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The aim of the Sydney Arab Film Festival is to showcase stories emerging from diverse Arabic speaking cultures to all Australian audiences that reflect the complexity and diversity of Arab experiences. Furthermore we aim to address the (mis)representations of Arab culture through film by providing critical spaces and give exposure to alternative representations of Arab culture, Arab commentary and self-representation.
HISTORY
The Sydney Arab Film Festival was first held in April 2001 over 3 days at The Roxy Parramatta as an associated event of Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre’s East of Somewhere Exhibition. This first Festival was managed by Information and Cultural Exchange (ICE), and was a partnership with Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Fairfield Community Resource Centre, Powerhouse Museum and was supported by New South Wales Film and Television Office, Parramatta City Council and Village Cinema.
In 2004, Information & Cultural Exchange hosted another Sydney Arab Film Festival event: A Big Night of Arab Shorts. It was held at Hoyts Merrylands in conjunction with the Holroyd City Fest and showcased local short films by Arab Australian
filmmakers.
The 2005 festival, 48 local and internationally produced films were screened across Campbelltown, Parramatta and Bankstown. Some of the highlights included Egyptian Classics from 1947-71, the Australian premiere of Youssef Chahine’s ‘Alexandria New York’, the epic ‘The Door to the Sun’ which spans 50 years from Palestine in 1948, along with a range of student films from ALBA Fine Arts Academy, Lebanon.
SAFF PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Fadia Abboud & Mouna Zaylah, FESTIVAL DIRECTORS, Lena Nahlous & Caitlin Vaughan, PRODUCTION, Maissa Alameddine, WEBSITE MANAGER, Mei Ying Saw, ART DIRECTOR, Hajji Mohamad Duar, SPONSORSHIP CONSULTANT, Bakar Almussawi, CARTOONIST / ILLUSTRATOR, Fadle Elharris, FESTIVAL VIDEO ARTIST, Fatima Mawas, PRODUCTION ASSISTANT, Stephanie Dhiel, RESEARCH & ADMINISTRATION, Emma Collison, PUBLICIST.
ORGANISING COMMITTEE
Abbas Makrab, Alissar Gazal, Tony Ishak (World Media International), Khaled Sabsabi, Nick Tsoutas (Casula Powerhouse & Liverpool Regional Museum), Hajji Mohamad Duar, Ahmad Tobgy, Fatima Mawas, Yassar Alzouhairi, Me’ad Assan, Tarek Abou Senna (Consul General of Egypt), Mohamed Nasr & Saleh Alsalahey (Vice Consuls of Egypt), Mick Darda & Tanya Sadeghi-Assl (Parramatta City Council), Maissa Alameddine (MediaLoft).
With special thanks to our funding bodies, partners and sponsors
NSW Film and Television Office, Arts NSW, Riverside Theatres (Parramatta), Parramatta City Council, Consulate of Egypt,World Media International, My Sat, Sawtelghad (Voice of 2morro), Casula Powerhouse, Liverpool Regional Museum, Media Loft, Filmotion Productions, NSW Community Relations Commission, AMWU (Australian Manufacturers Workers Union), Switch: Multimedia and Digital Arts Access Centre, University of Western Sydney, Writing and Society Research Group, Marrickville Council and Gulf Air – Official Airline Sponsor.
SHUKRAN & THANKS
The 2007 Sydney Arab Film Festival has come together with the support and commitment of many individuals and organisations including:Casula Powerhouse especially Kon Gouriotis, Nick Tsoutas, Brianna Munting, Khaled Sabsabi, Christine Spatz and Paola Niscioli, Riverside Theatres, Parramatta – Robert Love, Tony Hayes, Jonathon Llewellyn, Ian Phipps, and the production team and box office staff, University of Western Sydney through the Writing and Society Research Group – Ivor Indyk and Mireille Astore
Parramatta City Council – Lord Mayor David Borger, Martin Portus, Mick Darda and Tanya Sadeghi-Assl, Egyptian Consulate – Consul General, Mr Tarek Abou-Senn, Vice-Consul Mohamad Nasr and Vice-Consul Sayed Alsalahey, Kape Communications – Fotis Kapetopoulos, Anna Cominos, Alissar Chidiac, Paula Abood, Soraya Asmar, Sohail Dahdal, Assad Abdi and Nadya Stani.
A special shukran and thanks to the ICE staff and Management Committee: LENA NAHLOUS, Director, ICE & Switch, CAITLIN VAUGHAN, Assistant Director, LILIANA RUTI, Community IT Program Manager, XANTHE LAWSON, Artfiles Program Manger, TREY THOMAS, Urban Music Program Coordinator, MIGUEL SUMERA, Administration Officer, BARRY GAMBA, Chief Consultant, Emerge Program…. and all the people that come and go from time to time, doing what they can to make things happen including all our volunteers, placements, consultants, family and friends.