IMA´s 8th biennale for Arab film in Paris

So let´s leave the madness of war, the new middle east´s birth pangs, and the American dream palace, for a moment and move on to fiction on the screen.

There is no place i´l rather be right now, than at the Institut du Monde Arabé(IMA), not just because they have one of the best view´s overlooking the city of lights from their top floor, always top quality exhibithions, one of the best public libraries on the Arab World in Europe, and a very nice bookshop. No the reason is the 8th film festival of Arab film. This time, like the last if i recall correctly, expanding from Paris, to include Marseille and Poitiers as well! So what´s on offer then? The opening film, last friday was Halim, The late Ahmed Zaki´s last film, naturally about the singer/filmstar, second only to Oum Kalsoum, in the mind of the Egyptians, and the favourite of all girls. The festival is making a tribute to Ahmed Zaki, by screening a few of his most known films, as an extra treat to the audience.

The controversial film, the Yacoubian building, based on Alaá al Aswany´s bestselling book, which incidently was released in France this January, and has been a big success. Another egyptian film, al banat dol(those girls)is the documentary about street children in Cairo,al banat dol(those girls) by Tahani Rached.

Among other films, the film about lebanese identity, through the dabqa dance troop, that starts working togheter again after a 15 year break, due to the war. We follow the troop on their tour around Lebanon, introducing modern elements of dancing into the traditional folklore dakqa, something similar to debqa goes teqhno(you can listen to samples of the soundtrack here). It feels right to end this posting with the first 100 % lebanese film in years. For those of you who live in Paris, Poiters or Marseille go and see a film or two. The festival contiues through this weekend.

IMA Paris, arab film, Yaqoubian building, bosta, al banat dol