VARIOUS: Argentina lifts the curtain on its first Arab film festival, showing a host of movies, shorts and documentaries from across the Middle East
Record ID:
446750
VARIOUS: Argentina lifts the curtain on its first Arab film festival, showing a host of movies, shorts and documentaries from across the Middle East
- Title: VARIOUS: Argentina lifts the curtain on its first Arab film festival, showing a host of movies, shorts and documentaries from across the Middle East
- Date: 5th December 2011
- Summary: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (DECEMBER 1, 2011) (REUTERS) FESTIVAL DIRECTOR WITH GUESTS VARIOUS OF GUESTS BUYING TICKETS AND ENTERING SCREENING ROOMS DIRECTOR OF MOROCCAN FILM "THE END", HICHAM LASRI, ENTERING SCREENING ROOM (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) (ROUGH TRANSLATION) FILM DIRECTOR, HICHAM LASRI, SAYING "Firstly, it is the pleasure to present a film that is very personal and at the same time open to the world. I am a child of MTV. For me, the cinema has no nationality. It is something that we all share. We have all the same references. We have all seen and read almost the same things. And we have the same mode of communication with the social networks. And so for me, we are in a global village. We all share film and for me that does not change, whether we show it in China, Morocco or here. I think the only limits will probably be the comprehension of some social phenomenon. The film speaks of a very precise moment of my country that I saw surrounding the death of Hassan II in 1999. On whether it is going to be comprehensible or not, it is the little nuances which people will probably not catch. But my film is more an artistic expression and almost furiously passionate for me as I express a moment that I lived. It was 11 years ago, so it is a fundamental part of my personality crisis. So I think we will have in any place where the film has been projected, particular reactions because it is a rock film but at the same time comes from Morocco. It is irreverent because it comes from a very conservative society, so these contradictions mobilise and interest the people. And I think furthermore there is a cinematic reflection that allows people who love and know cinema to love it a bit more, probably to alienate part of the population who will not make the effort to understand a film that is in Arabic, in black and white, without music, without much dialogue and extremely violent too."
- Embargoed: 20th December 2011 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Argentina
- Country: Argentina
- Reuters ID: LVA7FHBPEPTA5DAXP7935K1H5XNP
- Story Text: Thirty films were shown at Argentina's first Arab film festival in Buenos Aires on Thursday (December 1), spanning feature films, documentaries and shorts from across the Middle East.
Moroccan filmmaker Hisham Lasri travelled to Argentina for the event and showcased his film, "The End", which previously won an award at the Tangier Film Festival.
Lasri said although the film was deeply routed in his personal experiences of Morocco, it had aspects which any viewer could relate to.
"My film is more an artistic expression and almost furiously passionate for me as I express a moment that I lived," said Lasri.
"It is a rock film, but at the same time comes from Morocco."
The black-and-white film leads viewers through a near-empty Casablanca and, at times, verges on the surreal.
Festival director Edgardo Bechara El Khoury said his aim was to bring Arabic films to a wider audience and knock down Hollywood stereotypes of the Middle East.
"We are also strengthening and generating a public that are predisposed and open to receiving a cinema that has a wealth of importance and a level of production comparable to any production in Europe or in any other part of the world, but that, at the same time comes from countries that have been strongly stereotyped by Hollywood," said El Khoury.
An actress from one of the billed films "Buried Secrets" -- directed by Raja Ammari and co-produced by Tunisia, France and Switzerland -- said she hoped the showing of the film would highlight the transformation Tunisian film is undergoing.
"I would like that through the film de Raja (the director) provides a vision of what Tunisian cinema is today, because Tunisian cinema is undergoing a big transformation," said Sondos Belhassen.
Films from Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt and the Palestinian territories are slated for the film festival, which is running until December 7. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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