Spring of Subversion? Independent Arab Filmmaking and its Revolution(s)

• Applicants: Professorin Dr. Kerstin Pinther; Viola Shafik, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Theatre and Media Studies ; Islamic Studies, Arabian Studies, Semitic Studies ; Art History
• Term: from 2015 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 278837138

The social and political earthquakes that have seized the Arab World in the eve and aftermath of the socalled Arab Spring have certainly worked as a catalyst for artistic dissidence and has found an expression in the recent documentary and avantgarde filmmaking of the region. Yet, not all of the new developments can be interpreted in the light of the Arab rebellion. Since the turn of the millennium the regional media and filmscape had started changing already. The socalled digital turn which began during the 1990s with the introduction of the new media and digital technology, the end of the Lebanese Civil war, as well as the changed media and investment politics of and in the Gulf States have become some of the most decisive factors in that respect. All together they have led to strongly amended conditions for production and distribution in the commercial as well as in in the non commercial field. The proposed research project is supposed to enhance our knowledge about the history and the most recent developments in the field on non fictional Arab filmmaking. Its main interest is to assess the relationship between alternative and innovative filmmaking and the surrounding social and political changes. It wants to sketch out the challenges and possibilities of political dissidence in correlation with the notion of artistic subversion. More concretely, it will investigate and reflect on the sources of inspiration and the reactions of filmmakers and artists and their works on and to pivotal social and political events and vice versa. With this, the study will pose the question of interaction, that is, how and to which extent revolution(s) and their definitions crystallize in audio-visual practices and their reception. On a larger scope and in view of the restraining structural framing conditions, namely lack of competent training, problems of financing, distribution as well as direct and indirect censorship it seems also necessary to examine the relationship between national and transnational culture and its institutions, such as film funds, festivals and New Media outlets and to juxtapose them to form and content of the works. This will allow to shed light on the shifts in regional and transregional economic, social and political power relations of the last years. The final study should be compose of four chapters or research topics:1) Arab Non Fiction: A History of Marginalization2) The Digital Turn and the Age of Rebellion3) Identity and Transnationalism4) The Scope of Cinematic Subversions

• DFG Programme: Research Grants