WBC Willy Brandt Center Jerusalem

Screening in Cooperation with the Goethe-Institut

Wednesday, 06.10.2010 at 7:30pm (19:30)

"ARAB SHORTS 1"

קצרים ערבים أفلام عربية قصيرة

A selection of short films from the project “Arab Shorts 2009” for screenings in 2010

“Arab Shorts” are curated programmes of new, independent short film productions from Arab countries. In 2009 11 curators from 9 countries selected more than 50 feature films, documentaries, animated and experimental films, reflecting the rich and dynamic film culture of the Arab World. In response to the lively interest evoked by the project, the Goethe-Institute Kairo initiated the selection of highlights from Arab Shorts to be presented on the cinema screen to audiences in Arab Countries, and beyond.

The screening selection was compiled by Marcel Schwierin, filmmaker and curator from Berlin and project director of Arab Shorts 2009.

The screening takes place under the auspices of the Goethe-Institut.

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Programm (total duration 74 min):
(Arabic follows English)

MY BELOVED HOMELAND (TRAILER)
Dir: Abdallah Kawash, Jordan 1964, 3 min

The story of the film takes place in the 1948 war and is considered as an early beacon in the Jordanian film industry.

“Arab Shorts” are curated programmes of new, independent short film productions from Arab countries.

The films were made accessible on the internet on a long-term basis:

www.arabshorts.net.

DEAF COUNTRIES
Dir:Eyad Hamam, Jordan 2009, 2 min

Many efforts have been made to unify sign language across the Arab World, standardise the language and spread it among members of the deaf community. Such efforts produced many sign languages, almost as many as Arabic-speaking countries…

ONE IN A MILLION
Dir: Nadine Khan, Egypt 2006, 12 min

On a stifling night in Cairo, a wedding party drives across a bridge honking loudly; roaming adolescents comment on people they encounter; two guards play cards while a third sips tea and watches a soap opera. A brief meditation on the arbitrariness, fluidity and intensity of lived experience.

ARAFAT & I
Dir: Mohammed Fleifel, Palestine 2007, bw, 15 min

A comedy about Marwan, a Palestinian in love, and Lisa, the girl he’s going to marry. He thinks everything about her is perfect – she was even born on the same day as Chairman Arafat! But how will he make Lisa understand the significance of this coincidence

WE BEGAN BY MEASURING DISTANCE
Dir: Basma Al Sharif, Palestine 2009, 19 min

Long still frames, text, language, and sound are weaved together to unfold the narrative of an anonymous group who fill their time by measuring distance. Innocent measurements become political ones, drawing an examination of how image and sound communicate history, tragedy, and the complication of Palestinian nationalism

FAREWELL
Dir:Joud Said, Syria 2008, 13 min

Joud Said searches for a short story of cinema in Syria, for film festivals that have changed many lives, for a cinema that has lured a young generation to see its reflection in a pool of water, and that years later finds itself alone, in a theatre.

OH TORMENT
Dir: Monira El Qadiri, UAE 2008, 10 min

A series of repetitive choreographies are set to Abdul Wahab Al Rashid’s woeful folk song of love and lament. Complete with over the top costumes, props and make-up, Wa Wailah is lodged somewhere between a Shakespearean play and an MTV music video as rich and colorful contemporary visuals are mixed with traditional attire.

www.willybrandtcenter.org/en/red/reviews10/shorts
18.05.2012, 11:05