Screening
SAFAR Film Festival: Generational Encounters in Arab Cinema @ Barbican Centre
01 Jul 2021 – 06 Jul 2021
Barbican Centre
London, United Kingdom
Tickets cost between £7-£12
The SAFAR Film Festival is the only festival in the UK dedicated to cinema from the Arab world. SAFAR offers a unique space for audiences to explore and celebrate the diversity of Arab cinema past, present, and future.
The 2021 edition of SAFAR is curated by Rabih El-Khoury around the theme of Generational Encounters in Arab Cinema, showcasing contemporary and classic films with emergent youth, familial disparities and societal tensions at their centre.
SAFAR will run in cinemas from 1 – 10 July with screenings at the Barbican, the Ciné Lumière, and the ICA, and online from 11 – 17 July with a programme of donation-based screenings to enjoy at home (available in the UK). A selection of online events will further illuminate the theme, inviting directors, industry leaders, and other creatives for Q&As and panel discussions accessible globally.
Check out the full programme on www.safarfilmfestival.co.uk
Screenings at the ICA include:
* Thursday 8 July: Let's Talk, directed by Marianne Khoury (Egypt) plus director Q&A
A mother and her daughter explore together the trajectory of four generations of women from their family, an Egyptian family from the Levant where life and cinema have been intimately linked and still are.
* Thursday 8 July: You Will Die at 20, directed by Amjad Abu Alala (Sudan)
Based on Sudanese writer Hammour Ziada’s short story, 'Sleeping at the Foot of the Mountain', You Will Die at Twenty follows the life of Muzamil (Mustafa Shehata) from birth until his 20th birthday. The debut feature of Amjad Abu Alala, the film is a coming of age tale that made waves this year in the industry as the first ever Sudanese film to be submitted to the Academy Awards.
* Friday 9 July: Lift Like a Girl, directed by Mayye Zayed (Egypt)
Shot over four years, this documentary is an intimate journey into the inner life of an aspiring athlete in Egypt. Zebiba (Arabic for ‘raisin’) has been training at Captain Ramadan's famous car park gym for five years, since she was 9, and hopes to follow in the footsteps of the iconic female weightlifters who have trained there before her.
* Saturday 10 July: Shorts Programme (Palestine, Sudan, Morocco, Egypt)
Responding to this year’s overarching festival theme Generational Encounters, this programme of short films foregrounds some of the most remarkable works coming from the Arab world in the past two years.
* Saturday 10 July: 200 Meters, directed by Ameen Nayfeh (Palestine) plus director Q&A
In Ameen Nayfeh’s accomplished feature debut, a Palestinian father navigates the complexities of life under occupation, where the wall separates him from his family.
Screening
SAFAR Film Festival: Generational Encounters in Arab Cinema @ Barbican Centre
01 Jul 2021 – 06 Jul 2021
Barbican Centre
London, United Kingdom
Screening
SAFAR Film Festival: Generational Encounters in Arab Cinema @ Institut Francais
03 Jul 2021 – 07 Jul 2021
Institut francais du Royaume-Uni
London, United Kingdom
Screening
SAFAR Film Festival: Generational Encounters in Arab Cinema @ Online Programme
11 Jul 2021 – 17 Jul 2021
Online
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