São Paulo – The Institute of Arab Culture (Icarabe) will promote, from August 8 to 27 in São Paulo, the 13th Arab World Film Festival. Once again, the event relies on support from the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce. It will feature 24 movies divided into four thematic sections: Arab world, Arab-Latin Dialogues, Palestinian Cinema and French-Arab Cinema.
“The films portray social and cultural relationships in the Arab world from a humane perspective, approaching human dramas and breaking stereotypes,” said Natalia Calfat, a member of the Festival’s organizing team. “This is the unifying thread,” she added.
The featured productions deal with themes such as migration, asylum, identity, multicultural dialogue, interchange, the other’s gaze, empathy and integration.
Calfat said highlight films include “Wajib” (trailer below), by the Palestinian filmmaker and poet Annemarie Jacir, in which an estranged father and son must get together to personally deliver the invitations for their daughter/sister’s wedding, as local tradition dictates. “This film has won multiple awards,” said Calfat. Wajib has won accolades at the 2017 Locarno Festival, the Dubai International Film Festival and London’s BFI. It will kick off the Festival at 7 pm on the 8th at Cinesesc. “Its choice was also due to the relevance of the director’s cinematography,” she said. (Story continues after video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXpZ4CyeYrw
“Insyriated” features a mother trying to keep her family safe through the war in Syria, with a sniper by her front door. It stars actress Hiam Abbas, who recently played Freysa, the one-eyed replicant in Blade Runner 2049, and is currently in the cast of HBO series “Succession.” (Story continues after trailer)
“As I Open My Eyes” tells the story of a young woman during the Arab Spring in Tunisia. This production was previously screened in Brazil, as well as the also Tunisian film “Hedi”. “Paris, La Blanche” is about an Algerian woman that travels to the French capital in search of her husband, who left a long time ago. The title refers to the encounter of two worlds, the French and the Arab, since the Algerian capital, Algiers, is also known as “La Blanche” (The White).
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In the Arab-Latin section, the highlights are the documentaries “A Palestina Brasileira” (The Brazilian Palestine), by Omar Barros Filho, and “¡Yallah! ¡Yallah!” (Let’s Go! Let’s Go!, in a direct translation), by Argentinian directors Fernando Romanazzo and Cristian Pirovano, about soccer in Palestine. These directors will be among the ones that will discuss their films with the audience after the screenings.
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“Taste of Cement”, a documentary from Syrian director Ziad Kalthoun, portrays Syrian refugees that work in the construction industry in Lebanon.
“Naila and the Uprising”, a North American production directed by Brazilian director Julia Bacha, is a documentary on Palestinian activist Naila Ayesh set in the Gaza Strip in the 1980s.
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All films will be screened at Cinesesc and Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, except for “Good Luck Algeria,” which will be screened at Reserva Cultural on August 26, over breakfast.
Full tickets cost BRL 12 (USD 3.24), except the ones from the French-Arab section, which will cost BRL 6 (USD 1.62).
For further information, click here.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum and Sérgio Kakitani
