27-31 October 2011
Goethe-Institut Kairo - 5 El Bustan (Downtown)

In October 2011, the Goethe-Institut Kairo will host an ARAB SHORTS festival event for the third time. This year will see the presentation of eight film programmes, selected by eleven curators (duos resp.) from around the Arab world.

Artistic Director of Arab Shorts, Marcel Schwierin from Berlin, invited curators to contribute art and documentary film programmes which reflect on the current state of things. Apart from the SCREENINGS, a number of guests from Arab countries and from Europe will give PRESENTATIONS.

Special attention will be given to ARTE CREATIVE - an innovative and ground-breaking web-based project in digital arts. Alain Bieber, of the French-German TV station Arte TV, will come to Cairo to present "an editorially animated site for inspiring contemporary audiovisual creation".

Like last year, a VIEWING LOUNGE will give professional visitors the opportunity to watch independent short film productions from Arab countries.

Throughout 2011, selected films from ARAB SHORTS have been presented in Europe and the MENA region. In July the programme received much attention from the media when it was screened during an "Arab film week" at the "Arsenal" in Berlin.

In April and May, a group of 14 Arab film curators went on tour to Germany to network at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and the International Documentary Film Festival "DOKfest" Munich.

The 2011 curators are: Massoud Amralla Al Ali (Dubai International Film Festival), Nadira Ardjoun (International Short Film Festival Clermont-Ferrand), Habiba Djahnine (Algeria, France), Hala Galal and Ayman Hussein (Egypt), Lara Khaldi (Palestine) and Yazan Khalili (Palestine), Maha Maamoun and Sarah Rifky (Egypt), Walid Tayaa (Tunisia), Ala Younis (Jordan).
A guest programme of international short films will be contributed by ARSENAL - Institute for Film and Media Art, Berlin.


SELECTION FROM GULF FILM FESTIVAL

As part of the Goethe-Institut's efforts to boost independent Arab cinema and media art at home and abroad, Arab Shorts is presenting 40 contemporary short films from across the Arab world, selected by 11 curators in eight distinct programmes. The showcase includes films from the Maghreb, Levant, Egypt and Gulf regions.

The Gulf showcase includes: from the UAE, Emirati director Khalid Al Mahmood's award-winning film Sabeel, the story of two young boys in Ras Al Khaimah tending and selling vegetables to help their ailing grandmother.

From Bahrain, Mohammed Jassim's The Power of Generations shines light on the developments that the region has witnessed from the beginning of time; and Omani filmmaker Amer Alrawas' Spices narrates the stories of four individuals at the same moment in time.

Kuwaiti filmmaker Abdullah Boushahri Heaven's Water is the story of a peddler who gets involved with a pregnant girl looking for a way out; while Belgium-Iraq production Land of the Heroes by director Sahim Omar Kalifa tells the story of two young children who want to watch cartoons on television at the peak of Iraq-Iran conflict.

The five films were curated by Masoud Amralla Al Ali, Artistic Director of the Dubai International Film Festival and Director of the Gulf Film Festival.

As part of its 8th edition, the Dubai International Film Festival is hosting a special cinema programme focused on Germany with the Goethe-Institut, which acts as a cultural ambassador for Germany around the world; German Films, in charge of marketing and promotion of German films and its film industry; and the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, one of Europe's premier film commissions involved in film funding and location development and marketing.

DIFF 2011 will be held from Dec 7 to 14, and is organised in association with Dubai Studio City. Dubai Duty Free, Dubai Pearl, Emirates Airline and Madinat Jumeirah, the home of the Dubai International Film Festival, are the principal sponsors of DIFF. The Festival is supported by the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority.


Contact:
arabshorts(@)cairo.goethe.org
www.facebook.com/ARABSHORTS
www.arabshorts.net