By Travis Johnson
The 14th annual Arab Film Festival Australia (AFFA) hits this August, featuring a program of six features and five short films from Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, Jordan, Palestine, Iraq, Tunisia and Australia.
This year’s program has a particular focus on gender, looking at both the lives of Arab women and how they negotiate modern day prejudice. AFFA, and also the lives of young men coping with expectations of masculinity.
“I am very excited that this year’s films have such a strong representation of women and complex stories about the lives of men as they challenge societies expectations of them” said Co-Festival Director, Fadia Abboud. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to feature new female directors through the incredible films we have selected in this year’s Festival.”
This year’s opening night film is Sophie Boutros’s Mahbas, aka Solitaire, a Lebanese romantic comedy about a woman who is prejudiced against Syrians, only to be horrified when she discovers her daughter is marrying into a Syrian family. Director Boutros will be a guest at the opening night, which takes place at Sydney’s Riverside Theatres Parramatta on Thursday, August 17.
Other features this year include A Maid For Each, a documentary on female foreign domestic workers in Lebanon; I Still Hide to Smoke, an all female ensemble drama set in a traditional Turkish bathhouse; the buddy comedy Ali, The Goat and Ibrahim; Gaza Surf Club, a documentary about surfing in tone of the world;s most war-torn locations; and the hit Australian comedy, Ali’s Wedding.
The Arab Film Festival Australia runs in and kicks off in Sydney from August 17–20 August, Melbourne from August 25-27, Canberra from September 1–2, and wraps up in Perth on September 9. For tickets, session times, and info, head over to the official site.
