(MENAFN- Brazil-Arab News Agency (ANBA)) Bruna Garcia Fonseca

São Paulo – Twelve Arab movies will be screened during the 43rd São Paulo International Film Festival to run from next Thursday (17) until October 30. Productions and co-productions from Palestine, Egypt, Qatar, Morocco, Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia and Algeria are part of the schedule.

The selection includes nine fiction films and three documentaries. Palestinian director Elia Suleiman (pictured above) will come to São Paulo to participate in the event and receive the Humanity Award on the 24th. According to the organizers, the prize is awarded to people who show humane, social and political issues relevant to their time in a brave, sensible way.

Three fiction films by Suleiman will be screened at the festival. They areChronicle of a Disappearance(Palestine, 84 min, 1996),Divine Intervention(France, Palestine, 92 min, 2002) and his most recent workIt Must be Heaven(France, Qatar, Germany, Canada, Palestine, Turkey, 97 min, 2019.

Aside from receiving the award, Suleiman will come to show his most recent movie, which won the Cannes Festival this year and was chosen by Palestine to compete for a spot as best foreign movie in the Academy Awards. The director stars in the feature, a comic saga that investigates what exile and searching for a home mean. Mexican actor Gael García Bernal is part of the cast.

The other six Arab fiction movies areCertified Mail , the first feature by Egyptian director Hirsham Saqr (Egypt, 95 min, 2019);The Unknown Saintby Moroccan filmmaker Alaa Eddine Aljem (Morocco, France, Qatar, 100 min, 2019);Papichaby Algerian director Mounia Meddour (France, Algeria, Belgium, Qatar, 106 min, 2019);Tlamessby Tunisian director Ala Eddine Slim (Tunisia, France, 120 min, 2019);War Travelersby Syrian director Joud Said (Lebanon, Syria, 110 min, 2018); andYou Have the Nightby Croatian director Ivan Salatic (Montenegro, Servia, Qatar, 82 min, 2018).

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The Arab documentaries are143 Sahara Streetby Algerian director Hassen Ferhani (Algeria, France, 103 min, 2019);Underdownby American director of Lebanese descent Sarah Kaskas (Lebanon, Qatar, Germany, 72 min, 2018); andMidnight Travelerby Afghan director Hassan Fazili (United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Qatar (87 min, 2019). Check out the full schedule at the bottom of the story.

The Invisible Lifeby Brazilian-Algerian director Karim Aïnouz will be screened at a special, free session at Theatro Municipal de São Paulo next Friday at 8:30 pm. It's recommended to arrive one hour early to get tickets. The feature will be the Brazilian candidate for best foreign movie at 2020 Academy Awards. Aïnouz was the first Brazilian director to win the Un Certain Regard top prize of the Cannes Film Festival last May and did anexclusive interview with ANBAafter winning.

The city's main audiovisual event, São Paulo International Film Festival will screen 327 movies this year, including short, feature and virtual-reality films. Sixty-three out of them are Brazilian movies and the others come from 65 countries of the Americas, Oceania, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

The movies will be screened in 27 venues including movie theaters, cultural venues, CEUs and museums throughout the city, as well as free and outdoor screenings.

Wasp Network, the new movie by French director Olivier Assayas, will open the show next Thursday at 8:30 pm at the Ibirapuera Auditorium by invitation only. The feature film is an adaptation of "The Last Soldiers of the Cold War" by Fernando Morais and is produced by Rodrigo Teixeira and starred by Wagner Moura. Closing the show,The Two Popesby Fernando Meirelles will be screened on the 30th at 7:30 at the Ibierapuera Auditorium. It's starred by Jonathan Pryce and Anthony Hopkins.

