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 Tickets from £9.95 Book now

What's on at HOME Manchester

Where to go near SAFAR Film Festival at HOME

Manchester
Restaurant
Indian Tiffin Room, Manchester

Indian Tiffin Room is a restaurant specialising in Indian street food, with branches in Cheadle and Manchester. This is the information for the Manchester venue.

The Ritz Manchester live music venue
Manchester
Music venue
The Ritz

The Ritz was originally a dance hall, built in 1928, has hosted The Beatles, Frank Sinatra and The Smiths and is still going strong as a gig venue now.

Homeground
Manchester
Event venue
Homeground

Homeground is HOME’s brand new outdoor venue, providing an open-air space for theatre, food, film, music, comedy and more.

Manchester
Café or Coffee Shop
Burgess Cafe Bar
at IABF

Small but perfectly-formed café – which also serves as the in-house bookstore, stocking all manner of Burgess-related works, along with recordings of his music. It’s a welcoming space, with huge glass windows making for a bright, welcoming atmosphere.

Rain Bar pub in Manchester
City Centre
Bar or Pub
Rain Bar

This huge three-floor pub, formerly a Victorian warehouse, then an umbrella factory (hence the name), has one of the city centre’s largest beer gardens. The two-tier terrace overlooks the Rochdale canal and what used to be the back of the Hacienda, providing an unusual, historic view of the city.

Manchester
Bar or Pub
The Briton’s Protection

Standing on the corner of a junction opposite The Bridgewater Hall, The Briton’s Protection is Manchester’s oldest pub. It has occupied the same spot since 1795, going under the equally patriotic name The Ancient Britain.

What's on: Cinema

Culture Guides

Theatre in Manchester and the North
Theatre in Manchester and the North

Affecting contemporary performances and fresh, relevant takes on enduring classics, we pick out shows that help us scrutinise the world we live in.

Teenage Dads
Music in Manchester and the North

Fresh concert seasons, forward-thinking festivals and a revolving door of amazing gigs. Things are looking bright as spring comes into view.