(MENAFN- Brazil-Arab News Agency (ANBA)) São Paulo – The 49^th São Paulo Film Festival opened on Thursday (16) with 374 films from 80 countries, including Arab nations. Featuring premieres and re-screenings, the festival offers Brazilian audiences award-winning productions from festivals such as Venice, Berlin, and Locarno, as well as potential contenders for the 2026 Best International Feature Film Oscar. Among the Arab productions-whether documentaries, fiction, or dramas-various themes are explored, with Palestine taking center stage.

Palestine 36 (2025) by Annemarie Jacir depicts the occupation and resistance of the territory as early as the 1930s, while Yalla Parkour (2024) by Areeb Zuaiter, follows two young people confronting life in the Gaza Strip amid parkour practices on destroyed or abandoned buildings. Who Is Still Alive (2025) by Nicolas Wadimoff tells the stories of nine refugees who managed to escape the war, sharing their experiences before and during the conflict.

Brothers Arab and Tarzan Nasser won the Best Director Award in the Un Certain Regard section at this year's Cannes Film Festival for Once Upon a Time in Gaza, which is also screening at the São Paulo festival. The film goes back to 2007, when two friends decide to sell drugs while delivering falafel but find themselves having to negotiate with a corrupt police officer. With Hasan in Gaza (2025) by Kamal Aljafari revisits footage portraying life in the Gaza Strip in 2001 through a journey across the territory led by driver Hasan, whose whereabouts remain unknown due to the recent two years of conflict.

In the documentary Notes on an Exile (2025), director Gustavo Castro, from Brazil's Paraná state, portrays the Palestinian occupation through historical footage and recordings made in 2018 with a Palestinian Brazilian family in the West Bank. Following the outbreak of conflict in October 2023, the project took on new contours, addressing themes such as colonization and apartheid.

In Khartoum (2025), the capital of Sudan takes center stage. In this production, Sudanese filmmakers Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy, Timeea Mohamed Ahmed, and British filmmaker Phil Coex began following the lives of five city residents in 2022. When conflict broke out between government forces and militias, they had to continue production outside Khartoum. The result is a portrayal of life-and reality-in one of Africa's largest cities amid war.

The President's Cake (2025) by Hasan Hadi goes back in time to 1990, when Iraq's president decrees that every school in the country must bake a cake to celebrate his birthday. A nine-year-old girl is chosen by her classmates for the task and must overcome food shortages to find the necessary ingredients for the celebration. The film won the Caméra d'Or for Best Debut Feature at Cannes.

In Dead Dog (2025), Sarah Francis explores the temporary rekindling of a marriage between Aida and Walid after many years living away from their homeland, Lebanon. Love takes center stage in A Sad and Beautiful World by Cyril Aris. The conflicts affecting Lebanon put to the test 30 years of history between Nino and Yasmina and the struggle to build a life amid so many hardships.

In Where the Wind Comes From (2025) by Amel Guellaty two friends embark on a journey from Tunis, the Tunisian capital, to the island of Djerba to take part in an art competition-and perhaps find a new life away from the outskirts of a big city.

Among the contenders for an Academy Award nomination are A Sad and Beautiful World, Palestine 36, Once Upon a Time in Gaza, The President's Cake, as well as Egyptian film Happy Birthday (2025) by Sarah Goher. The story depicts class conflict when an eight-year-old girl working for a wealthy family decides to throw a birthday party for her best friend-the employers' daughter. Yalla Parkour, The President's Cake, and Where the Wind Comes From also compete in the New Directors section. The best films by these directors are selected by the audience and later evaluated by a jury.

Among the retrospectives, the winner of the 1975 Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or, Chronicle of the Years of Fire, portrays the movements between 1939 and 1954 that led to Algeria's independence. The showcase also features other cinematic productions from Arab countries. The full program is available here.

Read more:
Arab art shines at São Paulo Biennial

Translated by Guilherme Miranda

Supplied/Unifrance

The post Arab films featured at São Paulo Film Festival appeared first on ANBA News Agency.

MENAFN17102025000213011057ID1110212540