According to Ahram Online, on October 4th, the Swedish city of Malmö is to host the ninth edition of the Malmö Arab Film Festival (MAFF). Perhaps the largest and most popular Arab film festival in Europe since its debut in 2011, MAFF brings different cultures closer to one another in an atmosphere of creativity and coexistence.
2019’s MAFF will include a special screening program that aims to celebrate Tunisian cinema after the North African country has been selected as the guest of honor.
“It’s easy to recognize the breakthrough happening in contemporary Tunisian cinema, whose presence became a normal thing in all major festivals,” stated the founder and president of the Malmö Festival, Mouhamad Keblawi, through the festival’s official website.
“Honouring this aspiring industry was a logical choice for MAFF, which has been trying since its beginning to shed light on all that is distinctive in Arab cinema.”
The Tunisian film ‘Regarde-moi’ by the Tunisian director Najib Belkadhi tells the story of a Tunisian immigrant whose past catches up to him and has to return to his homeland to face a son he had forgotten about after his wife’s health had deteriorated.
In collaboration with the Tunisian National Center of Cinema and Image (CNCI), the MAFF is going to showcase a number of other Tunisian films as well as cultural activities to bring the international community to a better understanding of the Tunisian film industry.