Running from 15 September to 8 December 2026, the series highlights recent and upcoming exhibitions and programmes at Mathaf, exploring themes of history, society and technology.
Screenings
15 September 2026
Wael Shawky
Drama 1882 (2024), 45 min
A film-opera reimagining the Urabi Revolution and British occupation of Egypt in 1882. Created for the Egyptian Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale, it combines theatre, opera, cinema and visual art to explore power, colonialism and national identity through choreographed performance within elaborate theatrical sets.
6 October 2026
Raqs Media Collective
Provisions for Everybody (2018), 50 min
Inspired by George Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier, this film takes the audience across England, India, Myanmar and Spain to explore modern-day extraction and scarcity. The film reflects on the politics of food, materials and energy, imagining planet Earth as a raft carrying provisions for all on board.
3 November 2026
Akram Zaatari
In This House (2005), 30 min, &On Photography, Dispossession and Times of Struggle (2017), 38 min
Two films reflect on memory and conflict. In This House follows a resistance fighter who buried a letter in southern Lebanon during the Civil War, foregrounding hope over destruction. On Photography, Dispossession and Times of Struggle shows how family photographs become powerful witnesses to displacement and war.
8 December 2026
Bahar Noorizadeh
After Scarcity (2018), 32 min & The Red City of the Planet of Capitalism (2021), 14 min
Two films revisit Soviet history to imagine other futures. After Scarcity reimagines Soviet cybernetics and a planned economy as a science-fiction essay, challenging capitalism and offering forgotten histories. The Red City of the Planet of Capitalism revisits radical Soviet urban planning, capturing the once-imagined dissolution of the city.