Schedule – Arab movies at SP Festival

Certified Mail
Saturday 10-19– 5:20 pm– Petra Belas Artes Sala 1 Villa Lobos
Sunday 10-20 – 7 pm– Circuito SpCine Lima Barreto – CCSP
Wednesday 10-23 – 2 pm– Espaço Itaú de Cinema – Frei Caneca 2
Friday 25/10, sexta – 15h45 – Espaço Itaú de Cinema – Augusta Anexo 4

Chronicle of a Disappearance
Friday 10-25 – 6:10 pm – Reserva Cultural – Sala 1
Sunday 10-27 – 8 pm – Instituto Moreira Salles – Paulista
Monday 10-28, 6 pm– Espaço Itaú de Cinema – Frei Caneca 4
Tuesday 10-29 – 6:20 pm– Espaço Itaú de Cinema – Frei Caneca 5

Divine Intervention
Friday 10-25 – 4: 15 pm – Reserva Cultural – Sala 1
Sunday 10-27 – 5:40 pm– Espaço Itaú de Cinema – Frei Caneca 4
Monday 10-28 – 7:50 pm – Cinearte 2
Tuesday 10-29 – 8:30 pm– MIS – Museu da Imagem e do Som

It Must be Heaven
Friday 10-25 – 8 pm – Reserva Cultural – Sala 1
Saturday 10-26 – 9:20 pm – Espaço Itaú De Cinema – Augusta Sala 1
Monday 10-28 – 9:15 pm– Petra Belas Artes Sala 1 Villa Lobos
Tuesday 10-29 – 4:15 pm – Cinearte 1

The Unknown Saint
Saturday 10-19 – 5:50 pm – Cinearte 2
Sunday 10-20 – 9:40 – Instituto Moreira Salles – Paulista
Tuesday 10-22 – 7:40 pm – Espaço Itaú de Cinema – Frei Caneca 4
Sunday 10-27 – 5 pm– Circuito Spcine Lima Barreto – CCSP
Wednesday 10-30 – 4 pm – Cinesala

Papicha
Thursday 10-17 – 9:45 pm– Petra Belas Artes Sala 1 Villa Lobos
Saturday 10-19 – 7:20 pm – Espaço Itaú de Cinema – Frei Caneca 3
Tuesday 10-22 – 5:30 pm – Espaço Itaú De Cinema – Frei Caneca 2
Saturday 10-26 – 2 pm– Espaço Itaú De Cinema – Augusta Sala 1
Monday 10-28 – 7:45 pm – Cinesala

143 Sahara Street
Saturday 10-19 – 7 pm – Circuito SpCine Lima Barreto – CCSP
Monday 10-21 – 2 pm – Cinearte 2
Friday 10-25 – 3 pm – Circuito Spcine Olido
Saturday 10-26 – 1:30 pm – Petra Belas Artes Sala 1 Villa Lobos

Tlamess
Friday 10-18 – 6:40 pm – Cinearte 2
Thursday 10-24 – 9:20 pm – Espaço Itaú De Cinema – Frei Caneca 1
Monday 10-28 – 7 pm – Espaço Itaú De Cinema – Frei Caneca 3
Tuesday 10-29 – 5 pm– Circuito SpCine Lima Barreto – CCSP
Wednesday 10-30 – 5:50 pm – Cinesesc

Underdown
Thursday 10-17 – 3 pm – Circuito SpCine Olido
Friday 10-18 – 7:15 pm – Circuito SpCine Lima Barreto – CCSP
Tuesday 10-29 – 4:30 pm – MIS – Museu da Imagem e do Som
Wednesday 10-30 – 1:30 pm – Espaço Itaú de Cinema – Frei Caneca 3

Midnight Traveler
Thursday 10-17 – 8:40 pm – Cinearte 2
Friday 10-18 – 6:15 pm– Reserva Cultural – Sala 1
Saturday 10-19, 3 pm – Circuito SpCine Lima Barreto – CCSP
Wednesday 10-23– 6:15 pm – Espaço Itaú de Cinema – Augusta Anexo 4
Friday 10-25 – 7:10 pm – MIS – Museu da Imagem e do Som

War Travelers
Thursday 10-17 – 2 pm – Espaço Itaú de Cinema – Frei Caneca 4
Wednesday 10-23 – 3 pm – MIS – Museu da Imagem e do Som
Saturday 10-26 – 9:40 pm – Espaço Itaú de Cinema – Frei Caneca 5
Wednesday 10-30 – 4 pm – Instituto Moreira Salles – Paulista

(Schedule subject to change)

Translated by Guilherme Miranda