The Arab British Centre in association with the Institute of Contemporary Arts and Dubai International Film Festival present:
SAFAR: THE FESTIVAL OF POPULAR ARAB CINEMA
(Exhibition: 2 September – 5 October 2014)
Films: 19 - 25 September 2014
After the phenomenal success of the inaugural festival in 2012, the Arab British Centre returns to the ICA with Safar. The only festival in the UK solely focused on programming popular Arab cinema, Safar includes UK premieres alongside classics of the Arab silver screen. These will be accompanied by Q&As, special introductions and an afternoon forum which will bring together some of the most significant figures in Arab cinema. Safar has expanded its scope this year to include an exhibition of Arab movie posters and film ephemera, all shown in the UK for the first time.
Safar’s Artistic Director Omar Kholeif says, “Popular histories are too often sidelined in favour of a particular breed of ‘art house’ cinema which seeks to emphasise a Eurocentric model focused on particular social, political and aesthetic concerns. Safar seeks to remove Arab cinema from the perceived notion that it is a peripheral or ‘third’ cinema. Safar is a celebration of the complex social histories inherent within popular Arab cinema, and highlights the significance of particular icons and makers.”
Executive Director of the Arab British Centre, Noreen Abu Oun says, “The Arab British Centre exists to improve the British public’s understanding of the Arab World, and it does so by showcasing the best of the region’s diverse culture in its year-round programme. Cinema is the most widely enjoyed and accessible cultural output, which is why Safar remains a permanent fixture in our Calendar. Safar is an ever growing project, and will continue to develop to make popular Arab cinema widely available to the general British public. We are thrilled to be working again with Dubai International Film Festival and the ICA for the second edition of Safar, which sees the addition of a month long exhibition of Arab film art and memorabilia.”
Safar chronicles the re-mapping of the future of Arab cinema, and allows a unique glimpse of what it might look like tomorrow.
******
PRESS PREVIEW SCREENING (film tbc) TUESDAY 2 SEPTEMBER, 14:00 AT THE ICA
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For the full programme listing and press release, please click here.
******
Highlights include:
Factory Girl [UK Premiere] - from legendary director Mohamed Khan comes this award-winning contemporary drama. Hiyam is a young factory worker under the spell of Salah, the factory's supervisor. Believing that love can transcend their class differences, Hiyam pursues a dream of being together. When a pregnancy test is discovered in the factory premises, her family and close friends accuse her of sinning, and when Hiyam decides not to defend herself, she pays an enormous price in a society that fails to accept her. Presented in partnership with Dubai International Film Festival
Kit Kat - voted as one of the ten best Arab films of all time, Kit Kat is an early 1990s Egyptian drama-comedy from Daoud Abdel Sayed, one of the most unique voices in global cinema. Sheikh Hosny is a marijuana-smoking blind man who lives with his old mother and his frustrated son in the Kit Kat neighbourhood. Presented in partnership with the Egyptian National Film Center
Rock the Casbah [UK Premiere] - this award-winning contemporary film by Moroccan director Laila Marrakchi unfolds over the three days of the rites of mourning dictated by Muslim custom, following the death of a prominent magnate and family patriarch, Moulay Hassan (Omar Sharif). The solemnity of the occasion is disrupted by the unexpected return to the family fold of Sofia, the rebellious youngest daughter who left Morocco, against her father's wishes, pursuing an acting career in the US. Presented in partnership with Dubai International Film Festival
West Beirut - is a late 1990s homage to Beirut, set in 1975, this film documents the uprising that divided the city of Beirut into Muslim and Christian sectors that led to over a decade of civil war. A chilling story based on the award-winning writer and director, Ziad Doueiri's boyhood memories, this film underscores the terrors children suffer during wartime.
Salvation Army [UK Premiere] - This rapturous debut feature from Moroccan writer Abdellah Taia offers a charged, semi-autobiographical tale about a young graduate who must navigate the sexual, racial and political intrigue surrounding his arrival in Geneva. Inspired by his own autobiographical novel of the same title, Taia’s contemporary coming-of-age story unfolds with love, pain, desire and violence.
