Culture Resource is pleased to announce the grantees of the second and last round of Wijhat 2021. In light of the ongoing suspension of many cultural activities due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the second and third rounds have been merged into one this year. The program will continue to receive applications for the first round of 2022, the dates of which remain unchanged. The Jury selected 8 grantees out of 67 applications received from Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, Syria and Tunisia; 41 applications were for international travels and 26 were for regional travels.
Grantees:
Ahmed Soliman Soliman Amer, Egypt / screenwriter, director and film producer
Destination: Egypt → Austria
Itinerary: Ahmed Amer and Ahmed Fawzi-Saleh will take part in a filmmakers workshop organized by Torino Film Lab. They will develop the screenplay for their new film, “Hamlet from the Slum” which is at an advanced stage of development. They will screen their film at the end of the workshop, during which Ahmed will also exchange expertise with trainers and fellow participants.
Ala’ Mufid Mamdouh Younis, Jordan / visual artist and independent publisher
Destination: Jordan → Estonia
Itinerary: Ala’ is to take part in “What Makes Another World Possible,” a group exhibition in Tallinn Art Hall curated by Corina L. Apostol. She will present an installation called “Against the Slow Cancellation of the Future,” based on iconic film footage of the 1977 bread riots in Egypt and radio news broadcasts that aired in Jordan upon the arrival of refugees from Iraq in the early 1990s. Her contribution will also include a 3D study on the manipulation of public opinion. This work analyses images captured and circulated by mobile phones, televised footage of demonstrations in Egypt, and how social media generate a form of hysteria that internet algorithms help augment.
Cheikhani Hamena and the Hope theater company, Mauritania
Destination: Mauritania → Tunisia
Itinerary: Cheikhani and his theater company will travel to Tunisia to participate in the International Street Theater Forum, where they will perform their play, “Homeland visa”. The play centers on the theme of migration to Spain. This will be the first time a Mauritanian theater company takes part in the festival, so it will have a unique opportunity to benefit from the expertise of other participants, acquaint others with the artistic scene in Mauritania and participate in various training and exchange activities.
Dania Bdeir, Lebanon / director and screenwriter
Destination: UAE → Italy
Itinerary: Dania will take part in the Nostos Screenwriting Retreat, a three-week workshop in which participants receive guidance on writing scripts for feature-length films or TV pilots. The program offers plenty of personal time and space for participants to write and develop their screenplays, as well as to exchange knowledge and expertise with professional facilitators and peers in the workshop.
Fadia Kayed Loubani and the Theatre of the Women of the Camp, Palestine
Destination: Lebanon → Denmark
Itinerary: Fadia and the Theater of the Woman of the Camp company will participate in an arts residency program in Denmark sponsored by C:NTACT, . While in Denmark, the theater company will go on tour, presenting performances in numerous theaters across the country. It will also take part in young people’s artistic activities and discussion circles.
Khadija El Abyad, Morocco / visual artist
Destination: Morocco → Mauritania
Itinerary: Khadija will take part in Caravan Ouadane, a traveling artistic residency that is at once an exploratory artistic lab and a platform for research into contemporary nomadic and oasis cultures in desert regions. The program brings together artists of diverse backgrounds and disciplines and provides them with the raw materials for research, experimentation and cultural exchange. Sessions dedicated to critical appraisal of activities in progress help develop topics of interest to both participants and the local peoples they encounter.
Omnia Sabry Ahmed Mohamed Hassanein, Egypt / artist and filmmaker
Destination: Egypt → Austria
Itinerary: Omnia will take part in the Dissident Goddesses’ Network, a research project based at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna to which she will contribute “Chlorophyllic Memory: To Blossom Image,” an extended research project on which she has been working since 2019. She will also exhibit some of the photographic works she has produced in the course of the project and associated activities, and she will take part in a seminar and a discussion circle.
Tarig Abdelmonim Ali Seed Ahmed, Sudan / guitarist and music arranger
Destination: Sudan → Egypt
Itinerary: Tarig will travel from Sudan to Egypt to perform in concert together with Egyptian musicians in the Cairo International Jazz Festival. As part of the event, he will deliver a workshop and an open discussion circle on Blues music and its evolution from its African roots. For Tarig, this travel is also an opportunity to exchange expertise with musicians from Egypt and elsewhere to collaborate with them in the presentation of a musical performance.
Jury
Bayan AlBarak Kanoo, Bahrain, Cultural operator, and the director of Alriwaq Art Space;
Mohamed Idoumou, Mauritania, Poet, filmmaker, and a Culture Resource General Assembly member;
Haytham A. Ali Al-Jadah, Iraq, Actor and theater director
The Wijhat program aims to promote the arts and culture from the Arab region, both regionally and internationally, by supporting the regional or international travels of artists and cultural actors from this region so as to facilitate their participation in cultural events and activities that enable them to present their work to diverse audiences in wider regional and/or international contexts, to exchange knowledge and expertise with peers, to build their professional capacities or to develop an artistic project.
*Photo from Eliane Raheb’s film “Miguel’s War”, supported by Wijhat program 2019
