São Paulo – To celebrate the 130 years of Arab immigration to Brazil, the Institute of Arab Culture (Icarabe), with the support of the Ministry of Culture of Egypt, brings nine classics of Egyptian cinema to movie theatres in São Paulo. Most of the movies in the Images of the East Cinema Exhibit are from the 1960s, and they aim to show the history of Arab cinema to Brazilian audiences. The festival should take place from June 24th to July 6th, at CineSesc, Cine Olido and Cinemateca.
Images of the East Cinema Exhibit has been promoted by the Icarabe since 2007 and the objective is to bring further knowledge of the Islamic world to Brazilians. In this edition, the films to be presented bring themes like the conflict of classes, social degradation and loss of values. The oldest long movie is The Flirtation of Girls, from 1949, a musical.
The Curlew’s Cry, from 1959, is based on a 1934 novel by Egyptian author Taha Hussein. The movie takes place in the rural region in the south of Egypt and tells the story of a young lady who plans vengeance against the engineer who destroyed her family. Another movie is The Second Wife, from 1967, which shows the story of a married man who cannot have kids and, together with his wife, decides to find a second wife.
The fourth movie, Diary of a Country Prosecutor, which is also based on an Egyptian novel, from 1937, shows the daily activities of a civil servant named to execute the legal tasks in a village in the interior of Egypt, showing the social conflicts of the region. In The Postman, from 1968, the story is that of Abbás, an inspector at a post office, who opens a letter telling the story of a secret love affair.
The sixth movie, from 1969, was one of the most controversial of its time. Some Kind of Fear tells the story of a gang that takes over a village in southern Egypt, terrorising its inhabitants. The film was considered a metaphor for the Nasser regime and was banished until the president himself asked for it to be cleared.
*Translated by Mark Ament
