{"id":393698,"date":"2025-08-15T12:58:50","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T15:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/?p=393698"},"modified":"2025-08-15T12:59:25","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T15:59:25","slug":"stories-of-immigrants-that-sao-paulo-could-tell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/stories-of-immigrants-that-sao-paulo-could-tell\/","title":{"rendered":"Stories of immigrants that S\u00e3o Paulo could tell"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 One of the screenwriters of Lebanese film Arz\u00e9<\/em> (2024), Louay Khraish, is in S\u00e3o Paulo this week to attend the 20th<\/sup> Arab World Film Festival, organized by the Institute for Arab Culture (Icarabe), Servi\u00e7o Social do Com\u00e9rcio (Sesc), and state-run lender Banco do Brasil. On Thursday (14), he visited the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce<\/strong> (ABCC<\/a>), a sponsor of the event, in S\u00e3o Paulo. In an interview with ANBA, he said he has a full schedule of appointments in the city, which he hadn\u2019t visited before, and that Brazil and S\u00e3o Paulo, home to many Arab immigrants, can inspire future films and stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a script by Khraish and Faissal Sam Shaib and directed by Mira Shaib, Arz\u00e9<\/em> was Lebanon\u2019s entry for this year\u2019s Oscars but did not make the final five nominees in the Best International Feature Film category, which was won by Brazilian film I\u2019m Still Here<\/em>. Still, Khraish wasn\u2019t disappointed. In fact, the connection and even the \u201cpride\u201d that Lebanese people feel for Brazil is so strong that he was happy nonetheless.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Diamant
Diamant Abou Abboud in a scene from Arz\u00e9: A Lebanese story to be told in multiple countries<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Both Brazil, depicted in I\u2019m Still Here<\/em>, and Lebanon have experienced internal turmoil, notes the screenwriter, which ultimately brings the countries and their stories closer together. More than that, Khraish says, there is even a similarity in the filmmaking style of the two feature films. \u201cThere\u2019s a certain color, a warmth, some similarity. I can\u2019t quite explain it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Arz\u00e9<\/em>, a single mother\u2014played by Diamant Abou Abboud\u2014roams the streets of Beirut searching for her son\u2019s stolen motorcycle in a story that explores daily life, depicts Lebanese reality, and addresses contemporary issues. The inspiration for the screenwriting duo came from the Italian film Bicycle Thieves<\/em> (1948). \u201cWe loved the story because of its simplicity, about this father-son relationship and their search for a stolen bicycle. And we really loved how this film told us a lot about the post-war Italian society,\u201d Khraish says about the European classic. \u201cThis film\u2019s story can be told in Lebanon.,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arz\u00e9<\/em> followed in the footsteps of its Italian inspiration because the screenwriters and director initially wanted it to be widely seen within Lebanon but also to reach audiences in neighboring countries like Syria and Jordan. They were also aware of the film\u2019s potential in South America due to the cultural similarities between the peoples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Khraish was born in Ain-Ebel, a town south of Beirut, and now splits his time between the Lebanese capital and Los Angeles, United States. He has previously visited Rio de Janeiro, and for his first trip to S\u00e3o Paulo, he had several goals: meet friends, visit museums, and see landmarks such as the S\u00e3o Paulo Cathedral and the Municipal Market. The \u201cMercad\u00e3o,\u201d as the latter is known, is located near Rua 25 de Mar\u00e7o, one of the main hubs of the Arab community in Brazil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a lot of untold stories about the Lebanese or Arab experience in S\u00e3o Paulo that could be told. In the US, for example, the Italian Americans have done a very good job telling their stories. I think there\u2019s a lot of potential to tell stories here in Brazil and other South American countries about the immigration from Lebanon and Syria,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check out the full schedule of the Arab World Film Festival at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

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

Screenwriter of the Lebanese film Arz\u00e9, Louay Khraish, attends the Arab World Film Festival and says S\u00e3o Paulo coul inspire movie scripts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2317,"featured_media":393675,"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":[7044,3784,48478,54046,1996,9534,11821,34388,27517,53450,10080,54047],"class_list":{"0":"post-393698","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arab-brazilian-chamber","8":"tag-academy-awards","9":"tag-arab-world-film-festival","10":"tag-arab-brazilian-chamber-of-commerce-2","11":"tag-arze-2","12":"tag-beirut","13":"tag-brazil-en","14":"tag-ccbb-en","15":"tag-cinesesc-en-2","16":"tag-icarabe-en-2","17":"tag-los-angeles-2","18":"tag-sao-paulo-en","19":"tag-screenwriter"},"wps_subtitle":"Screenwriter of the Lebanese film Arz\u00e9, Louay Khraish, attends the Arab World Film Festival and says S\u00e3o Paulo coul inspire movie scripts.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393698","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=393698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}