Land of the Pharaohs: Egypt on Screen
Bill Douglas Centre

When: 29 January 2026 to 15 May 2026
Where: Bill Douglas Cinema Museum Foyer
Time: 10.00am - 5.00pm
Cost: Free
Suitable for: Family friendly

A pair of 19th-century lithographs depicting iconic Egyptian landscapes, by renowned painter David Roberts, are among a treasure trove of film and moving image artefacts that will go on display in a new exhibition. Land of the Pharaohs – Egypt on Screen explores the profound influence that the Middle Eastern country has had upon the iconography and infrastructure of film and cinema, and how it has captured the imagination of generations. The exhibition showcases the significant collection of materials held in the museum’s archives, spanning nearly 200 years of history. They include Roberts’ lithographs of the Sphinx and Cairo, which were produced in the 1840s after he had toured the region and captured still half-buried sites of historic interest via illustration and watercolour sketches. These pictures, which pre-date the popularity of photography, proved hugely influential in fixing Egyptian landscapes in the mind’s eye of the Western world. The exhibition will also showcase lavish programmes detailing the design and features of famous cinemas such as the Carlton in Islington and the Streatham Astoria, whose architecture drew from Art Deco and Egyptian motifs, particularly in the wake of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb.

The exhibition promises a chronological tour through Egypt’s cinematic influence, beginning with some of the earliest forms of still and moving imagery from the 19th century. They include a French book – Le Sphinx – which depicts how pre-cinema audiences would have been wowed by lantern slide projection, with shadows used to portray historical scenes. The book, published in 1896, even contains the piano score that would have accompanied each scene. Artwork, press books, and film stills from some of Hollywood’s most famous productions, such as The Ten Commandments, will be on display, as well as a special programme printed for a Royal showing of Caesar and Cleopatra (1945) for Queen Mary. There is even a commemorative matchbook featuring Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra in the eponymous 1963 film – an era when it was socially acceptable to smoke in the cinema. There will also be memorabilia from more recent and contemporary movies, such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, Stargate, The Mummy (1999), and The Prince of Egypt. The exhibition will also confront the issue of representation and the exclusion of many Egyptian actors from international productions, despite Egypt boasting the fourth-largest film industry in the world.