Art Jameel, the independent organization that supports artists and nurtures creative communities, opens Hayy Cinema to the public on December 6, 2022. Hayy Cinema expands the definition of cinema as a meeting point to watch, learn, exchange, discover and research; the complex includes a 168-seat theatre, a 30-seat community screening room, a multimedia library and an educational exhibition space. Imagined as a year-round home for the Saudi film community and local cine-enthusiasts, the permanent, two-floor space at Hayy Jameel is designed by Jeddah-based architectural practice Bricklab, whose design won an international architectural competition run by Art Jameel in 2019, and is based on the extensive research into the history of cinema in the Gulf, and interviews with Saudi and regional actors, directors and producers.
Hayy Cinema’s year-round programming includes Saudi, Arab, and international features, shorts, and documentaries and is set to host flagship film festivals for all, from children through country- and genre-specific audiences.
Indicative of the collaborative nature of Hayy Cinema, the opening program is co-developed with the Red Sea International Film Festival (RSIFF) and celebrates visionaries of Arab cinema’s golden era, including a retrospective of five newly restored, groundbreaking films by Egyptian master Youssef Chahine—one of the Arab world’s most internationally celebrated filmmakers—and a thoroughly-researched and rare archival exhibition that highlights renowned photographer Gamal Fahmy’s contribution to the revolutionary force of filmmaking in the region.
Antonia Carver, director of Art Jameel, stated, “There is no better way to celebrate Hayy Jameel’s first anniversary than with the launch of the much-anticipated Hayy Cinema. This is Saudi’s first bespoke independent picturehouse, developed with the intent to nurture the local film scene—not only filmmakers, but also the audiences who appreciate them. Via a year-round program of films from Saudi, the region, and the world, as well as talks, exhibitions, and film festivals held across its various community spaces, the cinema becomes a convivial site of convening, opening up a whole new world of storytelling and imagination. We believe that Hayy Cinema’s focus on presenting and documenting the great breadth of global cinema, and in tracing the history of cinemas and films from the Gulf, complements the blockbusters of Saudi’s fast-growing commercial scene and government-led industry initiatives. With Hayy Arts being a museum space for the visual arts and Hayy Cinema for the moving image, both anchor Hayy Jameel, grounding the complex as Jeddah’s home for creative expression.”
Hayy Cinema Opening Program
Co-curated by Hayy Cinema Senior Manager Zohra Ait El Jamar with Jeddah-based writer and director Yaser Hammad and in collaboration with the Red Sea International Film Festival, Art Jameel is proud to present an opening program that spotlights visionaries of Arab cinema’s golden era and the revolutionary force of filmmaking in the region. Through a carefully curated retrospective and archival exhibition, the program invites audiences to discover iconic and unmissable titles and learn more about the inner workings of the independent film industry that influenced social and political trends throughout history.
Youssef Chahine retrospective
December 6-23, 2022
Cinema 1
The opening program presents a rolling roster of five groundbreaking films by one of the Arab world’s most internationally celebrated filmmakers, Egyptian master Youssef Chahine. Recently restored and digitized by Misr International Film (MIF) and screening anew to the public at Hayy Cinema, the films span from the 1970s through the late 1980s, revealing Chahine’s sensitive approach to filmmaking, in which social and personal dynamics play out in poetic complexity.
The films on view: Alexandria Why / Iskindereya Leh (1978); Alexandria Again And Forever / Iskendereya Kaman We Kaman (1989); Adieu Bonaparte / Al Wedaa Ya Bonaparte (1984); The Sixth Day / Al Yom El Sades (1986); Return Of The Prodigal Son / Awdet El Ibn El Dal (1976)
The full schedule of screenings can be found on www.hayyjameel.org
‘As Seen’, a Gamal Fahmy archival exhibition
December 6, 2022 – March 25, 2023
Hayy Library and Hayy Archives
Alongside the retrospective is a thoroughly researched and rare archival exhibition that highlights renowned photographer Gamal Fahmy’s contribution to the revolutionary force of filmmaking in the region. Curated by Art Jameel from the Red Sea International Film Foundation Archives Collection, the exhibition features never-before-seen photographs, a collection of personal items, vintage cameras, and various ephemera.
The second edition of Red Sea International Film Festival is set to take place in Jeddah (December 1-10, 2022). The Hayy Cinema opening programme marks the second programming collaboration between Art Jameel and Red Sea International Film Festival; in December 2021, Hayy Jameel hosted ‘Red Sea: Immersive’, a selection of significant and era-defining virtual reality projects curated by Liz Rosenthal.
