Box office open for the SAFAR Film Festival 2023

The Arab British Centre unveils the 2023 edition of the SAFAR Film Festival spanning 29 June – 9 July.

The theme for this year’s programme is A Journey Through Space And Time as SAFAR invites audiences to travel through a world of Arab cinema, mapping the region across a new axis and showcasing films which traverse territories and historical periods.

This entertaining, thought-provoking and innovative festival will feature over 30 screenings across the UK including 11 UK premieres, a first-ever SAFAR family screening, new releases and classic films, plus live events with 15 filmmakers and industry practitioners. The opening night will be held at Ciné Lumiere, before the festival travels across London and into the Barbican and ICA. The Garden Cinema is welcomed for the first time as a host venue alongside new national partners The Ultimate Picture Palace, Oxford, and The Midlands Art Centre, Birmingham. SAFAR Film Festival will screen in nine cities nationwide, including London, Manchester, Birmingham, Chester (part of the Liverpool Arab Arts Festival), Hull, Plymouth, Oxford, Cardiff and Glasgow, and is proud to present its 2023 edition in partnership with Shubbak Festival, Europe’s largest festival of contemporary Arab cultures.

Throughout the last decade SAFAR has been the only festival in the UK dedicated to promoting cinema from the Arab world and offering a unique space for audiences to explore and celebrate Arab cinema past, present and future. Now, this pioneering festival remains the UK’s largest showcasing of Arab feature films, documentaries and shorts.

SAFAR will launch on Thursday 29 June with the lavish, historical drama and UK premiere of The Last Queen (2022), screening at Ciné Lumiere and followed by a Q&A with co-director Damien Onouri, who was nominated for a Director’s Award at Venice last year. On Sunday 9 July SAFAR will close with the documentary Foragers (2022), from the mulit-disciplinary artist Jumana Manna, who will be in conversation with fairtrade organisation Zaytoun CIC at the Barbican.

Additional award-winning titles and premieres to screen include the acclaimed festival hit The Damned Don’t Cry (2022) the sophomore feature from BAFTA nominated, UK-based director Fyzal Boulifa (following his debut Lynn + Lucy, 2019); this preview will be followed by a director Q&A. Also screening will be Raven Song (2023), followed by an interview with the Saudi Director Mohammed Al Salman, and the winner of the FIPRESCI Award at Cannes: The Blue Caftan (2022) by Maryam Touzani. Sara Suliman’s documentary Heroic Bodies (2022) focusses on the rise of the Sudanese women’s movement, receives a UK premiere, as does the radical melodrama Birdland (2023), directed by Leila Kilani.

This year a new addition to the SAFAR programme will be the family screening of Dounia and the Princess of Aleppo (2022). Co-directed by Marya Zarif and André Kadi, this animated feature tells of the six-year-old titular character as she leaves Syria with her grandparents when war breaks out. The film has collected multi-awards and nominations across festivals globally. It receives its UK premiere at SAFAR.

Another highlight in the festival diary will be Resisting with Cinema: An Evening curated by Zineb Sedira which will shed light on the relationship between cinema and anticolonial activism in Algeria. SAFAR diversifies further by partnering with Gulf Photo Plus for a pre-festival event of photographer presentations under the banner of Slidefest, at ICA on 21 June.

The UK premiere of Hala Galal’s documentary From Cairo (2021) is presented in cultural partnership with the BFI and their Youssef Chahine season running throughout July. Galal documents the lives — and resilience — of two single women, Heba and Aya, who are defying norms to carve out space for their dreams. All three women have a desire to create space for more voices and nuanced perspectives in Egypt. The film will be preceded by Chahine’s classic short documentary Cairo As Seen By Chahine (1991), and are together presented as a city tour of the Egyptian city – as it was in the 90s and as it is today. The screening will be followed by a conversation with Galal led by the Chahine season curator, Elhum Shakerifar.

SAFAR is also collaborating this year with Another Sky – a new UK festival of SWANA experimental music – to present a new joint commission between two early-career artists. Filmmaker Salam Shamki and musician Zeynap Ağcabay will showcase the world premiere of their collaborative project as a live performance during the festival on 2 July at ICA.

“We are thrilled to see how SAFAR has grown over the years, becoming the largest showcase of Arab cinema in the UK. It’s been exciting to witness the increasing interest and enthusiasm from audiences for Arab cinema, and we are proud to continue to provide a unique space for exploration and celebration of this vibrant and diverse film culture.” – Amani Hassan, Acting Executive Director, the Arab British Centre.

“It has been a joy to collate a diverse range of films that explore the rich and varied landscape of Arab cinema. This year’s programme is particularly special as we’ve been delighted to discover films with unique and seldom-seen locations, as well as revisiting past narratives through fresh perspectives, using archive, oral history, and pop culture. We’re excited to transport our audiences through time and space to experience the vibrant cultural tapestry of Arab cinema.” – Rabih El-Khoury, SAFAR Film Festival Curator.

Further news of special guests, venues and box office booking information will follow soon. For regular updates subscribe to the SAFAR newsletter and prepare to immerse yourself in this exciting and unique programme from 29 June – 9 July 2023.

Tickets on sale now: www.safarfilmfestival.co.uk