Of all of Jocelyne Saab’s work shot on 16mm film, only one film exists in both its raw footage and outtakes, preserved by the filmmaker herself in her home for thirty years. Al’Alma’, Belly Dancers is a 1989 documentary made by the Lebanese filmmaker in Egypt. It marks her final documentary shot in the country, where she lived intermittently and witnessed with alarm the rise of fundamentalism in a land that held a special place in her heart for its culture. The raw footage consists of positive and negative 16mm film. 

In collaboration with Braquage, an initiative aimed at celebrating film-based practices, the Jocelyne Saab Association offers workshops on these discarded images. The goal is to explore the creative process of Jocelyne Saab in a new light. By working with the physicality of the film stock using dedicated equipment, these workshops aim to rediscover the cinematic gestures of filmmakers who worked with celluloid. They encourage the practice of repurposing techniques, allowing for fresh perspectives on the artist’s work – such as scratching or painting on film, peeling and reassembling the photo-chemical emulsion – following the tradition of experimental cinema. This offers a new way to engage with the outtakes that were set aside by the filmmaker. 

The workshop is open to everyone, no prior experience with 16mm necessary.