The screen remembers what the state wants you to forget.
Origin
Cinema Alhambra is an imaginative bilingual platform dedicated to exploring cinema in/from the Arabic-speaking region through lenses of society, censorship, and audience experience. With a strong commitment to anti-colonial and queer-feminist perspectives, we aim to document historical narratives, creative production, and viewer experience, opening space for deeper engagement with audiovisual material from the region.
Emerging from Cinamji, founded in 2017, Cinema Alhambra encourages critical discussions about themes of desire and the body, histories of cinema censorship, and the complex connections between film and society. We collaborate with filmmakers, critics, writers, and activists to produce provocative conversations and opinion pieces.
Additionally, we curate visual content that highlights contextual themes and chronicles the rich history of cinema houses, illustrating how these spaces have shaped our identities.
Swords, tongues, and demons, playing in the shadows
The Name
Early 20th C cinema houses across the region took the name of "Alhambra" – the Andalusian palace – nostalgically referencing the time of cultural flourishing and Islamic thought. Looking to the region's near and distant past allows us to reconsider contemporary struggles, and the way cycles transform and evolve as they appear to repeat.
