Arab Cinema's Fifth Installment is a Series of Firsts

By Contemporary Arab Cinema Programmer Lina Matta

For ANA <a href=”https://burnsfilmcenter site web.org/series/contemporary-arab-cinema-2/” target=”_blank”>Contemporary Arab Cinema‘s 5th anniversary, we wanted to surprise you with a couple firsts.

Rounding up the extraordinary selection of award-winning films from Egypt, Palestine, Kurdistan, Lebanon, Tunis, Algeria, Morocco, and the UAE, we brought in an exhibit of film posters from the Golden Age of Egyptian Cinema. The posters belong to the private Bibi collection. Mohamed Bibi, a premier distributor of movies in the middle east, has been amassing posters for movies he’s distributed since the 1960s. His collection comprises over 2000 posters.

For closing night, although we have to remain hush hush on the title, I can tell you this much: It’s a TV series that just wrapped production; you are among the first audiences to see it in the world—even before middle east TV execs who will eventually buy it. The series was filmed in Abu Dhabi in association with an Emmy-winning American producer.

Like here in the US, Arabic TV dramas are experiencing an awakening. Stiff competition from Turkish dramas have stoked the competitive fires of Arab producers and is resulting in some remarkable storytelling. Suffice it to say, the episodes you’ll be screening, will reveal a world few of you would have access to, even if you were to find yourself in the UAE.

Ahhhhhh! The magic of television.

Counting the days to seeing you all at the Burns. Till then.

Contemporary Arab Cinema runs from Sept. 14–21 at the Burns. Tickets are on sale now.