The Saturday Forum:
The Saturday forum, comprised of three 60-minute panel discussions, is an integral part of Safar. The forum will bring together some of the most significant figures in Arab cinema to publicly discuss the emergent trends and issues affecting contemporary Arab film-making and will be moderated by Safar’s Artistic Director, Omar Kholeif. The forum is a rare opportunity to capture the pulse of Arab cinema’s future.
An Evening of Short Films:
In an exciting new addition to the Safar programme, the short films explore themes of memory, desire and place. This showcase presents stunning short film works from Ali Cherri, Roy Dib and Jumana Manna.
Exhibition: Whose Gaze Is It Anyway? [2 September – 5 October]:
A central component to Safar is the exhibition, Whose Gaze Is It Anyway? curated by Omar Kholeif which will be held in the ICA’s Fox Reading Room. The display examines the history of Arab pop culture through printed matter – posters, notebooks, diaries and book covers, as well as through film and video.
Included is a selection from the archive of Abboudi Bou Jaoudeh, a prolific collector whose archive located in Beirut holds one of the biggest collections of Arab film memorabilia; from rare Arab film posters to cultural magazines published from the 1930s to the present day, displayed in the UK for the first time. Also from Bou Jaoudeh’s archive is a specially curated selection of historic publications curated by Beirut and Amsterdam-based artist Mounira Al-Solh.
This material sits alongside a newly commissioned work by Sophia Al-Maria with Sam Ashby who exhibit an imaginary poster and sketchbook for her yet to be completed film, Beretta, a rape-revenge thriller set in Cairo. Additionally, Maha Maamoun presents Domestic Tourism II, 2009, a film that seeks to challenge how the image of the Egyptian pyramids has been used by the world’s tourist industry. Raed Yassin’s ebullient single-channel video work, Disco, 2010, also on show, tells the story of the artist’s father, a disco-addict and fashion designer who leaves his family to become a star in the Egyptian horror film industry.
SAFAR: THE FESTIVAL OF POPULAR ARAB CINEMA
(Exhibition: 2 September – 5 October 2014)
Films: 19 - 25 September 2014
After the phenomenal success of the inaugural festival in 2012, the Arab British Centre returns to the ICA with Safar. The only festival in the UK solely focused on programming popular Arab cinema, Safar includes UK premieres alongside classics of the Arab silver screen. These will be accompanied by Q&As, special introductions and an afternoon forum which will bring together some of the most significant figures in Arab cinema. Safar has expanded its scope this year to include an exhibition of Arab movie posters and film ephemera, all shown in the UK for the first time.
Safar’s Artistic Director Omar Kholeif says, “Popular histories are too often sidelined in favour of a particular breed of ‘art house’ cinema which seeks to emphasise a Eurocentric model focused on particular social, political and aesthetic concerns. Safar seeks to remove Arab cinema from the perceived notion that it is a peripheral or ‘third’ cinema. Safar is a celebration of the complex social histories inherent within popular Arab cinema, and highlights the significance of particular icons and makers.”
Executive Director of the Arab British Centre, Noreen Abu Oun says, “The Arab British Centre exists to improve the British public’s understanding of the Arab World, and it does so by showcasing the best of the region’s diverse culture in its year-round programme. Cinema is the most widely enjoyed and accessible cultural output, which is why Safar remains a permanent fixture in our Calendar. Safar is an ever growing project, and will continue to develop to make popular Arab cinema widely available to the general British public. We are thrilled to be working again with Dubai International Film Festival and the ICA for the second edition of Safar, which sees the addition of a month long exhibition of Arab film art and memorabilia.”
Safar chronicles the re-mapping of the future of Arab cinema, and allows a unique glimpse of what it might look like tomorrow.
******
PRESS PREVIEW SCREENING (film tbc) TUESDAY 2 SEPTEMBER, 14:00 AT THE ICA
******
For the full programme listing and press release, please click here.
