Dubai-based Gulf Film Festival (GFF) will screen 15 films from the GCC, Iraq and Yemen at an upcoming prime Arab film festival in Sweden.

Malmo Arab Film Festival is running from September 23 to 27.

The films, which include shorts, features and documentaries, are part of a special showcase presented by GFF, the home of contemporary cinema from the Arabian Peninsula. All the films have screened in previous editions of GFF.

The Malmo festival, based in Sweden’s third-largest city, is organised by the Arabian Scandinavian Cultural Centre (FADO), which works to promote dialogue and improve relationships between the Arab and Scandinavian cultures through initiatives in literature, education and the arts; and to support and engage Arab expatriate youth in Sweden.

Three award-winning films will also compete for honors at Malmo: Emirati director Khalid Al Mahmood’s Sabeel, the story of two young boys in Ras Al Khaimah tending and selling vegetables to help their ailing grandmother; Hamama, Nujoom Al Ghanem’s documentary about a 90-year-old female healer and living legend from Al Dhaid; and Iraqi filmmaker Koutaiba Al-Janabi’s Leaving Baghdad, a road movie that follows the personal cameraman to Saddam Hussein.

“Having started out 10 years ago as a festival dedicated to celebrating Arab cinema, the Malmo Arab Film Festival has witnessed remarkable involvement of talent, underling the evolution of a vibrant Arab film industry,” said Mouhamad Keblawi, Palestinian filmmaker and director of Malmo Arab Film Festival.

“We are pleased to celebrate an eclectic array of feature, documentary, and short films that embody the spirit of creativity.”

“It is a true honour to partner with the Gulf Film Festival, the home of bold Arab cinema, that provides a platform for originality and spontaneity, which is in line with the mandate of the Malmo Arab Film Festival,” Keblawi added.

Masoud Amralla Al Ali, festival director, Gulf Film Festival, said: “Sweden’s Malmo Arab Film Festival showcases some of the finest Arab films in the world, and is a wonderful opportunity for emerging and established talents to access an entirely new audience.”

“Each of these films has the power to change cultural misconceptions and popular stereotypes by revealing the reality of the modern Arab world,” he noted.

In addition to the GFF showcase, the Malmo Arab Film Festival is screening 24 feature films, documentaries and shorts as part of its competition; it will also host seminars on Arab women and cinema; the Arab Spring; the development of Gulf cinema; and liberty and Arab film. – TradeArabia News Service