The francophone press of Egypt
2011
Directed by Raymond Collet
Collection Impressions of Alexandria
With support from the French regional government of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and the Centre International de Conservation du Livre based in Arles, the Centre d’Etudes Alexandrines (CEAlex, a CNRS team based in Alexandria) has begun digitising the francophone press of Egypt as part of a French National Research Agency project (No. 08-COMM-050). This film looks at the sourcing of these newspapers and magazines (more than 400 titles since the arrival of the first printing presses with Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798), the digitising process, treatment of the digital pages and text recognition, and then the uploading of the publications onto the CEAlex website. Researchers discuss the importance of the project, the place of the French language in Egypt, the history of the francophone press, and the possible uses to which these documents can be put; documents that cover day-to-day history, the history of fashion, of graphics, of sport etc., and the literary world as both a space for the creation of Egyptian literature and the reception of western literature.