São Paulo – The four nominated movies for the cinema contest The Arabs and the 25th of March Street had eight more screening sessions scheduled, besides the nine other ones that were already set up early this week. The extra sessions will take place at Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC), in the campuses of Santo André and São Bernardo do Campo, from March 3nd to 6th.
This Wednesday (25th) evening, the four short film nominees were screened for the audience for the first time, at Mário de Andrade library, in downtown São Paulo. All of the productions have as a theme the Arab presence in Brazil and 25th of March street, a symbol of this community in the city of São Paulo.
O cheiro de zattar (The Smell of Zattar, in direct translation), by Zeca Miranda, shows the day-to-day of Empório Akkar, an Arab food shop located in the surrounding of 25th of March street, of the employees and of the owner Daniel Nasser with some more intimate moments of the retailer, such as a Arabic class and the memories brought out by a family picture.
Attending the session, the director Miranda, who is from Recife, said that he had just returned from a period in Italy and was in a “period between works” when he saw the contest being advertised on TV. The ad was broadcasted several times and for a long period on Rede Bandeirantes last year.
He then came up with the idea of showing the traditional and family-run retailer shop and started his research. “I went looking for a shop with a history behind it, linked to the Arab culture”, he said. “Then, I met Daniel and he was sensational, opened the doors of his store for me to follow the day-to-day and this is the result”, he added.
Miranda, a journalist who works with movies, especially documentaries, said he shot for a week and that the whole period of production lasted two months.
25 de Março: a memória do mundo árabe (25th of March Street: the memory of the Arab world, in direct translation), by Gustavo Brandão, uses a different kind of language. The production interlays current images of 25th Street with the testimony of the designer and cartoonist Paulo Sayeg, who tells childhood stories of the street he used to go to with his father, while he draws images that refer to these memories.
Just as Miranda, Brandão heard about the contest through TV. He has a major in Cinema and the movie submitted to the contest is his sixth. He met Paulo Sayeg through a friend. “He [Sayeg] understood the project and opened up his heart”. According to the director, it was the respondent himself that proposed the drawing to go along with his testimony. “He links a personal and emotive story with the street’s past”, he states.
Brandão said that it took him ten days to shoot the images, eigth of them at 25th of March street and two with Sayeg’s testimony, and that the full production was finished in three months, from beginning to end.
In the movie Ao Mundo Novo (To the New World, in direct translation), Pedro Jorge talks about his grandfather, a Lebanese immigrant who gave him his name and that died before he was born. Together with his father, he retrieves the memories of his shop-owner grandfather, whose shop gave its name to the movie.
It was the favorite movie of André Dias, one of the viewers. Unlike the others, the movie presents images of an empty 25th of March street, with the shops closed, giving out a feeling of absence. “This tour through an empty 25th street was very interesting”, he opined.
The last movie screened was Arabescos: do mascate ao doutor( Arabesque:From the Peddler to the Doctor, in direct translation), which comprises testimonies of Arab immigrants and descendants that portray the history of the community throughout the generations, from the first Syrian and Lebanese that arrived in Brazil to work as peddlers, from the developments of their business and the choice of their children and grandchildren to other professions.
The short-film gathers testimonies taken for an academic project from 2004 that remained unreleased. Beatriz Le Senechal is the director.
Viewers overcome storm
Even with the storm that hit the city of São Paulo during Wednesday afternoon, causing traffic and public transportation to go haywire, the public came to the screenings.
André Dias, who works with animations, complimented the initiative of the contest. “I like the idea of this recovery, a record, but with a modern outlook”, he said. One of the goals of the organizers was to precisely encourage the creation of a cinematographic collection about 25th street and Arab immigration in São Paulo.
Student Amanda Cristina believes that the majority of people that visit 25th street, currently the largest popular shopping area in São Paulo, doesn’t know its past.”A lot of people visit [25th], it would be great to know [the history]”, she said, who liked 25th of March Street: the Memory of the Arab World the most.
Every viewer has the option to choose his/her favorite movie and the most voted will win the prize in the People’s Choice category. In the first screening, 31 people voted. The second screening is scheduled for this Thursday (26th), at Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, also in São Paulo downtown.
The contest organized by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and Institute of Arab Culture (Icarabe) received 30 entries. Besides the choice in Popular Jury, there will be awards given in the Official Jury and Young Directors categories.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
