Showcasing diverse Arab film and screen art from Australia and around the world, the Sydney Arab Film Festival will engage, entrance and entertain you – and show perspectives that rarely reach our screens.
Yallah!
With misrepresentations of Arab cultures and people so pervasive, there’s probably been no more critcial time for the Sydney Arab Film Festival to provide a space for alternative stories, self-representations and creative explorations.
It all began in 2001 as part of a collaborative Arab arts and cultural project East of Somewhere. The Sydney Arab Film Festival has always been driven by an active committee of Arab and non-Arab film and culture lovers.
The Festival is managed and nurtured by Information and Cultural Exchange, and has staged a number of events and activities since 2001, including A Big Night of Arab Shorts (2004) and the 2nd Sydney Arab Film Festival which screened in 3 venues in 2005. In 2007, SAFF had its biggest year ever, hosting four international filmmakers and welcoming enthusiastic crowds to a rich and brimming program, as well as a number of other high profile events.
Bringing it home: SAFF in Parramatta
The 2008 Sydney Arab Film Festival screened from its new home at the Riverside Theatres, Parramatta. This confirms the strong connections between Parramatta’s bold emergence as an up-and-coming city of culture, and the very strong presence of Arab-Australian communities who have made this vibrant city their home, and contribute greatly to its rich cultural life.
Growing support. Growing the Festival
With support from the NSW Government, through the NSW Film and Television Office, SAFF is building a host of sponsors and supporters – including Riverside Theatres, Parramatta City Council, and World Media International, SAFF is gearing up to become an important and critical event on the Sydney film and screen arts calendar.
SAFF into the future
In coming years, ICE maintains a commitment to nurture and develop SAFF and its organising group – we want to see it emerge into a strong and sustainable entity in its own right, and an unmissable, high profile event on our city’s cultural calendar.
Links
For more information contact Mouna Zaylah at ICE via email or on (02) 9897 5744.
ALL PROJECTS
Digi Diaries
»» ICE’s latest digital storytelling project engages young people from Muslim communities throughout Western Sydney. Digi Diaries aims to empower young people (aged 12 – 25) with skills to make and tell their own stories and share them with broader Australian communities through public screenings, forums and on the internet.More »
The Story Exchange 2009
»» In June 2009 ICE and Penrith City Council partnered to run a series of workshops for young people from the suburbs of Londonderry, Cranebrook and Oxley Park. Participants created photographic and digital stories that explore themes of neighbourhood strength, pride in place, local identity and passion for the environment.More »
East London West Sydney
»» An exciting new hip-hop theatre project led by artists from the hip-hop and urban cultures of the UK and Australia. These artists explore the urban experience and struggles, and share an emphasis on word flow, storytelling and place.More »
Fairfield Stories
»» Part of the ‘Digital Storytelling: Sustainability and Community Media in Western Sydney’ project, Fairfield Stories tells tales of journeys, love, struggle and hope as experienced by people of Cambodian and African backgrounds.More »
CREATE Media!
»» Create Media! is an exciting new project managed by ICE and supported by the Westpac Foundation. The project offers free targeted training and mentorship for young people from a refugee background. The training provides participipants with in depth knowledge of the A-Z of digital arts and business.More »
Parenting Stories
»» Sudanese and Central African families are invited to share their parenting stories in an exciting community media project which will open a discussion around parenting in Australia. It will look at the issues faced by recently arrived migrants as they deal with settlement, cross-cultural issues and the new legal context, as well as the resources available to assist them.More »
Urban Music Project
»» Music workshops for diverse young people in Western Sydney with support from the Vodafone Australia Foundation.More »
Changing Lives
»» Changing Lives is a project engaging Arabic speaking young people with digital arts and community cultural development. The project empowers young people with skills to make and tell their own stories and share them on the internet.More »
Ali Kadhim: Parkroar
»» In 2007, new media artist and parkour practitioner, Ali Kadhim, received an Emerging Producers in Community (EPIC) grant from the Australia Council to work at ICE for a year.More »
Lattice::Sydney
»» In February 2008, UK-based artist-led studio Proboscis shared their ground-breaking techniques and practices in social mapping with a select group of Western Sydney artists.More »
Sydney Arab Film Festival
»» The Sydney Arab Film Festival is emerging as an important event on the Sydney film and screen arts calendar. The 4th Festival screened from 10-13 April 2008 at the Riverside Theatres in Parramatta.More »
DigiTales
»» ICE is the first Australian partner in the global digital storytelling project – DigiTales. This collection of unique local tales made by Sydney’s emerging media talent is now online.More »
EMERGE Media Initiative
»» Working with Western Sydney’s small and emerging communities to build radio & communication capacities. More »
Connect OUT
»» Working with isolated communities accross Holroyd and Parramatta with hands-on information technology access and skills. More »
PARRAMATTA SCREENING
»» A three-year initiative to building film and screen-based arts skills and output in the Parramatta area. Bringing Parramatta to the screen and the screen to Parramatta.More »
Remembering Minto
»» ICE worked with residents and agencies to collect and publish the stories and memories of Minto – a suburb lost in urban transformation.More »
DIS/PLACE
»» Making art in exile: an innovative development program working with recently-arrived migrant and refugee artists. A partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art and Campbelltown Arts Centre.
More »
Originate
»» A mentorship program in community cultural development and digital media.More »
Youth Digital Cultures
»» A three-year youth digital arts and skills development project driven by creative and diverse young people from all corners of Western Sydney. More »
