Sydney Arab Film Festival

Date: 03 December 2005 07:31:15

Three of us from Arabic class, and the husband of a fellow classmate, went to see three films at the Sydney Arab Film Festival this afternoon. A nice surprise to find that the films were being shown in one of the 'deluxe' cinemas: wide and comfortable seats, and plenty of leg room.

The first movie, The Siren, which went for about 25 minutes, concerned itself with an ancient Egyptian lute-style instrument called the Simsimiyyia. The documentary showed many players, all who appeared 'bewitched' by this beautiful instrument: even calling it their mistress whom they could not escape from. One man said explicitly that it ruined him: his whole life revolved around this instrument. It was beautiful, and there were a number of shots of various people playing, singing and dancing. Very entertaining.

This was followed by a five-minute short film from Australia, Displaced. It was quite an arty film, if you understand me; it purported to show how Palestine lives in the memory of those displaced from Palestine: but I have to be honest and say I couldn't see it. It was interesting to see the visuals employed, however.

The final film, the 60 minute Improvisation, was our favourite. I hope it is out on DVD as I'd love to buy it. It showed the life of a family of musicians, three of whom (Trio Joubran) play the Oud. There was the tough and demanding older-brother; the middle brother who, in his father's eyes is neglecting the people of his village who require new and fixed violins (the middle brother was the the first stringed-instrument maker in the Arab world to enter the Antonio Stradivari Institute in Italy); and the younger brother who has a talent, but is also more interested in love and writing about it, then politics as his older brother is, and needs a lot of practice according to the eldest. Seeing the wonderful performances, the brothers performing (especially when the younger brother gets a chance to join them), as well as the harder aspects such as the conflicts and the harsh reality of life in Palestine, was an experience. The documentary showed a family divided in political views, but untited in their passion of the Oud and of Arabic music. And, all in all, a wondrous film.

You can hear a piece of their music by clicking here.

Image from Eye for Talent.

It was great to catch up with two people from my Arabic class (more were coming, but had to pull out at the last moment) as well as meet one of my classmate's husband. As I may have said before, I was blessed to have such a wonderful class and it is a true blessing and joy that we are continuing to meet up as well as correspond via an e-mail group (and I am also keeping in touch via an e-mail group with those in my class for the final semester of my teaching English certificate: God blessed me with great and gregarious classmates this year). We had a nice cup of coffee afterwards and talked about a variety of topics from the standard to the bizarre. Good fun.

It was also interesting to see how much Bankstown Shopping Centre had changed. My grandmother, who used to live in the area, used to take me there regularly when I was young. It is HUGE now.

Also interesting was to drive past St Felix' parish on the way: the photograph to the left is of the front of the church. It was hard to miss as one drove past. Houses, roads...and then....WOW. The front of the church is grander than the photograph suggests.

Oh, and how could I forget the very personable and humourous security guard at the cinemas who joked with us, when the films were delayed by half-an-hour, about Arabs [he was Arabic, and we were with two Arabs, so it wasn't offensive nor said in that manner] never starting anything on time! And then there was a lady who was involved in organising the film festival who asked us all as we exited what we thought and what we enjoyed, and told us about a 4.5 hour film screening tomorrow morning. I am very tempted, but church comes first. If you are in Sydney and free tomorrow from 10.30am, you may want to go and watch The Door to the Sun.