SAFAR Film Festival: The Arab World Through a New Lens

SAFAR Film Festival, organised by The Arab British Center, is curating its 8th year of Arab cinema from the 29th of June till the 9th of July. This film festival has now become very influential in the world of independent films, showcasing the Arab cinematic culture in 9 different cities of the UK. Bringing a sense of home for not only the Arab community but also seekers of new voyages into the Arab world and its unique settings.

This year’s theme of the festival is Space and Time which the curator of the festival, Rabih El-Khoury, explains that they “wanted to reflect on the Arab world as a very big and wide space, but also reflect on what time plays in this part of the world.”. This is how the Iraqi filmmaker Ishtar Yasin Gutierrez, presents her documentary by transporting viewers in a personal portrait of her exiled theatre director father, and a love letter to her home of Iraq with her documentary ‘My Lost Country’.

The screening will take place in London’s Ciné Lumière cinema on the 1st of July, and in Oxford’s Ultimate Picture Palace on the 2nd of July, along with Q&As.