Mosireen
Mosireen (Arabic:,مصرّين, English: We Are Determined) is a non-profit media activist collective that came together to document and transmit images of 2011 Egyptian revolution. Between 2011 and 2014 the group produced and published over 250 videos online, with a focus on street politics, state violence and labour rights. From 2014 onwards they worked on organising, annotating and cross-indexing what was thought to be the world's largest video collection of material from the 2011 Egyptian revolution, which was published online in January 2018 as 858: An Archive of Resistance.[1]
Projects
Film production
Between October 2011 and 2014 Mosireen published over 250 short documentaries on a range of topics related to the 2011 Egyptian revolution.[2] Some films were simple uploads of raw material; others were complex pieces on which up to 30 people had contributed. Mosireen's YouTube channel holds the record for most all-time views of a non-profit organization in Egypt with over 6.5 million total views since October 2011.[3]
Their films were featured on several news channels, were remixed countless times on youtube, featured heavily in the Kazeboon street screening campaigns in Egypt and have been featured at a range of European festivals and exhibitions.
All Mosireen's films were published uncredited and licensed under Creative Commons.
858: An Archive of Resistance
Mosireen hosts probably the most extensive video archive of the Egyptian revolution, and in January 2018 released the majority of it online as 858: An Archive of Resistance.[4]
On launch it held 858 hours of raw footage - the majority from the Egyptian revolution, but with some material from Gaza. It has footage contributed from over 100 cameras, and is now available for public reference.[5]
Tahrir Cinema
Tahrir Cinema initiative was a public cinema, established in Tahrir during an occupation of the Square in summer 2011. It exhibited material from the Mosireen archive, rushes, completed films related to the politics of the moment. It was established by members of Mosireen along with Lara Baladi and support from the Townhouse Gallery.[6] It stands facing Tahrir square.
The initiative started in 2011 during the 8 July sit-in that lasted three weeks before it was dispersed by force on August 1 by the Egyptian military police.[7] Public display of amateur and professional works continued to reach into fifteen governorates as of early 2012. Much of the material was focussed on exposing the abuses of the Egyptian Army - who were the interim ruling body at that time. [8] through personal testimony and documentaries.[9]
Campaign support
The group offered its support to several revolutionary initiatives, either in the form of documentation and film production or in the use of its office in Downtown Cairo. Frequent collaborators included No To Military Trials, Kazeboon and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.
Re7al
The Re7al project ran extended film production workshops in cities across Egypt.
References
- https://858.ma/
- https://www.youtube.com/mosireen
- "Jeune Afrique".
- https://madamasr.com/en/2018/02/11/feature/culture/858-archiving-as-a-tool-of-resistance/
- https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/01/an-internet-archive-rekindles-the-egyptian-revolutions-spirit/551489/
- Schoene, Dorothea (2012). "Art in a Revolution: A Conversation with Lara Baladi". Afterimage. 39 (5): 19. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
- "Ahram Online".
- "Indypendent, A Year After Tahrir".
- "BBC News". 8 March 2012.