The first edition of Toronto Arab Film Festival to kick off on April 23

CAIRO – 11 January 2019: The first edition of Toronto Arab Film Festival (TAFF) will take place between April 23-26 in Toronto, Canada.

The festival is tailor made to shed light on the works of Arab and/or Arab-Canadian filmmakers. The festival is founded by the non-profit organisation Toronto Arab Film.

The festival organisers said that the aim of both Toronto Arab Film and the festival is to encourage interconnectedness between Arab filmmakers in Toronto and foster filmmakers.

‘’ We endeavour to do through the Shabaka initiative, where we support emerging talents through hosting networking events and running filmmaking workshops throughout the year" the festival organisers announced.

The film submissions have been closed and the festival's management is yet to announce the festival's line-up of the films that have been completed after 1 January 2018.

TAFF will hold two competitive segments: for feature fiction and documentary Arab films; and the competition for short films, fiction, documentary, and experimental Arab films.

The awards will also include the Jury Award for Best Arab-Canadian Short Film and the Audience Choice Award for Best Short Film. The festival is an extension of Toronto Arab Film activities.

In the recent years Toronto Arab Film organised numerous events introducing Arab cinema to Toronto audiences.

In 2019 Toronto Arab Film inaugurated the first edition of ''Layali El Cinema'' (The Nights of Cinema) which is tailor made to screen Arab films.

The film screened during the inaugural event was Meryam Joobeur's short titled ‘’Brotherhood’’, a film that is shortlisted for the Best Live Action Short Film for the 2020 Oscars.