SAFAR Film Festival at HOME

Tom Grieve, Cinema Editor
HOME

SAFAR Film Festival at HOME Manchester, Manchester 11 — 17 July 2022 Tickets from £9.95 — Book now

Coming to HOME this summer is SAFAR Film Festival, the only festival in the UK dedicated to cinema from the Arab world. The event comprises screenings across the country, but hits Manchester for the first time this year with a selection of three new titles for audiences to enjoy.

Curated by Rabih El-Khoury, the festival’s theme this year is ‘The Stories We Tell in Arab Cinema’. The film selection explores the essence of storytelling, with films that show how Arab filmmakers push cinematic boundaries, reclaim overlooked histories, and present new perspectives to audiences both at home and abroad.

The festival screenings at HOME start with Miguel’s War from director Eliane Raheb on Monday 11 July. Winner of the Teddy Award for Best LGBTQ Feature Film at Berlin Film Festival, this documentary follows Miguel, a gay man born in 1963 to a conservative, Catholic Lebanese father and an authoritarian Syrian mother, who fled to Spain in his early twenties. Now aged 37, he returns to Lebanon, where Raheb works with him to confront his past.

The Gravedigger’s Wife

Next, it’s Omar El Zohairy’s absurdist satire and winner of the Cannes Film Festival Critics’ Week Grand Prize on Wednesday 13 July. Feathers is billed as a bleak and surreal tale of an Egyptian patriarch who is transformed into a chicken thanks to a birthday party magic trick gone awry. In his absence, his wife comes to the fore, undergoing an unexpected transformation of her own as she desperately tries to bring her husband back.

On Sunday 17 July, the final film of the festival is The Gravedigger’s Wife, set in the outskirts of Djibouti city. Directed by Mogadishu-born Finnish filmmaker Khadar Ayderus Ahmed, this debut feature is about a couple living with their teenage son, and their troubling economic circumstances, exacerbated by urgently needed kidney surgery. The drama premiered in competition in Critics’ Week at Cannes Film Festival and will be introduced by Dalia Mostafa, Senior Lecturer in Arab Cultural Studies at The University of Manchester.

SAFAR is run by the Arab British Centre, a London-based charity that works to further understanding of the Arab world in the UK.

SAFAR Film Festival at HOME Manchester, Manchester 11 — 17 July 2022

Book Now

What's on at HOME Manchester

What's on: Cinema

Cinema
MIF23: Jenn Nkiru

Visionary filmmaker Jenn Nkiru turns her attention to Manchester with a brand new short film.

free entry

Culture Guides

Music

We go all in on festivals, with a round-up of everything from city-spanning giants to grassroots gems you may not know about.

Exhibitions

There's no rest for the art lover - this month brings outdoor sculpture, musings on water, political drawings and Liverpool Biennial 2023!

Classical Music

Summer's classical music calendar is filling up nicely! Read our top picks of concerts happening in Manchester and the North.

Winnie the Pooh at Manchester Opera House
Families

The sun has finally got his hat on! Enjoy our top picks of family-friendly events and activities, both indoors and outdoors.

Gerry Potter (credit Lee Baxter)
Literature

Books are big this summer, with festival readings, poetry slams, creative writing activities and famous faces all putting in an appearance.

Food and Drink

All signs point toward June being a scorcher of a month, so let’s take a look at all things summery food and drink.

Tours and Activities

From literary activities to brilliant independent shops, keep your minds and homes filled with the good stuff this month.

Theatre in Manchester
Theatre

Check out our updated guide for lively theatre festivals, rip-roaring rooftop circus and dreamy outdoor shows.