Zohra Ait El Jamar, Hayy Cinema Senior Manager, stated, “The opening of Hayy Cinema in Jeddah captures a moment of increasing passion and support for local and global cinema in Saudi. The collaboration with Red Sea International Film Festival for the opening program of Hayy Cinema speaks to the ethos of Art Jameel: our model has long been dynamic and adaptive, working with many partnering institutions to build programming collaborations anchored in the specific context of our creative community’s needs and aspirations. I thank the team at Red Sea International Film Festival and look forward to continuing to work with the festival and the Saudi film community to build ever-greater appreciation for cinema across the Kingdom.”
What’s New at Hayy Jameel
Exhibitions
‘The Mountains Quiver in Anticipation’
Until April 29, 2023
Second floor, Hayy Arts
The Art Jameel-run museum space, Hayy Arts, presents a homegrown group exhibition titled ‘The Mountains Quiver in Anticipation.’ With its title inspired by the words of celebrated artist and poet Etel Adnan (1925–2021), “The moon darkened at dawn, the mountain quivered with anticipation,” the exhibition features new commissions and works from the Art Jameel Collection.
Through painting, photography, installation, sculpture, and video, eight emerging artists from Saudi Arabia document their interactions with a moment of rapid change: from the social, cultural, and personal to the urban and environmental. Curated by Rotana Shaker, the exhibition includes works by Alia Ahmad, Abdulmohsen Albin Ali, Mohammad Alfaraj, Badr Ali, Zahra Bundakji, Bashaer Hawsawi, Alaa Tarabzouni and Fahad Bin Naif.
The exhibition is accompanied by public programs, workshops, and screenings.
Hayy Learning
Hayy Explorers
From March 2023
Following Art Jameel’s life-long-learning philosophy, Hayy Jameel is launching Hayy Explorers, an interactive, drop-in children’s space. Through a year-long dynamic programme, young learners are encouraged to freely create, experiment and discover new concepts, materials and techniques that correspond to running exhibitions, films and public programmes.
In anticipation of Hayy Explorers’ launch, Art Jameel is collaborating with Yajoob – a Jeddah-based platform producing educational resources and program for children and educators–to present The Maze of Curiosity, a two-month children’s program anchored around a thought-provoking and interactive installation accompanied by a series of workshops and talks.
Find out more about Hayy Explorers and the ongoing children programme’s on www.hayyjameel.org
Hayy Residents
The Art Jameel-run spaces are joined by partner-tenants called “Hayy Residents,” who represent Jeddah’s entrepreneurial ethos. Aysh Academy, a local baking institute, and Homegrown, a leading concept store for regional designers, are now open, followed by the gradual launches of AKTHR, Al Mohtaraf, Chapters, Fennec, Riwaq Dahr and Sofia’s Dining, throughout 2023.
ABOUT HAYY CINEMA’S OPENING PROGRAMME
Alexandria Why / Iskindereya Leh (1978): During World War II, an Egyptian teen escapes his country’s tense political climate through his love of American film.
December 6, 2022, at 8 PM
December 16, 2022, at 8 PM
Alexandria Again And Forever / Iskendereya Kaman We Kaman (1989): During a hunger strike by the Egyptian film industry, Yehia, a famous Egyptian director, finds himself obsessed with Amir, the leading man in one of his movies, and Nadia, a woman he desires to work with.
December 7, 2022, at 8 PM
December 11, 2022, at 8 PM
December 23, 2022, at 8 PM
Adieu Bonaparte / Al Wedaa Ya Bonaparte (1984): A story during the French Occupation of Egypt (1797-1803), depicting the conflict between tradition and modernization in the context of fighting the French invaders.
December 8, 2022, at 8 PM
December 14, 2022, at 8 PM
December 18, 2022, at 8 PM
The Sixth Day / Al Yom El Sades (1986): Set in a poor neighbourhood in Cairo, the film follows a period during the British occupation of Egypt in the 20th century where the protagonist, Sadika, is caring for her bedridden husband and her grandson.
December 10, 2022, at 8 PM
December 16, 2022, at 8 PM
December 22, 2022, at 8 PM
Return Of The Prodigal Son / Awdet El Ibn El Dal (1976): Ali Madbouli, a former social activist married to the daughter of a wealthy contractor, returns home to his family after ten years in prison for his involvement in a cost-cutting scheme that resulted in the collapse of a contracted building.
December 9, 2022, at 8 PM
December 15, 2022, at 8 PM
December 21, 2022, at 8 PM