanism through an in-depth analysis of the word ‘representation’. Classes will involve reading and analyzing theoretical texts, as well as watching some snippets of Egyptian movie scenes. Participants will be able to trace the changes in how Egyptian cinema portrayed the city. They will be able to come up with an intellectual blueprint for identifying and analyzing socio-spatial narratives through film images.
Who teaches it
Taher Abdel-Ghani is an architect, an urban researcher, an award winning independent filmmaker, an assistant lecturer at the Architecture department at MSA University, and an advisory member on Public Space for City Space Architecture. His research focuses on the analytical representation of cities in cinema, the intervention of art in public spaces, and socio-spatial narratives of urban space. His academic publications induces an interdisciplinary approach of cinematic urbanism with other fields, such as Sociology and Education. He also serves as a reviewer and editor on a few academic platforms and co-chairs the AESOP 2022 Annual Congress in Estonia. Additionally, his short films have been screened across Europe and USA. His 2019 short documentary, Cold Dissent, has won the Best Short Film award at the 5th Biennale Spazio Pubblico Festival in Rome. His 2020 short film, Prosody: An Ode to the City, was nominated for the Audience Award at the 1st City Space Architecture Film Festival in Bologna.
Course flow
Sessions without a date
Introduce the course Why Cinematic Urbanism? What are City Films / City Symphonies?
- Cinematic Urbanism: A History of the Modern from Reel to RealNezar Al-Sayyad. Suggested reading.
- Cities and CinemaBarbara Caroline Mennel. Suggested reading.
Dominant Social Themes of Egyptian Cinema Modern and Post-Modern Cinema of Egypt The Cinematic Spatial Transformation of Egyptian Society
- Combative Cultural Politics: Film Art and Political Spaces in EgyptArticle by Raymond Baker. Suggested reading.
- Egypt in the Shadows: Films and the Political OrderArticle by Raymond Baker. Suggested reading.
Cities as a system of luxury prefabrication Mental Senses’ mechanization within the metropolis Transitory Landscapes Vertov’s Kino-Eye
- The Metropolis and the Mental LifeGeorg Simmel. Suggested reading.
- Vision and VisualityHal Foster. Suggested reading.
- AmericaJean Baudrillard. Suggested reading.
The Concept of the Flâneur Flaneuring the Modern City
- Previewing the Cinematic CityDavid Clarke. Suggested reading.
- The writings of Walter Benjamin and Charles BaudelaireSuggested reading.
Narrative Space Real Space vs. Imagined Space Physicality and Meta-Physicality of Space
The Composition and Structure of the Image Wittgenstein’s theory of picture representation Charles Sanders Peirce’s theory of semiotics Jacques Lacan’s theory of representation Society’s submission to technically manipulated images The concept of Stereotype – Edward Said
Lefebvre & Soja – Space Spatial Trilogy Who is space for?
- Exploring The AlephJorge Luis Borges.
The City between the Façade & the Metaphysical Youssef Chahine’s Le Caire & Jacob Riis’s How the Other Half Lives A Cinematic Reading of Asef Bayat
In class
- ExerciseThe workshop will be semi-theoretical semi-practical where applicants will be asked to shoot several short footage and produce a short film. Each will analyze the other applicant’s film according to what was learnt during the workshop
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18 October 2026
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