A film by Marina Gioti
co-directed by Georges Salameh
With: Alan Bishop, Aya Hemeda, Cherif El Masri, and Adham Zidan
8–25 November 2018
Premiere Thursday 8 November
Doors open 6.30pm with bar & music
Screening starts 7pm
Welcome to the second chapter of our season of presents where we celebrate our 20th birthday by asking new and old friends to give us a gift; a perfect opportunity for us to shed light on shared artistic intentions and values. Next up is artist and filmmaker Marina Gioti. In a setting reminiscent of a small movie theater we present to you The Invisible Hands, a film by Marina Gioti co-directed by Georges Salameh with Alan Bishop, Aya Hemeda, Cherif El Masri, and Adham Zidan.
Maverick underground American/Lebanese musician and ethnomusicologist Alan Bishop (Sun City Girls, Sublime Frequencies) lands as a stranger in Cairo, soon after the 2011 revolution, and teams up with three young Egyptian musicians in order to translate some of his old songs into Arabic. Under Bishop’s mentorship, this unlikely collaboration transforms into a band, The Invisible Hands. Structured around fly-on-the-wall scenes, archival ghost apparitions, absurd cameos, and poetic diary narrations by Bishop, and unfolding between the two critical elections that marked the period after the “Arab Spring” in Egypt, the film juxtaposes the tragicomedy of politics and art-making in a troubled periphery where strands of stories related to music, politics, inspiration, language, depression and uncertainty eventually come together.
The Invisible Hands (2017), 93 min
In English and Arabic with English subtitles
Screening schedule during 9–25 November 2018:
Thursday-Friday
12:15–13:45
14:00–15:30
15:45–17:15
17:30–19:00
Saturday-Sunday
12:15–13:45
14:00–15:30
15:45–17:15
