CAIRO — In a step aimed to promote independent cinema in Upper Egypt, members of the Cinema Everywhere Initiative have screened about 40 films in popular cafes, youth centers, neighborhoods and schools across various villages of Upper Egypt, using only display screens connected to laptop computers. This part of Egypt is known for suffering from underdevelopment and — unlike Egypt’s northern cities — there is a total lack of theaters. Citizens living in Upper Egypt miss out on many commercial and independent films.

Despite the lofty goals, however, it seems that the initiative's ability to bring about change and consecrate independent art culture is still limited due to lack of funding and government support.

The Cinema Everywhere Initiative, launched in 2013, began a new project in February titled Cima Masr, which aimed to screen independent films in Upper Egypt from Feb. 14-19 with support from the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC). The project included four governorates and a variety of villages, such as Baarat, Qurna and Kom al-Tut, as well as the youth center of Izbat Abu al-Rish al-Bahriyah.

Wagih al-Laqani, the founder and director of Cinema Everywhere, spoke with Al-Monitor about the project’s aims. “Our objective is to visit different areas in Egypt, whose residents are unable to go to theaters to watch films. We want to break the rule that independent films are limited to the elites, intellectuals and festival fans. The project sought to introduce the people of Upper Egypt to other types of films that are not famous or trending, and to screen films different from the films produced by the Egyptian or US commercial cinema industry."