LONDON.- The SAFAR Film Festival announces the fourth edition of this biennial event from The Arab British Centre, returning to London 13-18 September. SAFAR is the only festival in the UK solely focused on programming Arab Cinema and this year’s theme examines the enduring and symbiotic relationship of literature and film, presenting a rich and diverse programme spanning more than 50 years, showcasing pioneering, classic films rarely seen outside the region alongside the best in contemporary storytelling.

The relationship between literature and cinema in the Arab world is deeply embedded in and greatly significant to the broader culture following World War II. Adaptations from literature were extremely popular with film audiences and the wealth of home-grown stories, taken from page to screen, helped individual nations form their own cinematic authorship, as well as wider cultural identities.

SAFAR 2018 addresses this important and fertile period of filmmaking and writing, presenting classic adaptations from Egypt, Syria, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, from some of the most famous directors and authors of the region, alongside films from Jordan, Lebanon, Sudan, Palestine, Iraq and Qatar.

This year’s curator is the renowned Egyptian film critic Joseph Fahim who says of the programme: “This year, we wanted to expand the scope of Safar beyond contemporary Arab film, demonstrating the rich and still largely unknown history of our cinema. This year’s theme – literature in film – pushed us to think outside the box and gave us an opportunity to showcase classics seldom screened outside the Arab World, such as El-Tareeq, an Egyptian film noir par excellence.

The relationship between literature and Arab cinema has been frequently overlooked by historians and critics, but it is a relationship that reveals volumes about the development and progression of each discipline, whilst also highlighting the diverse history of the nations that spawned them at different intervals of time. Our contemporary selection also explores the wider influence of literary devices such as oral storytelling, memoir, and immersive structures; Georges Hachem’s Still Burning for example, where the lines of reality from one film to another are blurred.

Issues of archiving and access posed major challenges in conceiving many of the titles that made our line-up, but the importance of screening and preserving this period of cinema in the region is paramount. We hope to tackle some of these issues during the festival, whilst also continuing to stimulate UK interest in Arab cinema: its heritage and its future.”

Launching the festival this year will be Hossam El-Din Moustafa’s rarely seen classic El-Tareeq (The Search, 1964) with the opening night on 13 September. An existential crime drama adapted from the novel written by the revered Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz, the only Arab winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, this is likely to be the first time the film has been screened publicly in Europe. The finished version of documentary Stories of Passers Through (2017), by Koutaiba Al-Janabi, receives its European premiere and has taken 30 years to make as it details the part-autobiographical journey of thousands of Iraqis as they experience their shared diaspora and displacement. The filmmaker will appear in conversation to discuss his remarkable work after this special screening.

Youssef Chahine’s The Land (1969), written by Abdel Rahman Al-Sharqawi and published two years after the Egyptian revolution receives a world premiere for the newly restored version. Contemporary titles include Zeina Daccache’s interpretation of One Thousand and One Nights (also known in the UK as The Arabian Nights) Scheherazade’s Diary (2013), which offers a documentary element to the classic tales by inviting the women prisoners of the Baabda Prison in Lebanon to use ancient Arab traditions of storytelling in the presentation of their own stories of domestic violence, failed marriage, and deprivation of motherhood.

The screening of Horses of God (2012), directed by Nabil Ayouch, stands out as the only title to be accompanied by a Q&A with the author of the novel, Mahi Binebine, which shares its title with the adaptation. And in a special screening in conjunction with her UK release, Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir will discuss her father-son story Wajib (2017), which was shot in the biblical city Nazareth. Georges Hachem and Koutaiba Al-Janabi will also appear in conversation.

This year’s SAFAR is presented in partnership with Banipal Magazine of Modern Arab Literature. Samuel Shimon, Iraqi writer and Banipal editor-in-chief, says: “We’re thrilled to be partnering with our friends at the Arab British Centre on the fourth edition of the SAFAR Film Festival, celebrating the connections between literature and film. SAFAR has been instrumental in raising the profile of Arab cinema in the UK over the last eight years, and as we mark 20 years of publishing Banipal magazine of Arab literature, this is the perfect opportunity to open a dialogue across mediums and showcase the finest in Arab arts both in print and on screen.”

As with previous SAFAR Film Festivals, screenings of features and shorts will take residence at the ICA; Nico Marzano, Curator: Cinema and Film says: “The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is proud to partner once again with the Arab British Centre to deliver SAFAR, a film festival that plays a vital role in fearlessly profiling new and established filmmakers from the Arab region, often in spite of limitations and censorship.” This year SAFAR is also delighted to have support from Institut Français, with three screenings at the Ciné Lumière.

The SAFAR Film Festival offers a unique programme that highlights one of the most underexplored chapters of Arab film history, examining the myriad ways in which literature and storytelling can influence film, be it story structure, folklore or autobiography. Take a literary journey with SAFAR through over 50 years of boundary pushing cinema – including a selection of previously unseen restorations – and immerse yourself in Arab cinema: a rich, unwieldy canon constantly defying expectation.