TripoliScope - In Search of Tripoli's Cinema Culture and Practices is "A Developing Essay Exhibition by UMAM D&R" curated by Nathalie Rosa Bucher, that was prepared over the course of the summer of 2019, one year after UMAM D&R rescued the archive of the Société Commerciale Cinémathographique Tripoli Liban (SCCTL). The exhibition was set up at the Warche 13 – Art and Civic Space, Al Mina, Tripoli and scheduled to open on October, 18, a day after the "thawra" (revolution) began. UMAM D&R was among the first cultural organizations and structures that responded to the extraordinary events unfolding on the streets all over Lebanon by embarking on an open strike in support of the uprising. In a joint statement issued by each supporting entity and sent out to its respective networks on October 25, 2019, the suspension of cultural activities was announced, and TripoliScope was brought back to Beirut.UMAM D&R is pleased to bring this exhibition which primarily consists of documents and objects put together from the SCCTL collection back to the north to the Khoury Building in Chekka. In addition to the rescued documents that focus on the SCCTL, TripoliScope acquired the right to display old images of Tripoli that are part of the Jean-Pierre and Yasmina Zahar collection and made available by the Arab Image Foundation. Arranged thematically, the displayed material touches on the company itself and the films it screened at the cinemas it managed, covering all genres popular between the 1940s and 70s. These would range from Arabic and Indian, European, Kung Fu, Western and also erotic films. Through the SCCTL company records, which UMAM D&R cleaned and inventoried, information could be gained about the sheer volume of films screened as well as their providence. TripoliScope opened on December 11, 2021, and will continue to run until May 1, 2022, open on Saturdays and Sundays from 12 pm to 6 pm and by appointment. UMAM D&R is pleased to also have the Institut Français au Liban Tripoli as a partner for TripoliScope 2021/2022.
