This weekend marks the launch of the inaugural Calgary Arab Film Festival. In the last few years, quite a few different film festivals have started in this city but a festival focusing on Arab cinema was long overdue. Some people keep complaining that the city has too many film festivals but I disagree. In fact, I think the city has too few film festivals. The Calgary International Film Festival can't always cover the entire global cinematic spectrum, so it is essential that there are other festivals spread throughout the year that do justice to the multiple regions/genres of cinema that exist.
Regarding CAFF, I am impressed with the line-up for a first time film festival and clearly some planning and effort went into it. Also, the festival has spread their schedule out wisely by having a manageable total of 6 features + 2 documentaries.
Out of the 6 features, I have seen two films (Barakat and What a Wonderful World) already this past summer. So I restricted myself to only two films for the festival. On Saturday night, I caught Falafel and on Sunday night, I plan to watch Salt of this Sea, a film that I have wanted to see for more than a year.
No comments:
Post a Comment