Award-winning documentaries and films on the refugee crisis, women’s empowerment and the art scene will be screened in Bahrain next month.
Tickets have gone on sale for the second edition of Building Bridges film festival, which will feature 12 films from November 1 to 15.
The festival will be held under the auspices of the Children and Mothers’ Welfare Society and is the brain child of Bahraini philanthropist Eman Nooruddin.
Dedicated to promoting cross-cultural awareness, the exchange of ideas and social understanding through the art of film within the inclusive and diverse community of Bahrain, the fiesta also aims to raise funds for programmes supporting unaccompanied refugee minors in Greece.
The festival will be inaugurated at the Cultural Hall on November 1 from 7 pm with the screening of Watani: My Homeland, the story of one family's fight and struggle to survive the Syrian Civil War. Directed by Director: Marcel Mettelsiefen, the film chronicles the family's journey from the front-line in Aleppo, to a little town in Germany.
“Each movie portrays an important story and we hope to provide a platform for these stories to be heard,” Ms Nooruddin told the GDN.
“We hope that audiences will find them as educating, inspiring and enriching as we did and together we look forward to building new bridges together, ones that cultivate new learnings and meaningful dialogues that inspire action and change.
“This year, unlike the first time, we have an international variety of films being screened.
“The movies are from all continents and represent a vaster spread of themes including sports, women empowerment, art, charity and autism.”
The movies will be showcased at various venues across the country including the Cultural Hall, Bahrain International Circuit, Bahrain Bay and the Children and Mothers’ Welfare Society in Isa Town.
Look But With Love from two-time Academy Award-winning producer Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy will be featured on all the days of the festival at all venues and is free for the public.
From a doctor in the slums of Karachi who has dedicated his life to providing free emergency care to children to a courageous community of women in Nowshera, the epicentre of the terrorist insurgency, Look But With Love explores the lives of Pakistan’s most fearless and passionate citizens, one story at a time.
The festival will also screen the first two episodes of virtual reality exhibition A Story of Women and A Story of Dance.
Other movies on the list include Watani (My Homeland), Speed Sisters, Rising from Ashes, Carta a una sombra (Letter to a Shadow), Saving Banksy, The Eagle Huntress, Hotel Salvation, Swim Team, and Poverty, Inc.
A line-up of guests are expected to attend the festival including Watani executive producer Chris Shaw, racing champion Marah Zahlaqa, Adrien Niyonshuti who lost 60 of his family members in the Rwandan genocide, Salam Neighbour producer Mohab Khattab, Colombian novelist and journalist Hector Abad Faciolince, Colombian-Italian film director of Carta a una sombra Daniela Abad, Hotel Salvation director and actor Sanjay Bhutiani and his partner Sajida Sharma, Indian film actor Adil Hussain, and coach of the New Jersey Hammerheads, a team of swimmers with autism, Mike McQuay.
Workshops, interactive dinners, brunches and school programmes will also be held at Al Najma Club, Bahrain School, Cafe Amsterdam, Durrat Al Bahrain, Gulf Hotel, and Oliveto Restaurant.
On November 15, a gala dinner will be held in honour of the festival at the Oliveto Restaurant.
Tickets are priced up to BD30 and can be purchased online at www.buildingbridgesfilmfest.com.
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