São Paulo – The party to celebrate Arab immigration in Brazil, set to take place this Thursday (25th), will award the winners of the cinema contest “The Arabs and the March 25th Street”, organized by a partnership of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and the Institute for Arab Culture (Icarabe). Four productions were nominated for the Popular Jury award, which also carries a prize of R$ 10,000 (roughly US$ 3,117 at current exchange rates). The Official Jury award has an R$ 15,000 (US$ 4,676) prize and will be given to the film chosen by an Arab Chamber and Icarabe jury. Another award, Young Filmmakers, will give a prize of R$ 16,000 (US$ 5,000) to the best production directed by filmmakers under 18 years old.

The film contest was created to start a collection intended to recover the history of March 25th and its surroundings, the region that hosted the Arab immigrants since the end of the 19th century. Although that part of Downtown São Paulo is famous for its popular retail stores and for hosting Arab immigrants, the collection about this immigration is very small. Copies of the short films will be stored by the Arab Chamber and Icarabe.

For the Culture director of the Arab Chamber, Silvia Antibas, the goal of the contest was achieved. “The goal is to build a collection about the history of the region, expand the research with pictures, movies, family stories. A research was made, and some of the things found were not publicly known. These stories and records came from the families’ archives and now are disclosed to society”, she said. She also told that the project involved the society and showed to the young generation a small part of the history of the region.

“March 25th Street is an icon that belongs, above all, to the São Paulo community. It refers to the city and not everybody has the knowledge of its history. Today, for instance, it’s very well known for being a popular retail street. The contest was great also for the young people to have knowledge of the history and origins of the region”, she stated.

Challenges

The film contest received 28 short film entries and all entrants were invited for the awards. The official jury already has its choices but hasn’t announced the winner of this category or the one of the young filmmakers yet. Just as with the popular jury, they will only be known in this Wednesday cocktail party. All of them are documentaries.

“I watched all of the films and, without a doubt, we have a precious compilation of testimonies and a clear vision of March 25th Street today and of what it was [in the past]”, highlighted Marcelo Sallum, the president of the Arab Chamber. 

Author of other five short-films, the director of “25 de março: A memória do mundo árabe” (March 25th Street: The Memory of the Arab World”, in a direct translation), Gustavo Brandão said that to shoot this film was a “challenge”, since he needed to create a screenplay about a pre-determined theme. He opted to tell the history of the region through the words of the painter, illustrator and designer Paulo Sayeg, who spent his childhood there and tries to portray that reality in his memory and drawings. “This short is a challenge. I like the history of the Arab immigration a lot, I like Downtown São Paulo a lot, and I believe that the surroundings of March 25th Street are a universe on its own”, Brandão said to ANBA.

For Beatriz Le Senechal, interest in the Arab culture started in 2004, in college, studying journalism. For her course’s finals she produced a documentary in which she interviewed people in the region. With that material – more than eight hours of interviews – she wrote another screenplay and produced a new edition of “Arabescos – do mascate ao doutor” (Arabesques – from the Peddler to the Doctor, in a direct translation). The arrival of the immigrants in Brazil, many of them escaping misery, and the prosperity they achieved in the region are portrayed in the movie. “To me, it is very gratifying to know that I contributed to build a collection about this story. I was lucky to be able to find testimonies of people that knew the region”, she said.

To shoot “Ao mundo novo” (To the New World, in a direct translation) was an opportunity to Pedro Jorge to bring back memories of this family through the story of his grandfather, a son of Lebanese who lived in São Paulo inland, but bought products for his store on March 25th Street. “He would come to São Paulo and spend a couple of days. He depended on March 25th Street, was fascinated by it and also by taking a trip to São Paulo, to that region, it was an event for my grandfather because it was a way to meet his friends, the “brimos” (colloquial variation of cousins), as they called each other”, he said.

The “star” of “Zeca Miranda’s O Cheiro de Zattar” (The Smell of Zattar, in a direct translation) is the Akkar Emporium, located at Comendador Afonso Kherlakian street. “I found the emporium Akkar, which is being run by the third generation. It was Daniel’s (Nasser, manager of the store) grandfather who founded it. He was Lebanese. Then it was his father managing the store and now Daniel. While still retaining a strong relationship with the culture, he needs to adapt to the new times and the changes that March 25th street is going through. I try to show this in the movie”, he said.

The winner of the Popular Jury award was chosen by the audience that watched the four productions in movie theaters in São Paulo’s metro area. All the movies were played together. At the end of the screenings, viewers voted on their favorites. The ballots were cast into boxes and then counted. The winner will be announced tonight.

The official jury picked the winners of the other two categories. The jury was composed by Silvia Antibas, Icarabe’s culture director Geraldo Adriano Godoy de Campos, and by filmmakers Lina Chamie, Otávio Cury and José Roberto Sadek.

*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani