Cairo, Egypt: A Look at the Open Air Cinemas of the Past in Cairo, Egypt

Downtown Cairo once hosted more than 30 cinemas -- some indoor, some outdoor -- known as sinema seify, or summer cinemas. Open-air venues were ideal for the era before air-conditioning: reruns of double and triple bills, gardens for children, balcony seats under the sky. “I remember a cinema named Paradie… It had a garden attached for children to play while parents peacefully enjoyed the show,” wrote Cairo-born film writer Sherif Awad. The nearby Karnak open-air cinema was visible from surrounding apartment balconies -- neighbours could follow the programme for free, night after night, until they could trace the plot from memory without seeing a single frame.

Once summer ended, the bamboo seats were removed for repainting and the cinemas either closed until the following year or converted into roller-skating rinks for winter. Multiplex cinemas in malls have since replaced them, positioned on upper floors to maximise foot traffic past shop windows on the escalator ride up. “It's odd, what we call progress,” Awad concluded.