In itself, the word ufuk, or horizon, carries dialogue and hope.

Dialogue, because it is a word absorbed from Arabic, and has become a poetic language in Indonesian. The word, originally from Arabic, has the main meanings ‘horizon’, ‘skyline’, or ‘sky boundary’. Tracing it, we shall find the offshoots of the root word ufuq, such as tawaafaqa (‘agree’) or tawaffaqa (‘success’).

Hope, because in it there is a notion of the farthest end of human’s vision and journey. There is an image of exploration and the farthest achievement of humans (or someone) in the word ufuk.

The Madani International Film Festival 2022 picks this theme, with the will to foster dialogue and hope. Dialogue, cultural conversation (via film medium, visual culture), is indeed the DNA of this festival. At the same time, we would like to explore the horizons of ideas and achievements of Madani-themed films at this festival. The hope is clear: the horizon becomes the orientation to which we can walk on to achieve the furthest boundary of our thoughts and views.

At least, we can see the theme of “Ufuk” from the three Madani topics this year. First, women in films. Second, immigration. Third, focus on the interesting phenomena of certain films emergence in Saudi Arabia in the last decade.

That is why, Madani’s opening film this year is Haifa al-Mansour’s The Perfect Candidate–a female director who has managed to break through the thick wall of tradition that shuns both women’s public roles and visual culture. The opening night will also feature Zein Panzer, a religious hip hop rapper from Eastern Indonesia.

In order to reach such horizon of conversations, for the first time Madani has opened submissions for short films in the East Cinema program and the Madani short film competition. Closing the submission, 2,214 short films from various countries clocked in for assessment by judges and curators.

The films and the diverse conversations during this year’s Madani Festival are an attempt to see a horizon in today’s world of civil (madani) culture while walking through it and expanding our cultural horizons.