Forget the cinema seat. Alexandria is getting ready to make movie night a little more… aquatic.
A new floating cinema experience is being prepared at Al montazah, where the screen will sit by the beach and audiences will watch from small boats instead of rows of chairs. Think summer breeze, the sea beneath you, a movie on the big screen and Al montazah’s scenery in the background.
It sounds like something you’d find at an arts festival in Venice or a luxury resort in the Maldives. But this time, it’s coming to Alexandria — bringing a floating-cinema concept that has already made waves around the world to Egypt for the first time.
And yes, people have actually been watching movies this way for years.
Cinema Galleggiante — Venice (2020–Present)
One of the most established examples is Cinema Galleggiante – Unknown Waters in Venice, where cinema literally takes place on the lagoon.
The project was created in 2020 by Edoardo Aruta and Paolo Rosso, during the strange post-pandemic period when the idea of bringing people together outdoors suddenly felt very different. Instead of a conventional theatre, audiences watched films from their own boats or a shared floating platform behind Venice’s Giudecca Island.
But Venice didn’t stop at simply putting a screen on the water. The festival mixes film with visual art, live performances, music and experimental forms of cinema.
Now a regular part of Venice’s cultural calendar, its 2026 edition runs from August 22 to September 7, continuing to turn the lagoon into an open-air cultural space.
Basically: Venice said, why sit inside a cinema when you already have a lagoon?
Cinéma sur l’Eau — Paris (2020)
In 2020, Paris gave the floating cinema concept a very different twist.
As part of Paris Plages, the city turned the Seine into a giant open-air cinema, with 38 electric boats carrying moviegoers across the water.
Around 150 people watched the French comedy Le Grand Bain from the boats, while another 150 watched from deck chairs along the riverbank. The event was created during the COVID-19 pandemic, when traditional cinemas were still dealing with restrictions, turning social distancing into something that was actually… fun.
It was less “please keep your distance” and more “your cinema seat is now a boat.”
Archipelago Cinema — Kudu Island, Thailand (2012)
Thailand took the idea even further.
In 2012, architect Ole Scheeren designed Archipelago Cinema, a temporary 120-seat floating auditorium in a lagoon off Kudu Island, near Koh Yao Noi.
The cinema was created for the inaugural Film on the Rocks Yao Noi festival, curated by filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Tilda Swinton. Audiences were taken by boat through the darkness to reach a glowing raft surrounded by dramatic limestone cliffs.
Even better, the floating structure borrowed from local fishermen’s raft-building techniques and used recycled, modular materials. After the festival, it could be dismantled and reused by the local community rather than simply becoming a permanent piece of architecture.
So yes, people really did sail out into the middle of a lagoon… just to watch a movie.
Floté by Machia Vellii — Umm Al Quwain, UAE (2024 – Present)
Temporarily closed until November
And you don’t have to travel all the way to Europe or Thailand to find one.
At Floté by Machia Vellii in Umm Al Quwain, the floating cinema brings the experience to the UAE’s coastline. Guests watch films from private boats anchored just off Mangrove Beach, with the sunset and sea as their backdrop.
The boats are set up with seats, tables and ambient lamps, while a beachfront café delivers drinks and desserts straight to the audience.
The concept returned for the 2026 season in February, with two screenings each evening. It’s currently temporarily closed until November, but the setup is a pretty close preview of what Alexandria is about to do: a movie, a boat and the sea — all in one night.
Cinema Paradiso — Soneva Jani, Maldives (Ongoing)
At Soneva Jani in the Maldives, the idea becomes much more dreamy.
Its Cinema Paradiso lets guests watch classic films above the lagoon, surrounded by open skies and ocean breezes.
It’s less of a festival and more of a luxury island experience — the kind where the sea becomes part of the cinema itself.
Because apparently regular popcorn under the stars wasn’t enough.
Al Montazah’s Sea Cinema — Alexandria, Egypt (Soon)
And that brings us back to Al Montazah’s Sea Cinema.
Alexandria’s version takes the idea somewhere that feels particularly fitting: the sea is already part of the city’s identity, so why not make it part of the movie too?
Instead of a floating auditorium or a boat that travels between screenings, the planned experience puts the audience in small boats facing a screen on the beach — turning a regular summer night into something halfway between a cinema trip and a mini boat ride.
It’s a simple idea, but that’s exactly what makes it fun.
You arrive for a movie, get into a boat, drift out onto the water, and suddenly the soundtrack has waves in it.
From Venice to Alexandria
Floating cinemas have appeared in very different forms around the world — as experimental art festivals in Venice, pandemic-era pop-ups in Paris, architectural installations in Thailand, luxury experiences in the Maldives and travelling cultural projects in London.
Now, Alexandria is bringing its own version to Egypt.
And honestly, if there was ever a city in Egypt where “let’s watch a movie from a boat” made perfect sense, it had to be Alexandria.
The sea has always been part of the city’s story. This time, it gets a front-row seat to the movie.
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