We are delighted to reveal our partner cinemas for this year’s edition of Cinema of Commoning. Our seven partners from across the globe will co-create the programme with us and foster a shared space for exchange as we seek to reclaim, expand, and reimagine cinematic spaces.
Swipe to learn more about our partners and follow @cinema.of.commoning for updates!
#CinemaOfCommoning #CinemaOfCommoning3 #SİNEMATRANSTOPIA #bibakberlin
CINEMA OF COMMONING 3
2. - 5. July 2026 - SAVE THE DATE!
The symposium connecting alternative cinema spaces and practices from around the world returns this summer for its 3rd edition!
Grounded in the principles of the commons, over 4 days a range of international partners will gather in Berlin to collectively envision alternative futures for cinema.
Taking place between 2. - 5. July 2026 at SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA, join us in celebrating the transformative potential of cinema.
Follow @cinema.of.commoning for updates!
#CinemaOfCommoning #SAVETHEDATE #CinemaOfCommoning3 #SİNEMATRANSTOPIA #bibakberlin
This week, we’re closing the cycle of our CoC2 commissioned texts with a piece by filmmaker Rami el Sabagh: Death on VHS.
Rooted in a West Beirut neighbourhood of the 1980s, the essay revisits a boarded-up video store — once a portal of taped dreams, monsters, and early cinematic longing. El Sabagh reflects on how VHS shaped forms of community and masculine performance, and how those memories continue to inform his filmmaking today.
It’s an intimate meditation on growing up with images, on what we inherit, and on the fragments we carry forward.
As we wrap up this chapter of CoC2, we’ll be taking a short pause before sharing what comes next.
Until then, you can read the full text at cinemaofcommoning.com (link in bio).
Have you ever carried a word with you, one that speaks to a feeling too vast to translate?
In his essay, writer, curator, and educator Iskandar Abdalla reflects on ghurba, an Arabic word that evokes exile, estrangement, and the ache of being away from home.
Through the lens of Egyptian cinema, Abdalla traces this sensation in the stories of three tragic heroines, where longing, escape, and reinvention spill across borders and generations, from demolished buildings in Alexandria to the wintry streets of Berlin.
Written with the intimacy of a diary and the openness of lived experience, this piece is both a cinematic reflection and a deeply personal meditation on belonging and displacement.
Read the full essay now on our editorial platform cinemaofcommoning.com
Credited movies:
Al-Laila al-Akhira (The Last Night, 1963) by Kamal El Sheikh
Al-Nadaha (For Whom the Wind Calls, 1975) by Hussein Kamal
Ah ya Lail ya Zaman (Oh night, oh time, 1977) by Ali Reda
We’re excited to return with a beautiful reflection by @cinema_fulgor___ ,tracing their journey from the Mira River banks to collective film gatherings across Alentejo and beyond.
In this text, Sílvia das Fadas shares how Cinema Fulgor's work with film inhabits the margins, not as isolation, but as a practice of freedom, hospitality, and rooted resistance. It’s a gesture toward living otherwise, where cinema becomes a site for connection, care, and imagination.
We’re especially happy to share this now, as Cinema Fulgor is currently in Berlin for their series "The Land is Whispering: Imagine Otherwise!" co-curated together with Nafis Fathollahzadeh from IRGAC, which brings together films and conversations around memory, land, and communal living.
The next screening is this Wednesday, 22 May 2025, from 19:00–22:00, titled "Once There Were Commons" at Spore Initiative (@spore.initiative ), and it’s free and open to all.
@irgac_rls@cinema_fulgor___@nnafissof@spore.initiative
Fell behind on a few updates? Let’s get you back on track.
The ways we share, sustain, and imagine cinema are evolving—often in surprising and hopeful directions. Whether you're curious about grassroots distribution models, digital strategies, or behind-the-scenes reflections from Cinema Makers 2024, we’ve pulled together some of our most thought-provoking recent pieces for you.
📌 Engage with the symposium dispatch Building Alternative Cinema Networks, diving into emerging alliances and inventive approaches to film distribution and exhibition.
🎧 Listen to Foyer Conversations #3 as we unpack the potentials and pitfalls of Alternative Digital Distribution in today's fragmented media landscape.
📖 Read Smashed Burgers, Flat Hierarchies, Big Dreams—a dispatch from Cinema Makers 2024, capturing collective filmmaking practices and new visions for the future of cinema.
Find the full content at cinemaofcommoning.com or through the link in our bio.
Have you missed the Cinema of Commoning? Don’t worry, we’re back!
We’ve published a new article today, with more to follow over the coming months…
In August 2024, the first edition of Qyzgaras took place in Almaty, Kazakhstan, a festival dedicated to amplifying the voices of women filmmakers from Central Asia and beyond. But how do you build a festival from scratch when funding is scarce, and institutional support is nowhere to be found?
In our latest commissioned text, filmmaker, curator, and festival founder Malika Mukhamejan shares a personal reflection on bringing Qyzgaras to life. It’s a story of perseverance, community, and the radical act of creating space where none existed before.
Read the full piece now at cinemaofcommoning.com or via the link in bio.
Start the new year with us by catching up on everything you might have missed!
We’re starting 2025 with a fresh perspective and inviting you to revisit the conversations that shaped our editorial platform last year. If you didn’t get a chance to explore all the content we shared, now’s the perfect time to join the journey. From thought-provoking panels to insightful essays and engaging podcasts, there’s so much to discover.
🎬 Engage
Revisit the symposium panel: *The Embodied Cinema: Why Do We (Still) Need the Physical Space of Cinema?*
A reflective dive into the enduring importance of communal, physical spaces for experiencing film.
🎧 Listen
Catch up on *Foyer Conversations #5: Cinema, Memory, and Demolition.*
This episode unpacks how cinema preserves the ghosts of demolished spaces, offering stories of resistance and memory.
📚 Read
Rediscover Abisola Oni’s spirited text: *Coconut Head Generation: The Agonists of the Undercommons.*
A bold manifesto for rethinking collective filmmaking as a space of care, creativity, and radical collaboration.
Whether you’re revisiting familiar ground or discovering it for the first time, we’re thrilled to have you with us as we continue to shape an alternative cinematic future.
Find it all at cinemaofcommoning.com or via the link in bio.
Check Out What We’ve Been Up To on Our Editorial Platform!
In July 2024, we hosted the CoC Symposium, bringing together partners and allies from Dar Es Salaam, Beirut, Prizren, Tangier, Dakar, Baku, and Berlin to imagine the future of alternative cinema cultures. Together, we envisioned a cinematic future rooted in the principles of the “commons,” emphasizing accessibility, artistic freedom, and financial sustainability.
As we approach a break before our next edition in 2026, we’re taking this time to reflect on all that we accomplished in 2024.
Didn’t have a chance to attend the Symposium? Don’t worry—you can still join our journey! We’ve curated our latest editorial posts to give you an overview of the content we’ve created this year. Each post includes a Symposium transcript, a commissioned text, and a podcast episode designed to inspire and engage.
✨ Engage
Check the Symposium Transcripts, “Exploring Cinema as Social Space: Communities, Encounters, Experiments”, where we reflect on cinema as a site of connection and experimentation.
🎧 Listen
Tune in to Foyer Conversations #2, where we delve into the idea of “Occupied Cinemas”—spaces reclaimed for collective and radical film experiences.
📚 Read
Explore Gawan Fagard's thoughtful commissioned text, “Towards a Film Community Where Everyone Does the Dishes Together”. This playful essay reflects on cooperation, care, and the values that shape collective filmmaking.
Find all this content at cinemaofcommoning.com or through the link in our bio. Stay tuned and discover what we’ve been creating! 🖤
#cnemaofcommoning #cinema #cinemalover #commoning #holidayreads
