BBC ARABIC FESTIVAL 2015 – PRESS PACK Rulers and the Ruled: Power in a Changing Arab World
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BBC ARABIC FESTIVAL 2015 – PRESS PACK Rulers and the Ruled: Power in a Changing Arab World Radio Theatre at BBC Broadcasting House in Central London, W1A 1AA Friday 30 October - Monday 2 November 2015 Twitter account: @BBCArabicFest #BBCArabicFest Facebook: http://facebook.com/bbcarabic YouTube: http://youtube.com/bbcarabic Google Plus: http://google.com/+bbcarabic http://www.bbcarabic.com/festival For media enquiries, please contact: [email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Overview 2. Meet the judges 3. Film synopsis and biographies 4. Festival timetable 5. About BBC Arabic 1- Overview: BBC Arabic Festival 2015 presents a diverse range of filmmaking styles - from fantastical comedy to experimental documentary and serious journalism. This year's theme, 'Rulers and the Ruled: Power in a Changing Arab World'. The Festival will take place in the Radio Theatre at BBC Broadcasting House in Central London and runs from Friday 30 October to Monday 2 November 2015. All events are open to the public and free of charge. This year’s applicants were asked to submit work along the theme of ‘Rulers and the Ruled: Power in a Changing Arab World’ and to expressly explore the struggles for power and control that continue to shake the region. Twenty works were selected that will make up this year’s BBC Arabic Festival. The twenty selected final entries showcase work that explores this theme but in a variety of different ways. Migration, exile, gender and sexuality are among the many diverse themes that feature this year. The Festival will open with a premiere of BBC Arabic’s latest documentary, Pregnant and in Chains exposing the UAE’s strict laws surrounding sex outside marriage. The evening will be hosted by actor and comedian, Eddie Izzard. The BBC Arabic Festival 2015 will screen works in four different categories – short films; feature documentaries; short documentaries and reportage from across the region. The winners of each category will be announced on the closing night gala, hosted by comedian Shappi Khorsandi with musical guest, the Lebanese rock group Mashrou’ Leila. Tarik Kafala, Head of BBC Arabic said: “Whereas our first film and documentary festival focused on particular political events in the Arab world, the second takes a wider view to look at the social, generational and communal change sweeping the region. This year’s theme of power brings us a variety of stories from different locations in a range of languages. The festival’s strength is in presenting fiction and documentary films that reflect the current state of the Arab world in all its complexity”. Tarik Kafala – Head of BBC Arabic 2- Meet the judges: Tina Carr, Director, Rory Peck Trust Tina is Director of the Rory Peck Trust, supporting freelance newsgatherers worldwide. Her career spans the creative, media and charitable sectors. In 2000 Tina set up the Rory Peck Training Fund, an industry-funded initiative which provides safety training bursaries for freelancers. Before joining the Trust in 1997, Tina worked with writers' organization The Arvon Foundation, managed the charity campaign Sport Aid 99, and was a Board Director of Women in Film and Television. Tina is also a writer and speaks French, Italian, Russian and Spanish. @RoryPeckTrust Martin Chulov, Journalist, The Guardian Martin has reported from the Middle East since 2005, and for the Guardian since 2008. He was Baghdad correspondent from 2008-10. As Middle East correspondent since 2010, he has anchored the paper's coverage of the Arab uprisings. He has been shortlisted for numerous journalism awards in Britain and is the winner of the Walkley Award, Australia's most prestigious journalism prize. @MartinChulov Liliane Landor, Controller of Languages, Global News As Controller, Languages, World Service Group, Liliane is editorially and managerially responsible for all 28 language services on radio, TV and online and 1400 staff in the UK and internationally. She started at the BBC as a producer/presenter in the French service. She was appointed Head of BBC World Service News and Current Affairs in 2006 responsible for all the daily and weekly journalism of the WS in English. Under her leadership in 2008 her department won 10 Sony Awards - a singular achievement recognising the breadth and excellence of its journalism. She was born in Lebanon, educated in France and Switzerland. She speaks five languages. @lilo11 Jason Solomons, Film critic Jason Solomons is one of the UK's most respected film critics. He currently writes for the Mail on Sunday. He also has a weekly film slot on BBC London 94.9 radio and presents the in-flight entertainment highlights show on board Virgin Atlantic. Jason regularly appears on BBC Radio 4's PM and Front Row and Radio 2, as well as on Sky News and BBC News, where he co-presents the annual Oscar nominations live show, the BAFTA