São Paulo – The 4th Arab World Cinema Exhibition, to open on Monday (31) and end on September 13th, should be shown at four sites in São Paulo: CineSesc, Galeria Olido, São Paulo Cultural Centre and the Syrian Sports Club. There will be 13 long movies and three short ones of Lebanese, Tunisian, Egyptian and Iraqi origin. The exhibition is promoted by the Arab Culture Institute (Icarabe) and has the support of the Social Service for Commerce (Sesc), the Municipal Culture Secretariat, the Madrid-Spain Arab House and the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce.
The exhibition should be divided into two parts. The first is a selection by the Icarabe that is called the Trilogy of the Desert. Among the feature films programmed are "Wanderers of the Desert", "Dove’s Lost Necklace" and “Bab’Aziz”, by the Tunisian Nacer Khemir.
“Khemir is an intellectual who studies literature and poetry and has great appreciation for his cultural identity and origin," said Soraya Smaili, cultural diretor at the Arab Culture Institute. "Apart from being a director, he is also a poet and artist," she added.
According to her, the first feature film, "Wanderers of the Desert," is from 1984 and makes it clear the director’s influences from Arab literature, from the art of telling stories and from a world of fables, despite his having lived in France for a large part of his life. The film, which had the collaboration of Tunisian director Moufida Tlatli ("The Silence of the Palace" and "The Season of Men"), won the Locarno Festival Jury Award, in Switzerland.
The second long movie, "Dove’s Lost Necklace" shows the great influence of the "Arabian Nights", a classic work of oriental tales compiled between the 13th and 16th centuries, and has as its backdrop the mosque of Andalusia, in the 11th century. "It is a very symbolic site for having received different cultures," said Soraya.
"Bab’Aziz", which is the director’s most recent production and should mark the opening of the exhibit at the CineSesc, shows an old wise man who tells several stories while crossing the desert in the company of his granddaughter. "It once again brings to mind the ‘Arabian Nights’ and the millenary art of telling stories," said Soraya. The production counted on co-screenwriter Tonino Guerra, a successful author, responsible for movies like Amarcord, by Federico Fellini, and Blowup, by Michelangelo Antonioni.
The second part of the exhibit, according to the Icarabe director, is the result of a partnership with the Arab House of Spain, which selected depictions of Iraq showing the drama, expectations and changes in life in the country after the occupation by the United States. This part of the exhibit should include movies "Under the Bombs", "Chaos", "The Other" and " About Baghdad".
In the Special Exhibit Reports from Iraq the movies shown will be "Ahlaam", "Turtles Can Fly", "Iraq in Fragments", "Life After the Fall" and "Underexposure". The exhibit also includes short movies by the Independent Cinema and Television School of Baghdad: "A Candle for the Shabandar Café", "A Stranger in his own Country" and "Going Away". The special showing of movie "West Beirut” closes the exhibition, on the 13th, in a session at the Syrian Sports Club.
To Michel Sleiman, president of the Arab Culture Institute, "the films that are included in this fourth edition of the exhibit are a light, albeit faithful, testimony to the life of the seventh art in the Arab world of today. War, as is unavoidable, is by far the central theme of Arab movies. The invasion of Iraq and Southern Lebanon, however, although providing reasons for the creative impulse, are not necessarily the only raw material for these movies." According to him, another theme is also notable, "that of spirituality in a terrain that is a marker for existence: deserts".
To Soraya, each of these directors brings along a universe of diversity and worldviews. "This selection becomes even more interesting if we take into consideration that the directors come from different roots, generations and parts of the world, once again characterizing the riches of this magnificent mix that is the Arab culture," he says.
Honour
The exhibit should also honour Youssef Chahine, an Arab director who passed away in 2008. Chahine worked until he was 80 years old, and was a greatly awarded director who left an important legacy in his works and strong social characteristics. He will have two films shown "The Other" and "Chaos".
Service
Check the full schedule at www.icarabe.org/mundoarabe2009
CineSesc
September 1st to 13th
www.sescsp.org.br
Rua Augusta, 2075 / Cerqueira César
Tel.: (+55 11) 3087-0500
Tickets: full price – 4.00 Brazilian reals (US$ 2), half price – 2.00 reals (US$ 1), price for Sesc users – 1,00 real (US$ 0.50)
Galeria Olido
www.galeriaolido.sp.gov.br
Avenida São João, 473 / Centro
Tel.: (+55 11) 3397-0158
Tickets: full – 3.00 reals (US$ 1.60) and 1.50 real (US$ 0.80)
São Paulo Cultural Centre
www.centrocultural.sp.gov.br
Lima Barreto Hall
Rua Vergueiro, 1000 / Paraíso
Tel.: (+55 11) 3383-3401 / 3402
Free admittance; tickets will be available at the venue one hour before the session.
Syrian Sports Club
www.sirio.org.br
Av. Indianópolis, 1192 / Planalto Paulista
Tel.: (+55 11) 2189-8500
Free admittance
*Translated by Mark Ament
