Movies by female directors from around the Middle East and North Africa will be the focus of this year's MENAR Festival, the organizers have said.

Between January 14 and 31, the festival will take place in Sofia, Bulgaria, with films to be screened at Cinema House, Europe Cinema, G8 Cultural Center, the Czech Center, Pancho Vladigerov Museum and the Cervantes Institute.

The special "female directors" selection (a full list is available here) includes Track 143, written and directed by Narges Abyar (awarded at the Tehran film festival), a movie about the suffering and courage of an Irani woman whose son is captured in the Iran-Iraq war, alongside titles from Egypt, Palestine and elsewhere.

A variety of feature films, documentaries, shorts and other special events are included to bring the Bulgarian audience closer to the best Middle Eastern and North African cinema traditions of the past few years.

"Sofia MENAR Film Festival makes Bulgarian audience familiar with the culture and traditions of the Islamic world. The programme of Sofia MENAR Film Festival presents the best of Middle East and North Africa cinema productions, including feature films, documentaries and short projects," Pozor, a company that has engaged itself in the organization of a number film festivals in Sofia over the past years, says on MENAR's website.

The full program is available here. All films have English subtitles.

There will be a lot of accompanying events on the sidelines of movie screenings to make visitors familiar with some of the traditions and customs in different parts of the region.

Tickets are a BGN 5-8 depending ion the cinema hall or the discounts for students and retired people. The Cinema House is also offering special 5 films (35/25 BGN) and 10 films (60/50 BGN) tickets.

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