AMAL is an Arab word that means hope. It is also the name of the International Euro-Arab Film Festival, organised for the first time in 2003, by Fundación Araguaney-Puente de Culturas (Bridging Cultures) and held in Santiago de Compostela. It is the only festival in Europe aiming to present the social and cultural reality in Arab countries to a more and more increasing audience . Over the last six years, thanks to the exhibition of Arab and Euro-Arab productions and co-productions reflecting the reality of these people, a further dialogue between countries has been encouraged through this fascinating mean of expression: cinema.

The hope of Amal is to build bridges between cultures that share so much without being aware of it. Hopefully, the festival has grown and get matured, improving its cultural offer and parallel activities such as exhibitions, concerts and a food week. It also takes into account the significant number of students that live in the city, fact that helped to hold ‘From Middle East with Love', in 2007, and the workshop ArabDoc, in 2008. Both events were held in collaboration with the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela.

All this effort has been rewarded with the support of important institutions and organizations such as Casa Árabe, AECID (Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development), ICAA (Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts), Instituto Cervantes, the Regional Government of Galicia and its Area for Audiovisual Communication or the Ministries of Education, Culture and Sport.

AMAL and its hopes have been accomplished, and as the wings are already open, it wants to keep beating them. These are the wings of intercultural dialogue, mutual awareness and development of joint projects between our country and those of the Arab World.

Thank you all and welcome to AMAL 09.