******
Highlights include:
Factory Girl [UK Premiere] - from legendary director Mohamed Khan comes this award-winning contemporary drama. Hiyam is a young factory worker under the spell of Salah, the factory's supervisor. Believing that love can transcend their class differences, Hiyam pursues a dream of being together. When a pregnancy test is discovered in the factory premises, her family and close friends accuse her of sinning, and when Hiyam decides not to defend herself, she pays an enormous price in a society that fails to accept her. Presented in partnership with Dubai International Film Festival
Kit Kat - voted as one of the ten best Arab films of all time, Kit Kat is an early 1990s Egyptian drama-comedy from Daoud Abdel Sayed, one of the most unique voices in global cinema. Sheikh Hosny is a marijuana-smoking blind man who lives with his old mother and his frustrated son in the Kit Kat neighbourhood. Presented in partnership with the Egyptian National Film Center
Rock the Casbah [UK Premiere] - this award-winning contemporary film by Moroccan director Laila Marrakchi unfolds over the three days of the rites of mourning dictated by Muslim custom, following the death of a prominent magnate and family patriarch, Moulay Hassan (Omar Sharif). The solemnity of the occasion is disrupted by the unexpected return to the family fold of Sofia, the rebellious youngest daughter who left Morocco, against her father's wishes, pursuing an acting career in the US. Presented in partnership with Dubai International Film Festival
West Beirut - is a late 1990s homage to Beirut, set in 1975, this film documents the uprising that divided the city of Beirut into Muslim and Christian sectors that led to over a decade of civil war. A chilling story based on the award-winning writer and director, Ziad Doueiri's boyhood memories, this film underscores the terrors children suffer during wartime.
Salvation Army [UK Premiere] - This rapturous debut feature from Moroccan writer Abdellah Taia offers a charged, semi-autobiographical tale about a young graduate who must navigate the sexual, racial and political intrigue surrounding his arrival in Geneva. Inspired by his own autobiographical novel of the same title, Taia’s contemporary coming-of-age story unfolds with love, pain, desire and violence.
The Saturday Forum:
The Saturday forum, comprised of three 60-minute panel discussions, is an integral part of Safar. The forum will bring together some of the most significant figures in Arab cinema to publicly discuss the emergent trends and issues affecting contemporary Arab film-making and will be moderated by Safar’s Artistic Director, Omar Kholeif. The forum is a rare opportunity to capture the pulse of Arab cinema’s future.
An Evening of Short Films:
In an exciting new addition to the Safar programme, the short films explore themes of memory, desire and place. This showcase presents stunning short film works from Ali Cherri, Roy Dib and Jumana Manna.
Exhibition: Whose Gaze Is It Anyway? [2 September – 5 October]:
A central component to Safar is the exhibition, Whose Gaze Is It Anyway? curated by Omar Kholeif which will be held in the ICA’s Fox Reading Room. The display examines the history of Arab pop culture through printed matter – posters, notebooks, diaries and book covers, as well as through film and video.
Included is a selection from the archive of Abboudi Bou Jaoudeh, a prolific collector whose archive located in Beirut holds one of the biggest collections of Arab film memorabilia; from rare Arab film posters to cultural magazines published from the 1930s to the present day, displayed in the UK for the first time. Also from Bou Jaoudeh’s archive is a specially curated selection of historic publications curated by Beirut and Amsterdam-based artist Mounira Al-Solh.
This material sits alongside a newly commissioned work by Sophia Al-Maria with Sam Ashby who exhibit an imaginary poster and sketchbook for her yet to be completed film, Beretta, a rape-revenge thriller set in Cairo. Additionally, Maha Maamoun presents Domestic Tourism II, 2009, a film that seeks to challenge how the image of the Egyptian pyramids has been used by the world’s tourist industry. Raed Yassin’s ebullient single-channel video work, Disco, 2010, also on show, tells the story of the artist’s father, a disco-addict and fashion designer who leaves his family to become a star in the Egyptian horror film industry.
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