Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
The activities of the Southern Film Festival in Brussels will begin next Tuesday and will continue for four days from the tenth to the thirteenth of October in a number of well-known cinemas in the Belgian capital, Brussels.
The twelfth edition of the festival activities will witness the screening of Arab and European feature films and short films, in addition to other activities such as music, singing, seminars and art exhibitions.
The festival administration chose a Jordanian film to be shown at the opening, which is the film “Salma House” by director Hanadi Alyan. The Tunisian film “His Solution” by director Nader Rahmouni was also chosen to be shown at the end.
  Syrian director Joud Saeed will also be honored, for whom the film “Youssef’s Journey” will be shown, which deals with the departure of large numbers of Syrians during the war for fear of death, but Youssef and those with him decided to stay, and in the meantime, the dreams of grandson Ziad grew and became lost. Together, the grandfather and his grandson walk towards a tomorrow that holds a new country and a lost identity
  Regarding the most important features of this year’s edition or the topic that will be focused on, Rachida Chibani, director of the festival, said in statements to “Europe and the Arabs”: This year, I chose not to limit the activities to one topic. It has adapted to new, independent productions and given this type of cinema the opportunity to have a space for distribution and exchange. The majority of the films are European debuts and previews and the sole message of all editions, including this one, is to promote coexistence between the people of the East and the West through discovering the cultures of these countries and being able to overcome all the prejudices and stereotypes that some European media insist on. . To form mindsets.
The festival's activities will feature films from several European and Arab countries, including Belgium, France and others, and from the Arab countries Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and Iraq. A symposium will also be held on a Belgian film that tells the story of a Moroccan woman in Brussels who struggled for 30 years for her existence and achieving a better social and economic situation.