São Paulo – When checking out the list of new directors at the 42nd São Paulo International Film Festival, names of Arab origin stand out. In the festival, directors that are in their first or second feature film will be in the New Directors category. The festival placed 104 feature films in the category and, from this list, five directors are of Arab origin. The winner will get the Bandeira Paulista Trophy, on October 31, at Ibirapuera Auditorium, in São Paulo.
The festival is ongoing and runs until October 31. In addition to New Directors, the other categories are: Special Screening, Tributes, Restorations, Mostra Brasil and International Perspective, all adding up to 331 titles.
One of the feature films with Arab directors is “Sofia” (picture above), by Meryem Benm’Barek, who also wrote the script. The director was born in Morocco and the movie is a France-Qatar co-production. The title character lives with her parents in Casablanca, Morocco. At 20 years old, Sofia break the law in her country when she gives birth without being married. The story begins at this point, with the hospital setting a 24-hour deadline for her to come up with the father’s ID before turning her to the authorities. The feature won for Best Script at the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival.
In addition to Meryem Benm’Barek’s film, the other movies directed by Arab directors vying for the trophy are “The Reports on Sarah and Saleem”, by Palestinian director Muayad Alayan; “Dear Son”, by Tunisian director Mohamed Ben Attia; “Poisonous Roses”, by Egyptian director Ahmed Fawzi Saleh; “Yomeddine”, by Egyptian director A. B. Shawky.
Arab co-productions
The São Paulo film festival has included other films linked, one way or another, to the Arab universe, but not directed by Arabs. These are feature films produced or shot at Arab countries. That’s the case of “The Load”, by Ognjen Glavonic, a Serbia, France, Croatia, Iran and Qatar co-production; “Deslembro”, by Brazilian director Flavia Castro (Brazil, France and Qatar co-production); and “Hayati: My Life”, by Sofi Escudé and Liliana Torres (Spain, France and Qatar co-production).
The New Directors competition will play out in two phases. In the first, the movies will be judged by the viewers of the event’s first week. From the over 100 movies initially selected, the best-rated by the audience will then be rated by an international jury. The jurors are Astrid Adverbe, Edgard Tenembaum, Ferzan Özpetek, Sérgio Machado and Teresa Villaverde. In over two decades, the competition has awarded directors such as Iranian Jafar Panahi, for “The White Balloon”, at the 19th edition of the festival, in 1995.
Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
