at the lab - Open Call
Cinematic Transformations from the Global South
Film Screening and Discussion Program Facilitated by Saleem Albeik

11 April – 9 May 2026
Every Saturday | 6:30 PM | Cinematheque@TheLab

Registration deadline: 8 April 2026

Through weekly screenings and focused discussion sessions, writer and film critic Saleem Albeik sheds light on some of the most significant works of Global South cinema since the early twentieth century. The program explores the artistic and technical qualities that shaped these films, and how filmmakers used them to challenge established norms and forge cinematic languages rooted in their own histories of struggle and resistance.

The programme opens with a survey of landmark moments in Global South film history. Albeik will present participants with a wide-ranging selection of films representing this tradition, from which four will be chosen for weekly screening and collective discussion.

Saleem Albeik is a Palestinian film critic, novelist, and cultural editor based in Paris. He is the author of six literary works, most recently the novels The Rooster's Eye (Hachette Antoine–Naufal, 2022), Scenario (Al-Ahliyya, 2019), and Two Tickets to Saffuriyya (Saqi, 2017), alongside two critical studies: Reflections on Palestinian Film (Arab Institute for Studies and Publishing, 2023) and A History of Palestinian Cinema (Arab Institute for Studies and Publishing, 2025). He writes film criticism for Al-Quds Al-Arabi and is the founder and editor of Rummān cultural magazine.

To register, please complete the form here.

Image: Still from Black Girl film by Ousmane Sembène, 1966

This event is part of the "Cinematic Transformations from the Global South" program

Projects at the Lab: The Cinematheque | All That We Witness presents in February, March, and April, a series of events that engage the concept of cinema and its role through film practices and productions from the Global South. The program seeks to revisit the meanings and forms of cinematic expression from a perspective that moves beyond the dominant global system shaping film production and circulation, and the formal and thematic frameworks they often impose. The program includes talks and study sessions, alongside a film screening program and collective discussions.

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