#OccupyCinema begins as a solidarity action with the #OccupyWallStreet protests in USA 2011.

#OccupyCinema involves the coordination and practical organisation of public space projections onto buildings or other public surfaces— broadcasting films, video documents or live feeds, with the intention of decentralising traditional broadcast monopolies and information power structures where these interfere with freedom of speech or otherwise compel human beings to surrender to the agendas of ethically bankrupt regimes.

There are 3 key ideas guiding #OccupyCinema

1. It is Situationist and Visual in nature. What this means is it takes place in real-world, public (mostly urban) spaces. Because it is run through portable digital projector technology, it is mostly without sound. Because of this, the image is automatically abstracted, and in projection it is juxtaposed with the environment into which it is cast. It lends itself most easily to creative symbolic action (projecting an image that acts as a metaphor - for example a snake crawling down the side of a bank, or barbed wire throttling a corporate billboard, or keywords that create a visual tension). Equally though it can be used to show actual footage of human rights protest, or documentary evidence of an action. In this way footage of a crowd can be transported across a city, so that it can be seen by many, multiplying the numbers of protestors virtually and exponentially.

2. It is not sanctioned by city, state or national broadcasting authorities. It is also therefore Uncensored.

3. It is understood that the intention of #OccupyCinema is to empower open consciousness about specific issues of humanitarian, economic, environmental or social significance. In its ideal form it simultaneously educates, raises awareness and awakens/confronts people with hard realities. It takes practical and aesthetic cues from the protests of May '68 in Paris, when protestors used stencils to create enduring slogans and images. In the 21st century, we use digital cameras (from cellphones to DSLRs) and portable projectors to create moving images to the same goals.

Cine Foundation International will distribute #OccupyCinema Field Operation Manuals as downloadable PDFs: open-source guides to video production and projection. Projection will always require at least two people: one to hold and guide the projector, the second to document the action. By operating in small numbers #OccupyCinema projectors reduce the risk of having their equipment confiscated, and can move fast from location to location.

The first actions are intended to take place on 11.1.11 and again on 11.11.11.