SAFAR Film Festival: UK’s only festival celebrating Arab cinema to open at the Institute of Contemporary Arts

London certainly isn't lacking in cinema events, but a unique film pop-up is landing in the capital this Thursday.

Back for its fourth year, the SAFAR Film Festival is the only UK cinema event to focus exclusively on Arab cinema.

The festival will run from September 13 - 18, screening a variety of movies that have never previously been seen outside of the Middle East.

The theme of this year’s event is film's relationship with literature and features films from the 1960s to the present day. The line up includes 1969 Egyptian film ‘The Land’ as well as ‘El Tareeq’ (‘The Search’), adapted from Naguib Mahfouz’s 1964 novel, which will open the festival on Thursday.

Organisers say the programme has been curated to show how literature and storytelling can influence contemporary cinema.

Alongside feature films, the pop-up will play a series of documentaries and shorts, which will be accompanied by a Q&A.

See the full line up here.

Screenings will take place at Institute of Contemporary Arts (SW1Y 5AH) and Cine Lumiere at The Institut Francais (SW7 2DT)