ABU DHABI, (Pakistan Point News - 28th Sep, 2021) The Arts Centre at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) will hold online conversations and screenings by influential filmmakers from the Arab world, as part of the CinemaNa series. The first installment brings Syrian filmmaker and pioneer of Arab cinema, Mohamad Malas, and Abu Dhabi filmmaker Nezar Andary together for an online conversation in Arabic with English translation on 4th October at 7:30 pm.
Curated by, and presented in partnership with the NYUAD Film and New Media Programme and Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, this ongoing series will allow audiences to watch three films that contemplate loss, memory, and home, on demand, ahead of or after the online conversation.
The three films for this installment are: two of Mohamad Malas’s works, The Night (al-Leil) and Passion (Bab el Maqam), and Nezar Andar’s documentary portrait of Malas, Unlocking Doors of Cinema. The films are available for on-demand viewing until 10th of October.
Commenting on the fall programme of CinemaNa, Scandar Copti, series' co-curator and Associate Arts Professor of Film at NYUAD, said, "As we celebrate five years of CinemaNa, we share our passion and faith in Arab Contemporary Cinema and invite people to watch a series of thought-provoking movies directed by Arab filmmakers and engage in an open dialogue while they reflect on the cultural and social issues that these films contemplate."
From her side, Reem Saleh, Associate Director of External Relations at NYUAD, said, "This fall we are very proud to offer to our audiences a series of films that represent the truth, values, and nuances of the Arab culture and engage in a meaningful conversation that seeks to ‘unlock the doors of Cinema’ together with Syrian cinema legend Mohamad Malas."
Clio Chaveneau, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, said, "CinemaNa film programme offers a unique opportunity to discover or rediscover the work of prominent Arab filmmakers and their insights on complex social and political realities through personal - yet collective - experiences."
