São Paulo – Four short-films were chosen as finalists of the cinema contest “The Arabs and 25th of March Street” and will contend for the audience choice in movie sessions starting this Wednesday (25th). The film productions were selected by five judges and now will be submitted to the audience’s choice. The winner in the Popular Jury category will receive R$ 10,000 (US$ 3,484.20). The other categories, with winners already picked, are Official Jury, which will give R$ 15,000 (US$ 5,226.30), and Young Directors, which will give R$ 6,000 (US$ 2,090.52) to the best feature of under-18 directors.
The contest has as its goal to build a film collection of the Arab immigration in the surrounding of 25th of March Street, in São Paulo, and it’s organized by a partnership between the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and the Institute of Arab Culture (Icarabe). The four finalists chosen by the jury were: “25 de Março: A Memória do Mundo Árabe” (25th of March Street: The Memory of the Arab World, in a direct translation), “Ao Mundo Novo” (To the New World, in a direct translation), “Arabescos: do Mascate ao Doutor” (Arabesque: From the Peddler to the Doctor, in a direct translation) and “O Cheiro de Zattar” (The Smell of Zattar, in a direct translation).
Directed by Gustavo Brandão, “25th of March Street: The Memory of the Arab World” portrays the history of immigrants through the memories of the illustrator and designer Paulo Sayeg based on his childhood on 25th of March Street. It’s through them that the director rebuild the identity of the Arab people in the region. Pedro Jorge directs “To the New World” and narrates the history of his family based on a talk with his father.
“Arabesque: From the Peddler to the Doctor” was produced for an academic project in 2004 and was never in exhibition. It was edited as a short-film for the contest. It was directed by Beatriz Le Senechal and tells the story of the route taken by Arabs through wars and hunger until they thrive as retailers in downtown São Paulo. Zeca Miranda directs “The Smell of Zattar”, a film about the challenges faced in the management of a retailer shop that is run by the third generation of an Arab Family. The movie takes a trip through the past, present and future. All films don’t over 15 minutes of duration and are classified as “documentaries”.
In its first edition, the film contest “The Arabs and the 25th of March Street” was created to encourage film production and to build a collection about the history of the Arab immigration in the surrounding of the 25th of March Street. Famous by its retailers and lower prices, the region received Arab families that immigrated to Brazil starting at the end of the 19th century. Despite attracting millions of people from all over Brazil, the region has a small historic collection, especially when it comes to images.
The films will be shown together in a session in several addresses between February 15th and March 7th. Upon entering the theater, viewers will receive a ballot. After watching the movies, they will vote on their favorite. The ballot will be given to Icarabe’s staff to be placed in the booth. The winners will be announced in a ceremony to be held in São Paulo on March 25th, date that honor the Arab immigration in Brazil.
The culture director of the Arab Chamber, Silvia Antibas said that the judges had a “hard time” to select the finalists because the productions approached the theme creatively and with different narratives. She also said that the goal of the contest was reached.
“It was hard to choose the finalists because they had different styles and ways to tell the stories and all displayed high quality. Our goal is to promote all of the movies. The intent to build a collection was achieved since there was a retrieve of memory. There were films that even used images of the immigrants leaving their original countries”, she said.
In all, 30 productions entered the contest. The judges convened on February 5th and made a selection. In this meeting, the winners of two categories were chosen, but not announced. The jury members are Silvia Antibas, Icarabe’s cultural director Geraldo Adriano Godoy de Campos, and filmmakers Lina Chamie, Otávio Cury and José Roberto Sadek.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