red carpet and the weekend Film Review. Previously, he was the host of the Guardian Film Podcast and wrote the Trailer Trash column in the Observer. @JasonCritic Safa AlAhmad, Journalist, documentary filmmaker Safa is a Middle East-based Saudi freelance journalist working in print, television and documentary. Her most recent film, Saudi's Secret Uprising, won the 2014 Association for International Broadcasting Award for international investigative documentary and is currently shortlisted for the 2015 Index Freedom of Expression Award. In 2013, her film Al Qaeda in Yemen was nominated for the News and Documentary Emmy Award. Both films were finalists for the Rory Peck Award for Freelance Journalism. @ghariba33 Gisele Khoury, TV presenter, BBC Arabic Born in Beirut, Gisele has been a broadcast journalist for almost 30 years. She began as a presenter and producer at the Lebanese channel, LBC, in 1986. Between 2003 and 2013, Gisele hosted Al-Arabiya news channel's political talk show, Bil Arabi, where she interviewed heads of state and other political decision makers. In 2014, she joined BBC Arabic where she presents the weekly programme Al Mashhad. Gisele is the founder and president of the Samir Kassir Foundation, devoted to the promotion of democratic culture, freedom of thought and new press talent in Lebanon and the Arab world. @gizou10 3- Film synopsis and biographies: The twenty final works were selected by the judges in four different categories: 1. Short Documentaries Evdal: (24’) Directed by Kamiran Betasi, Iraq. Abdallah is originally from a Christian part of Kurdistan. At a young age, he and his parents converted to Islam and were forced to resettle in a predominantly Muslim part of the region. However, their life became very difficult there. Evdal allows Abdallah to tell his story, recounting the poverty they faced and the challenge of life without medical assistance for his paralyzed mother. With this story, director Kamiran Betasi has sought to highlight the power of humanity over differences of religion and nationality. Kamiran Betasi is a director, scriptwriter and photographer. Born in 1972 in Zakho in Kurdistan, Iraq he directed television documentaries and programmes before producing films. He has made a number of award-winning short films including Black Mirror, Silhouette and A Long Night. His films have screened in numerous film festivals including the Dubai International Film Festival, Duhok International Film Festival and the Gulf Film Festival. Blue: (12’) Directed by Abo Gabi, Syria. “Since I fled the Yarmouk Refugee Camp and came to Beirut, I have had a recurring dream. The dream takes me back to besieged Yarmouk, where death and destruction have settled in all its details. My memory retains images of the place and it is difficult for me to abandon it. Maybe the sound of my friend Ayham's piano changed the nightmare into dream and the place into a legend.” – Director, Abo Gabi. This unique story of Ayham, a pianist playing his music amidst the wreckage of the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, is narrated by the director, Abo Gabi. A musician himself, Abo Gabi fled Yarmouk and now tells this story by way of his dreams and memories fears and hopes. Though surrounded by rubble, his poetic storytelling takes audiences out of devastated Yarmouk, and into a place where strength, respect and semblances of normality persist. Abo Gabi is a Syrian-Palestinian writer, musician and singer. He is co-founder of Reaction: the Palestinian Creative Collective in Yarmouk Camp, Damascus. With the collective, he directed a number short films and theatre pieces. Abo Gabi has also composed original musical scores for films and theatre. He has worked on a numerous collaborative projects with musicians from around the world. He launched his latest album, Hijaz Harb, in November 2014. Safwan Market: (25’) Directed by Hadi Mahood, Iraq. Safwan Market, located in the heart of Samawa, Iraq, is the city’s largest marketplace and most lucrative area for its inhabitants to earn a living. When the government decides to demolish the predominantly Shia’a market in order to build a Sunni mosque, the vendors working there have reason to revolt. Where will they take their business? How will they earn their livelihood? And why have the city developers decided on this particular spot? Hadi Mahood is an award-winning filmmaker and theatre director. His works include The Drowned, a documentary based on confidential information from the Iraqi police file, Nights of Gypsy’s Descent, a documentary on gypsies subjected to hatred following the fall of the Iraqi regime in 2003, Iraq my Country, Collapse, Cart, and Ambulance Driver. Second Hand Refugee: (24’) Directed by Jumana Saadeh, Jordan. Like many others, a Palestinian family from Hebron was forced to leave Palestine in 1948. Exiled in Jordan, their Jordanian citizenships were revoked after the Black September events of 1970 and they were, once again, driven out of their homes.