São Paulo – The 19th Arab World Film Festival will take place at CineSesc in São Paulo from next Thursday (29) until September 4, featuring 11 previously unreleased films and a world premiere. The films showcase contemporary cinema from countries in the Middle East and North Africa, focusing on social contexts, conflicts, and the questions that shape the daily lives of people and characters. The festival will include a debate and the participation of Portuguese director Carlos Gomes, who will present the premiere of “The Poet King.”
The festival is organized by the Institute for Arab Culture (Icarabe) and the Social Service of commerce (SESC), and sponsored by the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC), Arab House, and the Sleep Institute.
In addition to the film screenings, two other events will round up the program: a debate held on Sunday (1) immediately after the screening of the film A Burden at 7:05 p.m., and before the screening of Immortals. The screening of A Burden will be at 5:30 p.m., and Immortals will start at 8:30 p.m. The debate will be moderated by Laura Di Pietro, Editorial Director at Tabla publishing house, and feature congresswoman Sâmia Bomfim and Renan Quinalha, Associate Coordinator of the Trans Unit at the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp).
Also at the festival, Portuguese director Carlos Gomes will attend the world premiere of his film The Poet King on Saturday (31) at 5:30 p.m. This documentary takes a journey through the history of poet-king Al-Mu’tamid, who ruled a territory in the south of the Iberian Peninsula in the 11th century.
The film to open the festival’s program is The Teacher, at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday (29), with free tickets distributed starting at 6:30 p.m. The Teacher (2023) is a production from Palestine, Qatar, and the United Kingdom, directed by Farah Nabulsi. It portrays a Palestinian teacher trying to recover after a tragic incident involving his son amidst a tense reality of conflict. The Palestinian British director was previously nominated for an Oscar for her short film The Present (2020).
The contexts and challenges of Arab society
Arthur Jafet, board member of the ABCC and curator of the festival, was quoted as saying in a statement released by Icarabe that the selected films “shed light on” the diversity of the contemporary Arab world. “At a time of turmoil in the Middle East and anti-war protests in public spaces and universities in the United States, our 19th Arab World Film Festival is more contemporary and significant than ever. Showcasing new work from the most daring filmmakers in the Middle East and North Africa, the film series highlights the diversity and complexity of the modern Arab world,” he says.
The creator of the festival, Soraya Smaili, notes that this is a time for reflection and questioning stereotypes associated with the Middle East and North Africa. “We established the festival at the beginning of the Institute for Arab Culture, which now celebrates its 20th anniversary. Over these years, the Brazilian audience has come to appreciate the vibrant culture of the Arab world, which addresses issues that are so relevant and pertinent to Brazilian society,” she says. This edition celebrates the 20th anniversary of Icarabe and the centenary of geographer Aziz Ab’Saber, who passed away in 2012 and was honorary president of the Institute.
Among the themes covered by the films in the festival are the conflicts in Palestine, questions about civil rights, and even a documentary about the explosion at the Port of Beirut in Lebanon in August 2020, among other topics, in genres that range between fiction and documentary.
Read more:
Films directed by Arab women to be screened in Rio
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
