Parramatta. Film festival 'on a roll'

The 2009 Arab Film Festival, at Riverside Theatres, in July, the sixth to be held, and the first tour of four interstate capitals, have described as a success by festival co-ordinator, Mouna Zaylah, at the Information and Cultural Exchange (ICE) office in Parramatta. Audience figures for the festival were up by 20 per cent, with approximately 40 per cent from non-Arabic-speaking backgrounds. One-third of the patrons came from as far afield as Inner Sydney, Eastern Suburbs and the North Shore, with interstate visitors from Brisbane. The tour to Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane and Adelaide took place in November. Ms Zaylah was pleased with the festival’s first interstate tour. A national marketing campaign would promote the back-to-back festival and tour, in July. “We have a strong organisation and committee whose aim is to make the event more and more sustainable. We are on a roll,” she said