Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, is supporting the international promotion of Arabic arts and culture by sponsoring the Arab Film Festival Australia for the sixth time.

This year’s programme showcases diverse stories from the Arab world with screenings of 11 high-quality films by Arab filmmakers from Algeria, Australia, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine and Saudi Arabia.

The festival opened in Sydney this evening and will tour two other Australian cities – Canberra and Melbourne – in July.

“Etihad Airways is committed to bringing modern Arabic culture to the world and to showcase the work of gifted Arab filmmakers from diverse communities and perspectives,” said Etihad Airways’ president and chief executive officer James Hogan.

“We are particularly pleased to make a small but important contribution to making Arabic stories more accessible to Australians through the medium of film-making.”

Arab Film Festival Australia co-director Fadia Abboud said the festival organisers were excited to be working with Etihad Airways once again to promote Arab cinema in Australia.

“Etihad Airways connects Arab culture and experiences with the world, so it was a natural fit for us to work with the airline to bring Arab storytelling to Australian audiences,” said Abboud.

“We anticipate that this year’s festival will bring together diverse audiences and will create a space for issues to be debated, discussed and explored for their artistic, political and social impacts.”

The festival is produced by Information and Cultural Exchange (ICE) and driven by an organising committee representing Australia’s diverse Arabic-speaking communities and cultures.

The Arab Film Festival Australia is running from June 27 – 30 in Sydney, July 4 – 7 in Canberra and July 12 – 14 in Melbourne. – TradeArabia News Service