{"id":393621,"date":"2025-08-14T16:16:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T19:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/?p=393621"},"modified":"2025-08-15T10:27:55","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T13:27:55","slug":"filmmaker-to-attend-arab-world-film-fest-in-brazil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/filmmaker-to-attend-arab-world-film-fest-in-brazil\/","title":{"rendered":"Filmmaker to attend Arab World Film Fest in Brazil"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 Isabel Fern\u00e1ndez, director of one of the films being screened at the Arab World Film Festival, The Builders of Alhambra<\/em>, will take part in a discussion next Saturday (16) following the screening of her feature film at CineSesc in S\u00e3o Paulo. Her documentary tells the story of the Alhambra fortress, built by the Arabs in the 14th<\/sup> century in the city of Granada, in southern Spain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fern\u00e1ndez is in Brazil to take part in the festival\u2014organized by Sesc, state-run lender Banco do Brasil, and the Institute for Arab Culture (Icarabe), and sponsored by the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce<\/strong> (ABCC<\/a>)\u2014which this year marks its 20th<\/sup> edition. On Thursday (14), she was welcomed by directors of the ABCC at the institution\u2019s headquarters in S\u00e3o Paulo and spoke with ANBA about the film, her connection to the Arab world, and her expectations for the audience Q&A.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Isabel
Isabel Fern\u00e1ndez: Director is in S\u00e3o Paulo to participate in the film festival<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cIf I could choose a direction for this discussion, it would be to examine how the history [depicted in the film] can contribute to present-day issues. Where we came from and where we are headed,\u201d says the Spanish director. The Builders of Alhambra<\/em> tells the story of those involved in building the fortress, highlighting the role of vizier and poet Ibn al-Khatib.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Barcelona-born director of other films and documentaries, such as La ciutat dels turistes<\/em> (\u201cCity of Tourists,\u201d 2017), Fern\u00e1ndez explores issues in her work such as territorial occupation, immigration, and belonging, among other themes. Arab culture and history, which are part of Spain\u2019s heritage, are also subjects of interest and research for the filmmaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been drawn to Arab and Muslim art, and I feel fortunate to have been born in a place with such a rich crossroads of cultures. Our identity is wrapped in eight centuries of Arab culture, which fascinates me and should be explored,\u201d says the filmmaker. The result of this interest was the creation of The Builders of Alhambra<\/em>, a site that, despite being famous and a major tourist attraction, still had a story to tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During her meeting with leaders of the ABCC, Fern\u00e1ndez discussed partnerships for future projects and support for promoting the film. Released at the end of 2022, the documentary has been screened in cities across Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia. She now hopes the film will reach more theaters in Brazil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The meeting with Fern\u00e1ndez was attended by the ABCC\u2019s treasurer, Mohamad Abdouni Neto; Board member and curator of the Arab World Film Festival, Arthur Jafet; the Director of Institutional Relations, Fernanda Baltazar; the screenwriter and producer of the Lebanese film Arz\u00e9<\/em> (2024), Louay Khraish; the coordinator of the Edward Said Chair at the Federal University of S\u00e3o Paulo (Unifesp), Javier Amadeo; and the fiscal advisor of Icarabe, Gabriel Bonduki.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quick facts:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Builders of Alhambra,\u201d Saturday (August 16), 5:30 PM
Discussion with director Isabel Fern\u00e1ndez, Saturday, August 16, 7:20 PM
CineSesc \u2013 Rua Augusta, 2,075, S\u00e3o Paulo
More information on tickets, other screening times and locations, and films is available on the festival’s website<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more<\/em>:
Arab World Film Fest opens with film on Palestine<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translated by Guilherme Miranda<\/strong><\/p>\n

Marcos Carrieri\/ANBA<\/div>
Marcos Carrieri\/ANBA<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Isabel Fernand\u00e9z, director of The Builders of Alhambra, will take part in a discussion on Saturday (16) in S\u00e3o Paulo following a special screening of her feature film, which portrays the construction of the fortress in the city of Granada in the 14th century.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2317,"featured_media":393612,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46537],"tags":[50998,48478,10345,34388,27517,54036,49603],"class_list":{"0":"post-393621","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arab-brazilian-chamber","8":"tag-alhambra-2","9":"tag-arab-brazilian-chamber-of-commerce-2","10":"tag-banco-do-brasil-en","11":"tag-cinesesc-en-2","12":"tag-icarabe-en-2","13":"tag-isabel-fernandez-3","14":"tag-spain-2"},"wps_subtitle":"Isabel Fernand\u00e9z, director of The Builders of Alhambra, will take part in a discussion on Saturday (16) in S\u00e3o Paulo following a special screening of her feature film, which portrays the construction of the fortress in the city of Granada in the 14th century.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393621","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\/2317"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}