Sarah Agha on the Arab Film Club and refugees on screen
Something that’s often forgotten, or perhaps wilfully ignored, in the conversation around refugees, is that no two refugee’s experiences are the same.
One of the most effective artistic mediums for communicating and demonstrating this fact is cinema, and as part of Refugee Week 2023 we be screened a collection of five films that encapsulate just how varied the refugee experience can be.
Their stories stretch from a Syrian asylum seeker trying to navigate the hostile immigration system in contemporary England in Hassan Akkad’s Matar, to the complexities of everyday life during the forced removals of communities in 1970s South Africa, in Address Unknown by Anton Fisher. These films – along with Yellow by Elham Ehsas, Panic! by Laith Elzubaidi and Soudade Kaadan’s Aziza – were curated for the Southbank Centre by Sarah Agha.
A London-based actress, writer and presenter, Agha has performed on stage with the Royal Shakespeare company and The Globe Theatre, and has appeared on screen in Homeland, Into the Badlands, and as a presenter on BBC Two’s The Holy Land And Us: Our Untold Stories. More specifically for us, Agha is also the person behind the Arab Film Club, a community which celebrates and explores cinema from the Arab world.
Ahead of the Short Films Screening event at the Southbank Centre – one of a number of events we hosted to mark the 25th year of Refugee Week – we caught up with Sarah Agha to talk about the background of the Arab Film Club, and the process of curating this collection of films on the refugee experience.
How did the Arab Film Club come about? What prompted you to set it up?
The Arab Film Club grew out of an online play reading club I started during the Covid-19 lockdown. In July 2020, six of us came together to read a theatre adaptation of a Palestinian novel called Returning to Haifa. Over the next 12 months, we read 12 different plays from all over the Arab world. It was an empowering platform for us to come together and explore texts from our region, especially whilst theatres across the country were shuttered due to lockdown.
After a few sessions, and the realisation that the Arab world has so much to offer in terms of art and culture, we decided to expand into cinema. Once theatres and venues reopened we wound down the play readings, but the film club lived on. What started out as a small community in lockdown has now grown into a network of over 80 members.
So, how does the Arab Film Club work?
Each month, we pick a different title written and directed by an Arab artist. The sessions are either held online (we watch the chosen film in our own time and then meet on Zoom to share our responses) or held in person at a screening we host ourselves, or by booking tickets to screenings organised by other Arab arts festivals in London. We try to keep the selection diverse in terms of tone, dialect and subject and so far we’ve watched and discussed films from Algeria, Egypt, the occupied Golan Heights, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria and Tunisia.
All sessions are free, informal and inclusive. You don’t need to identify as Arab to join in or be in the film industry. All professions, creeds and ethnicities welcome, you just need to bring an appreciation for Arab cinema and culture.
‘I’m always amazed to see the inventiveness of films which come out of Palestine. Despite a long-standing occupation, Palestinian filmmakers find creative ways to express themselves and raise awareness about their situation through the medium of film. That to me is inspiring’
Has the direction that the Arab Film Club has gone in, or the depth of films you’ve encountered through it, surprised you at all?
Increasingly we’ve been hosting our very own screenings around London, from curating an evening of short films from the Arab world at the Close Up Cinema in Shoreditch to showcasing the Palestinian film ‘Farha’ for 200 people at the Prince Charles Cinema. And recently we’ve been inviting directors to share their experiences making their film at Q&A events we host. Farha’s director Darin J. Sallam flew over to London for the screening and Bassel Ghandour, a Jordanian filmmaker, joined us online after the session on his film The Alleys. It’s especially exciting for the artists and creatives in the group, as they get direct access and first-hand insight from the filmmakers.
We’ve also begun collaborating with other organisations. Last year we joined forces with the Bethlehem Cultural Festival to curate an afternoon of Palestinian short films in Glasgow and we were recently invited to partner with the Garden Cinema for their season ‘Mukhrijat’ celebrating Arab female filmmakers.
