Articles

Rawiyat, a new collective of women filmmakers from the Middle East and North Africa

Alexia Muiños Ruiz
Alexia Muiños Ruiz

Rawiyat, which means storytellers in Arabic, joins forces to imagine a new landscape in the region and beyond.

In 2019 the founders of Rawiyat met on Sisters in Film Programme to share their experiences and challenges at the first stage on their careers. After their encounter in Tunisia and Morocco, the emerging women filmmakers have proudly officially launched the new collective Rawiyat at Gouna Film Festival in Egypt !

Four of the nine co-founders of Rawiyat are attending the festival to talk about this new space for solidarity among women filmmakers, sharing the goal of connecting, sharing, supporting and nurturing new and existing voices, whilst challenging the status quo and create a more sustainable and creative industry.

You can contact RAWIYAt here

Manifesto

MANIFESTO
We aim to foster a supportive and egalitarian market to shape a fair, healthy, sustainable and transparent film industry, accessible across gender, generations, class, ethnicity and borders.

We advocate for a non competitive, anti-capitalist approach by creating a network and solidarity among filmmakers from the Middle East, North Africa, its diaspora and refugee communities.

We believe in championing independent voices, alternative narratives and new cinematographic languages, beyond stereotypes, with the aim to shift power dynamics within the industry and society, thus instigating change on and off screen.

بيان
نصبو إلى تعزيز سوقٍ داعم ومتساوٍ لتشكيل صناعة سينمائية عادلة وسويّة ومستدامة وشفافة، تكون في متناول الجميع، بعيدًا عن اعتبارات النوع والأجيال والطبقات والأعراق والحدود.

ندعو إلى تبنّي نهج غير تنافسي ومناهض للرّأسمالية من خلال التّشبيك والتّضامن بين صانعات الأفلام من الشرق الأوسط وشمال إفريقيا والشتات ومجتمعات اللاجئين.

نؤمن بمناصرة الأصوات المستقلة والروايات البديلة واللغات السينمائية الجديدة التي تتجاوز الصور النمطية، بهدف تغيير ديناميّات القوة داخل صناعة السّينما والمجتمع، وبالتالي إحداث التّغييرات ضمن إطار الشاشة وخارجها.

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