Berlin's 4th Arab Film Festival opens 5 November

German festival will introduce more than 40 feature films, shorts and documentaries, in addition to audio-visual art from across the Middle East  The fourth annual Arab Film Festival in Berlin, to be held in several locations in the German capital between 5 and 11 November, will introduce more than 40 feature films, short films and documentaries from all over the Arab region. The festival's programme is divided into three parts, the first being the main programme. This section of the festival will showcase recent films from the Arab world, providing audiences with a glimpse into the complex socio-political issues affecting the Arab world today. The Focus Programme of the festival will be more thematic, placing recent revolutionary events – and their protagonists – into a historical context, with films focussing largely on the ongoing 'Arab Spring.' The opening film will be 'Fidai,' directed by Damien Ounouri, a joint 2012 production between Algeria, France, Qatar, Kuwait, China and Germany. The film is set to start at 8pm, local Berlin time, at the Babylon Cinema in Mitte. This year's guest of honour at ALFILM will be Farida Benlyazid, a Moroccan director to whom the Retrospective Programme of this year's festival will be dedicated. A special highlight this year will be the festival's Experimental Programme: a compilation of experimental video-art films by young filmmakers from Arab countries. These will be screened in the B/B Multiples Gallery on Tuesday at 8pm. Among the Egyptian films selected for screening are Yousry Nassrallah's Cannes Film selection, 'After the Battle,' Karim El-Shennawy's documentary film 'Salafi,' Nameer Abdelmaseeh's 'The Virgin, the Copts and Me,' late director Youssef Chahine's 'The Return of the Prodigal Son,' Ahmed Abdelaziz's '41 Days' and Sherif El-Bendary's documentary film 'On the Way Downtown.'