ABSTRACT
Prompted by the question of how far digital media platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo contributed to the emergence of remarkable alternative and independent film collectives before, during and after the 2011 uprising in Egypt, this chapter looks back at collectives in the field from the mid-20th century, mostly thwarted by vested interests, and examines 21st-century film collectives including Semat, Fig Leaf Studios, Rufy’s, Hassala, Cimatheque and Mosireen. It finds that it was not technology that mobilised a new generation of Egyptian film-makers but rather their will to resist the local industry’s commercialism, oppressive cultural policies and infrastructural inequalities aggravated by the virtual non-existence of local film funding.
