São Paulo – From August 15th through September 16th, the Institute of Arab Culture (Icarabe) will hold the 8th Arab World Film Festival in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, featuring 20 titles made in countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Palestine, Algeria, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Kuwait, Qatar, Tunisia, Iraq, Brazil, Argentina and Spain.
This year, the festival will be divided into two sections: “Arab World,” featuring highlights of past editions, classics and films that were never shown in Brazil. This section will also include works granted by Spain’s Casa Árabe. The second section, “Latin Arab Dialogues,” is composed of Brazilian and Latin American productions focusing on Arab immigration to Latin America.
“We have a partnership with Cine Fértil, a group that shows Arab films in Argentina, and it also promotes the International Festival of Latin Arab Films,” says Geraldo de Campos, the Icarabe cultural director and one of the festival curators.
Argentinean films featuring at the event will include Beirut Buenos Aires Beirut, directed by Hernán Belón, telling the story of Grace, a young Buenos Aires resident of Lebanese ascent who leaves the capital of her country headed for Beirut to find out what happened to her great-grandfather Mohamed, who abandoned his family in Argentina 50 years ago. Another of the festival’s Argentinean flicks is 1001 Patagonian Nights, directed by Javier López Actis, a love story that unfolds during a 800-kilometre trip from Bariloche to the Somuncurá Plateau.
“Today we have films made by descendants and non-descendants,” says Campos of Brazilian films tackling Arab immigration. “I believe the valuation of Arab culture is not a prerogative of descendants, it is a function of Brazilian society,” he says.
The highlight among the festival’s Arab films is Five Broken Cameras, by the Palestinian director Emad Burnat, who was nominated for an Academy Award this year. The documentary portrays the life of the director himself, who filmed Israeli violations, police raids and non-violent protests against Israel’s occupation in the village of Bilin, northeast of Ramallah. The film’s title refers to five cameras which the Israeli soldiers broke while Burnat documented the struggles of the population of Bilin.
According to Campos, politics and the issue of women are ever-present themes in the works shown at the event. “The richest aspect of the festival is that it outlines the extreme complexity of Arab society, the diversity of Arab culture,” he says. “The shooting process for Five Broken Cameras, which will open the festival, is proof of how difficult it is to make cinema (in the Arab World),” he explains.
To the festival’s curator, as a result of the revolution process some Arab countries are experiencing, cinema has regained a “key role” to those populations. “These are societies which are trying to rebuild and reinvent themselves, and the arts are crucial in that respect,” he says.
The event’s organizers are still working on the guests’ schedules. Pipo Bechara, the director of Cine Fértil, has confirmed his attendance. Unconfirmed guests include the aforementioned Palestinian director Emad Burnat, the Egyptian director Ahmad Abdallah (who has directed the movie Microphone), and the Algerian actress and director Adila Bendimerad.
Service
8th Arab World Film Festival
August 15th to September 1st in São Paulo
The organizers have not released the session times. Those will be available soon on the websites of CineSesc and Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, where the films will be shown.
Opening: August 15th, 7:30 pm at CineSesc
CineSesc: Rua Augusta, 2.075 – Cerqueira César – São Paulo. Tel. (+55 11) 3087-0500 www.sescsp.org.br
Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil: Rua Álvares Penteado, 112 – Centro – São Paulo. Tel. (+55 11) 3113-3651/3652 http://migre.me/friPf
From September 4th to 16th the festival will feature in Rio de Janeiro
Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil:
Rua Primeiro de Março, 66 – Centro Tel. (+55 21) 3808-2020 http://migre.me/friXq
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum