São Paulo – The 6th Arab World International Cinema Exhibition will take place in São Paulo from June 17th to 29th, featuring 15 films never before screened in Brazil, made in countries such as Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Palestine, Algeria, among others. The event is promoted by the Institute of Arab Culture (Icarabe) in partnership with Sesc-SP (Social Service for Trade of the State of São Paulo), the São Paulo City Hall and the Cinemateca (Cinematheque). The exhibition is curated by the Brazilian Nagila Guimarães and the Tunisian Dora Bochoucha.
“These are films by young directors. Each has their own differential,” says Soraya Smaili, the Cultural and Scientific director at Icarabe, of the movies that comprise the exhibition. “The opening film is ‘Microphone,’ by a highly awarded director (Ahmad Abdallah), and it has everything to do with the current (political) moment (in the Arab world),” she claims. Microphone is the first Egyptian film to win the Golden Tanit award at the Carthage Festival, in 2010.
The festival will open on September 16th, at 07:30 pm, at CineSesc. The festival’s films will also feature at Centro Cultural São Paulo, Cinemateca and Matilha Cultural.
The exhibition will also feature Outlaws, by Rachid Bouchared, nominated for an Academy Award for best foreign film in 2011; Son of Babylon, by Mohamad Al Daradji, nominated in 2010 by United States magazine Variety as Filmmaker of the Year in the Middle East; and City of Life, by Ali Mostafa, the first Emirati film to be distributed internationally.
The highlights among the films directed by women include Buried Secrets, the second production of the Tunisian Raja Amari, who featured in the Venice and Abu Dhabi festivals; One-Zero, by Kamla Abu Zekri, a blockbuster in Egypt and at international festivals; and Every Day is a Holiday, the first feature film by Dima El Horr, combining politics and surrealism.
The exhibition also includes three documentaries: VHS Khaloucha, by Néjib Belkadhi, a comedy about an amateur filmmaker who makes feature films in VHS; Port of Memory, a Palestinian film, and Recycle, by Mahmoud Al Massad, which portrays the social environment that generates terrorists and immigrants.
On the last day of the event, curator Dora Bochoucha and her Tunisian colleague Lina Menzli, producers of Buried Secrets, will have a meeting with the audience. “They are going to discuss the moment that Tunisia is experiencing, from the beginning of protests until now, and the current scenario,” says Soraya. They will also discuss themes such as the art of filmmaking in the Arab world, current Arab productions and the film market. Dora is a consultant to the Venice Festival, in Italy, and the director of the Carthage Film Festival, in Tunisia. The meeting will be held at 08:30 pm at the Cinemateca.
For further information on the exhibition, go to www.icarabe.org.br.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
