{"id":358796,"date":"2023-09-01T17:00:23","date_gmt":"2023-09-01T20:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/with-an-eye-on-women-arab-film-festival-opens-in-sao-paulo\/"},"modified":"2024-03-22T16:57:47","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T19:57:47","slug":"with-an-eye-on-women-arab-film-festival-opens-in-sao-paulo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/with-an-eye-on-women-arab-film-festival-opens-in-sao-paulo\/","title":{"rendered":"With an eye on women, Arab Film Festival opens in S\u00e3o Paulo"},"content":{"rendered":"

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 Three sisters living with their family in a quiet village in the Lebanese mountains. In a world of arranged marriages negotiated with dowries, one of them, Layla, lives between the dissatisfaction of married life and the delight of being the mother of a seven-year-old boy. The visit of two French people interferes with the family\u2019s routine and introduces those women to lives different from the patriarchal system in which they are immersed.<\/p>\n

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\u2018Mother Valley\u2019: Layla and her seven-year-old son<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With this plot, the 18th Arab World Film Festival opened this Thursday (31) evening in a sold-out room at Cinesesc, in the capital of S\u00e3o Paulo. The first film on the schedule, \u2018Mother Valley\u2019 [\u2018La nuit du verre d\u2019eau\u2019], a French-Lebanese production directed by Carlos Chahine, was a teaser of the following screenings until September 6: Productions displaying the routines of Arab homes and cities permeated by an in-depth discussion on societies and geopolitical issues in the region.<\/p>\n

In \u2018Mother Valley,\u2019 a 2023 film that now premieres in Brazil, the setting is 1958, when Lebanon lives amid a religious conflict between Christians and Muslims. At that moment, the crisis was not directly in the village but centered in the capital, Beirut; however, it spilled over into the small place\u2019s coexistence when a Muslim living with a Christian family left after a religious discussion. The French also introduce their way of life to that family, with many divorces and world travels, which allure housewife Layla.<\/p>\n

At the festival opening, curator Arthur Jafet spoke about the selection of films and the importance of encouraging the arts in the Arab world; according to him, currently full of challenges but capable of reinventing itself. \u201cCreative expression is a potent tool that today, more than ever, demands our endorsement and support. Enabling independent cultural production is crucial to creating vibrant societies,\u201d said Jafet, who is also director of National Relations at the Institute of Arab Culture in Brazil (ICArabe), which promotes the festival alongside SESC S\u00e3o Paulo.<\/p>\n

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The Film Festival opened on Thursday<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cChanges in the world are reflected in the sphere of artistic creation,\u201d said the president of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC), Osmar Chohfi, at the opening ceremony. The ABCC is a festival sponsor through its cultural branch, the Arab House. Chohfi recalled the event marks the 20th anniversary of the death of Palestinian scholar Edward Said. \u201cA great orientalist and activist of Eastern culture who stood out in the academic field internationally,\u201d said Chohfi.<\/p>\n

Said and his ideas gave rise to the creation of ICArabe. The institute\u2019s cultural director, Soraya Misleh, spoke about this story at the exhibition\u2019s opening. \u201cIt arose from this resentment at how we were portrayed and how we are portrayed,\u201d said Misleh about the stereotype constructed about the East Said opposed: \u201cAn invented East, of barbarians, uncivilized, inclined to violence by nature, which, therefore, needed to be controlled, in contrast to the West of rational, civilized, and logical,\u201d described Misleh.<\/p>\n

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Osmar Chohfi spoke for the ABCC<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Speaking on behalf of Cinesesc, manager Gilson Parker recalled the Arab World Film Festival reached its 18th anniversary. He said it has been fruitful in exploring the diversity of the Arab world, which is sometimes unknown, despite the proximity S\u00e3o Paulo has with Arab communities. \u201cI usually say Cinesesc has a door to Rua Augusta and a window to the world,\u201d he said. Rua Augusta is Cinesesc\u2019s address.<\/p>\n

The Arab World Film Festival brings ten new films from Arab countries or co-produced with Arabs. Three have Palestinian participation, which was thought of in homage to Edward Said. One is \u2018Alam,\u2019 which depicts the story of students who decide to replace the flag on the eve of Israel\u2019s Independence Day. Another is \u2018Hanging Gardens\u2019 [\u2018Janain mualaqa\u2019], about a boy who found a sex doll in the garbage in Baghdad, and the third is \u2018A House in Jerusalem,\u2019 in which a girl moves from England to Jerusalem, where she tries to heal the wounds of her mother\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

The program includes two debates this Friday (1) and next Tuesday (5).<\/p>\n

In addition to the ABCC, Instituto do Sono sponsors the event. The festival also has the support of the Edward Said Chair of Contemporary Studies and the Dean of Extension and Culture of the Federal University of S\u00e3o Paulo (UNIFESP), CineF\u00e9rtil, and Tabla publishing house.<\/p>\n

Quick facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n

18th Arab World Film Festival
\nAugust 31 to September 6
\nCineSesc \u2013 Rua Augusta, 2075, Cerqueira C\u00e9sar \u2013 S\u00e3o Paulo
\nFull schedule here<\/a>
\nTickets: BRL 24 (full), BRL12 (discounts), or 8 (Sesc member).<\/p>\n

Translated by El\u00fasio Brasileiro<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 18th Arab World Film Festival opened this Thursday (31) at Cinesesc in S\u00e3o Paulo. The first screening was \u2018Mother Valley,\u2019 in which women in a Lebanese village endure the reality of the local patriarchy, the 1958 conflict, and the desire for freedom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1455,"featured_media":351017,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[5083,5701,9231,3784,44953,28406,34387,44943,34388,16901,44956,44944,44551,34389,43853,44945,5051,43860,34390,44960,44961],"class_list":{"0":"post-358796","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture","8":"tag-arab-cinema","9":"tag-arab-films","10":"tag-arab-movies","11":"tag-arab-world-film-festival","12":"tag-cheap-cinema","13":"tag-cinema-en-2","14":"tag-cinema-arabe-en","15":"tag-cinema-barato","16":"tag-cinesesc-en-2","17":"tag-edward-said","18":"tag-film-about-lebanon","19":"tag-filme-sobre-o-libano","20":"tag-filme-ventre-materno","21":"tag-filmes-arabes-en","22":"tag-filmes-libano-en","23":"tag-filmes-palestinos","24":"tag-films","25":"tag-lebanon-films","26":"tag-mostra-mundo-arabe-de-cinema-en","27":"tag-mother-valley-film","28":"tag-palestinian-films"},"wps_subtitle":"The 18th Arab World Film Festival opened this Thursday (31) at Cinesesc in S\u00e3o Paulo. The first screening was \u2018Mother Valley,\u2019 in which women in a Lebanese village endure the reality of the local patriarchy, the 1958 conflict, and the desire for freedom.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1455"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}