We’ve made many discoveries through the Arab Film Club, and whilst there are some recurring themes, often each film will present something new and different and provoke deep conversation. I’m always amazed to see the inventiveness of films which come out of Palestine. Despite a long-standing occupation and increasing restrictions, many Palestinian filmmakers find creative ways to express themselves and raise awareness about their situation and struggle through the humanising medium of film. That to me is inspiring.
How easy is it to get access to the films themselves? Are there some films that you’re keen to see, but can’t get hold of?
Some films are easier to track down than others. A question we often ask during the discussion is ‘who is this film made for?’ Depending on the intended audience – and where the money has come from – some productions have a wider distribution than others. So there have certainly been challenges in the past finding some titles, particularly if the content challenges the status-quo. However, increasingly more Arab films are being added to mainstream sites and platforms and this is heartening because it reveals the growing demand for Arab cinema. A few times near the beginning we had to beg, borrow or steal (ok, not literally) to find certain films but more recently, most of what we watch can be found online or in a cinema at an affordable rate. So things are getting better.
‘I’m keen to showcase good films – films which are exceptional and powerful and well-made in their own right, not just ‘good’ for a film made under an occupation or ‘good’ considering it was made by a refugee artist. We shouldn’t patronise Arab or Refugee or African cinema, because much of it is truly staggeringly brilliant.’
Where do you hope the Arab Film Club will go from here?
I can’t predict what the future will hold but I’m confident we will keep developing and growing as a community and organisation. We have so many vibrant, creative, talented members in our group and we certainly won’t run out of films to watch, so I am excited to build on what we have achieved so far.
To turn our focus to Refugee Week, you’ve curated a bill of four short films to be screened here at the Southbank Centre. How did you find the challenge of curating?
I’m really passionate about uncovering work from the Arab world, and beyond, so it’s an exciting opportunity to discover new productions and bring them to the Southbank Centre. Though I run the Arab Film Club, which is dedicated to championing work by Arab artists, I was keen to curate a more diverse programme because as we all know, refugees come from all over the world, not just Arab states. So I wanted to include other stories from different ethnic groups or countries.
The network I’ve built over the last two years is mostly centred around the Arab world so I had to dig a little deeper to find other titles which fit the bill. It proved a little challenging and took me down all sorts of routes but I am so pleased with the final line-up and feel the films really compliment each other. I’m always keen to showcase good films – films which are exceptional and powerful and well-made in their own right, not just ‘good’ for a film made under an occupation or ‘good’ considering it was made by a refugee artist. We shouldn’t patronise Arab or Refugee or African cinema, because quite frankly, much of it is truly staggeringly brilliant.
What drew you to this quintet of films in particular?
Each production tackles the theme in a different way. Matar is about a Syrian refugee and his experience of a hostile immigration system in England; Aziza is about two Syrian refugees trying to rebuild their lives in the neighbouring country of Lebanon; Address Unknown is about internal refugees in South Africa, communities who are forcibly removed from their homes and pushed into another area within their own country. And Panic! is a modern sci-fi take on how trans-generational trauma can affect people. I also included the beautiful short Yellow because it is about two young Afghans who have remained in their country despite facing an uncertain future, whilst many others might have fled.
If you could identify one thing you want the audience to take away from these screenings, what would it be?
I believe these films challenge the stereotypical perception of what a refugee is. Too often migrants are presented only as statistics, or figures politicised in the media. So I hope this screening, and the Q&A after it, unlocks for the audience a deeper understanding of what it actually means to be from a refugee background. Despite obstacles and challenges, these filmmakers have found ways to embrace the difficulties, using their experience as fuel for powerful, meaningful, memorable storytelling. I hope this opens hearts and minds to these human narratives and also for the non-initiated sparks a new interest for independent world cinema.
The screening of these films, as well as a post-screening Q&A with Sarah Agha, took place as part of Refugee Week at the Southbank Centre on 25 June 2023.
Main featured image: Sarah Agha photographed by Eugene Osei
Refugee Week events at the Southbank Centre are produced in partnership with Counterpoint Arts. The leading national organisation in the field of arts, migration and cultural change Counterpoints Arts is a Southbank Centre Associate Artist.
by Glen Wilson