SEMAT was established on October 2001, supporting independent cinema and encouraging youth to create their own images, rhythms and thoughts on screen.

SEMAT members are people working in the artistic field, interested in supporting the development of art, culture and education, cooperation and exchanges in and between Egypt and the whole world.

SEMAT's main goal is to capacitate a new generation of filmmakers by supporting productions, held screenings, and issued a magazine specialized in the affairs of independent cinema.

SEMAT was established as a vehicle for the interaction between the cinema organizations and young filmmakers and independents movements in Egypt.




Introduction:
SEMAT is the first Egyptian organization for independent films that instituted by a group of young filmmakers to make documentaries and short narratives. It is run in accordance with the Egyptian law and is registered by the Egyptian taxation authorities.
The main objective of SEMAT's project is to create a free artistic trend, which is parallel to but independent from the existing cinema institution. The new trend is to use different forms and patterns of art and production techniques from those adopted by the cinema institution. The purpose of this trend is to open new channels for free artistic expression; encourage youths to join this field; and stress the role of cinema as a tool for culture and increasing awareness. Project activities will be implemented in collaboration with the independent groups of filmmakers.




Background:
When the project first began, independent film makers were suffering from the prevailing cinema situation. Films were produced only for profit making and were superficial and typical. They depended on the Hollywood example in its worst form. They were far from creativity, freedom of expression, and quality of ideas. We envisioned building an entity contributing to the creation of new opportunities.
Thus, the direct objective was to make films at phases starting with producing short and medium (feature and documentary) films down to long feature films at subsequent phases. But this does not mean that priority was given to making long films over short films. Both types of films are complementary to each other.
We were keen that the films produced in the project should be unique and different from the prevailing films under the restriction of the existing institutions. For example, the films produced should be far from typical in their themes or characters.
Provide an opportunity for creative innovation of artistic forms.

Express the neglected community groups.
- By making such films. SEMAT ultimately seeks to maximize the role of cinema as a tool for culture and increasing awareness and education not merely for entertainment.
- This goal cannot be achieved without cooperation and exchange of expertise and experiments with other similar groups. It was also necessary to give the youth an opportunity to chance their arms in this field and present their experiments. In addition, other related activities had to be carried out. These included issuing bulletins; holding symposiums; organizing shows, and the like. All this pours in the end in a parallel cinema trend that can, if provided with appropriate conditions and support, achieve the desired goal.
- In fact, the cinema situation did not change in the last two years, if not becoming worse.
- A surprise, it is the situation of the independent cinema that has changed. This gave us the impression that we were on the right track. The presence of institutions supporting independent work encourages those involved in that work to take artistic ventures even if not directly through these institutions.
- Independent cinema can be traced back to early in the 1990s. The first experiments at that time, which continued only ten years, were launched in Cairo. A number of young artists, not exceeding five persons, made 2 to 5 films each.
- The first film produced in the SEMAT project caused a hectic controversy amongst filmmakers about the feasibility of the experiment; the credibility of the project; and its real ability for production.




Founders

> Samy Hossam
> Hala Galal
> Abdel Fattah Kamal