Feature Films
Al Hodoud (Borders)
Al Hodoud (Borders) This is a not-to-be missed event of the Sydney Arab Film Festival – designed to bring everyone together for a serious laugh in these absurd times! Bring your family and friends, share vintage Arab comedy and talk across the aisles after the film!
Alexandria… New York
After “Alexandria… Why”, “La Mémoire”, and “Alexandria, Again and Forever”, Youssef Chahine uses the character of Yehia to look back on the 50-year history of his cinema in an autobiographical fiction feature.
Bab El Chams (The Door to the Sun)
In the beginning was Palestine, just when the story of Younes’ life began. Younes sometimes went under the name of Abou Salem, sometimes the Man and some other times Ibrahim’s father. This was also when the story of his wife Nahila began – she became his bride at the age of 12, she was to breast-feed their first baby during the exhausting walks as she fled with the other villagers towards the North and left behind their burnt-down house. He would visit her in Bab El Chams, a cave in Galilee and tell her about Saladin and Nasser and Nahil believed his tales.
Bab el Web
Kamel and his brother Bouzid live in Bab El Oued, a working class neighborhood of Algiers. Kamel is a disillusioned, brooding loner.
Jammin’ in the Middle E (Free Outdoor Event)
Jammin’ in the Middle E is an Arab Australian comedy about families, fast cars, gangsta rap and …rosewater. Naima and Ishak are sister and brother from a conservative, middle class Muslim family in Western Sydney. Ishak is a part time rapper who dreams of being a gangster but fails miserably at every turn while Naima, who usually ends up bailing him out, has the hots for his mate – the cool dude Rafi.
Meshwar
Hadi is walking in the night; reconsidering his commitment to the girl he is supposed to marry, when Reem dressed as a boy in her attempt to runaway from home jumps and falls in his arms.
Private
Inspired by real events, documentary filmmaker Saverio Costanzo’s feature debut is a minimalist psychological drama about a Palestinian family of seven suddenly confronted with a volatile situation in their home that in many ways reflects the larger ongoing confilct between Palestine and Israel.