FILM | ART | DIALOGUE ON THE STREET | RESEARCH
BI-ANNUAL REPORT MARCH-SEPT 2019
instagram: cinema.73 |facebook: facebook.com/cinema73karachi |cinema73karachi@gmail.com
A NON COMMERCIAL COMMUNITY CINEMA and PUBLIC SPACE OUT OF A GARAGE IN SEAVIEW TOWNSHIP, IN KARACHI.
Block 73, Seaview Township, Phase 5 Ext. DHA, Karachi
On 3rd March 2019, I converted my garage into a non-commercial community cinema. I live in Seaview Township, directly opposite the main public beach strip of Karachi. Less than eight months later, we have screened 34 films, and hosted 3 non-film events, which include a showcase for emerging animators, a spoken word event on mental health, and a multi-genre show focused on sound and digital art. However, we are more than just an independent cinema: we are a democratic response to the lack of entertainment opportunities for young people in a divisive city where public spaces are limited. Our mission is to bridge the urban class divide through art. Today Cinema 73 has become organically growing community space where the domestic help of the community’s residents sit beside their employers and enjoy a film with free popcorn on balmy weekend nights. It is a safe space for women, children, and gender non-conforming folks to consume art without the fear of being harassed. It has become a source of artistic dissemination which brings inspired artists, Film-makers, cinephiles, architects, designers, urban dwellers, movie watchers, workers in the informal sector, bored evening spenders and all other interested karachiites, together. Cinema 73 is a space to fall in love with the salty Karachi breeze. It is an architect’s conversation with his street. Karachiites have shown their true empathetic, modern selves in supporting this venture and I am excited to see what this organically develops into. We hope to make our model sustainable and have pop-up franchises emerge in different neighbourhoods and perhaps eventually in different cities. We want to revolutionise who gets to consume art and where. I would like to thank Hamza Bangash for his assistance with film programming when we needed it the most, Marvi Mazhar for her advise with the development of the voice Cinema 73, and Natasha Japanwala for her consistent support. I would also like to thank all the film-makers who very graciously lend us their films to screen at Cinema 73. Asad Kamran Founder Cinema 73
Office Team
Asad Kamran, Founder and Creative Director
Maha Shaikh, Communications
Areeb Tariq, Visuals and Graphics
Bilal Mughal, Editing and Technical support
Abdullah Ali, On-site Coordinator
Updates on Hiring
CALL FOR INTERESTED/ING INTERNS WINTER 2019 EMAIL US AT CINEMA73KARACHI@GMAIL.COM We are initiating a Winter Internship Program which will be looking to hire Film, Fine Arts, Anthropology and Architecture Majors to carry out research into Cinema 73 as an Urban Plug in and carry forward the vision of Cinema 73
FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM
31 Films screened
3 events to date
An art and spoken word exhibit on men- A viewing of locally animated short films Infiltrations, a sound and digital art show tal health organised by Ranjish, a mental after an open call, in collaboration with in collaboration with Gruv Coast radio, a Kurrachee, a. design platform local underground music movement. health organisation.
Upcoming event announcements
An upcoming series of documentary screenings and moderated conversations with DAP.
An upcoming collaboration with Aks Minority film Festival.
Digital campaign on climate change awareness
Collaboration Mandate - Cinema 73 prides itself as being an inclusive space, we urge you to use your creative genius to take up an approach that is for a universal and socially diverse audience. That the art you create is for, and enjoyed by, a varied audience. - The average audience at Cinema 73 is between the ages of 5 and 55(often beyond). We would encourage you to curate and create content that is aware of this age-range. We also urge that your behaviour reflects your awareness of the young (and impressionable) minds that you may be surrounded by. - Our audience usually includes community residents, their domestic help, gatekeepers, their friends, artists, intellectuals, cinephiles, film makers, kids, adults, and many other kinds of karachiites. We encourage you to incorporate a creative approach whilst keeping these audience in mind. - Prejudice, hate speech and rowdy behaviour is unacceptable at Cinema 73. - We take a conscientious approach toward our urban context (Seaview Township community). For e.g, Noise Levels are usually kept at a considerate level, we encourage you to consider that as well. - Please be respectful of the space, as you may be liable for any damage caused to the space while using the space. - Being a street scale intervention, we agree that the street belongs to all; Everybody deserves a rightful space to consume art, please be respectful of one another and spread love, not hate, and enjoy producing and sharing art.
Current Reality
Ownership of the: balmy sea breeze salt humidity corrosion authorities air seafront infrastructures urban traffic art film community
Challenges Operating a community cinema and space on the street of a community housing space comes with its own sets of challenges. We find it a challenging task to manage a community space that is both active and careful of its context. We wish to activate the community without being over-bearing, in terms of noise, sound and disruption. This is a middle ground and a challenge that we are actively working to achieve. Another challenge is the collating of a film archive to show quality independant films. We are hoping to collaborate with more film makers and film students to programme a yearly calender of films to be shown according to the National holiday and events calender of Pakistan. The third challenge we face as a community space is outreach. This cinema was created as a space to democratically shift the way art is consumed, even though we feel we have been succeessful to a certain point, we feel that we can really extend our bounderies and start engaging with the larger Seaview community that includes residents and those who visit the main Seaview beach. Our final challenge so far has been sustainablity of the space, we are planning to roll out a funding scheme that would allow individuals to directly select screenings to sponsor from our calender year. We lack monetary support, which is the case with most community ventures in the city.
Future Trajectory
A street scale intervention that is organically growing into an entity to project artistic thought, question design norms and carry out urban/street-scale Architectural research by gathering a community
Collaborators
Media Acknowledgment
Digital Testimonials
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FILM | ART | DIALOGUE ON THE STREET | RESEARCH