The Arab Film Festival Australia (AFFA) is now in its twelfth year of bringing contemporary Arab cinema to Australian audiences. The only festival of its kind in Australia, its goal is to provide a space for showcasing the modern reality and diversity of the Arab experience.
This year's festival will feature films screened in Sydney (Aug 13-16), Melbourne (Aug 21-13) and Canberra (Aug 28-30).
Among others, Amber Fares' film Speed Sisters, award-winning Jordanian film Theeb, and Mohamad Al Daradji's In the Sands of Babylon will be shown alongside Ghadi, the first feature film from Lebanese director Amin Dora, and Emirati director Ali Mostafa's road trip film From A to B.
Ghadi tells the story of a special needs child, born in a traditional coastal town in Lebanon. Unable to communicate normally, the boy's sounds scare the neighbours, who mount a campaign to chase him and his family out of town.
In Ali Mostafa's From A to B, A is Abu Dhabi and B is Beirut, the starting point and destination in a road trip taken by three childhood buddies following the death of one of their freinds. With Jordan and Saudi Arabia thrown in between the stops, the trip is full of opportunities to bond and break each other, but which will it be?
Tickets are available from the festival website www.arabfilmestival.com.au
