Bassem Breche raised controversy with his maternal melodrama “Riverbed” following its world premiere at Cairo Film Festival.
The story, a Lebanon and Qatar production shown in the Horizons of Arab Cinema section, sees a mother (Carole Abboud) and her pregnant daughter (Omaya Malaaeb) reunite under dramatic circumstances.
While it picked up multiple gongs at the fest, including one for Abboud’s performance and a special jury award, it also ruffled some feathers, mostly due to its depictions of female sexuality and abortion.
“During a Q&a at the festival, the conversation ended up focusing entirely on abortion. It was tough for me. I wasn’t expecting that,” Breche tells Variety after the ceremony.
“I don’t think anyone sets out to make ‘controversial’ films. I just have so many questions about families in general, I am interested in them. In the film, I am not wondering if abortion is halal...
The story, a Lebanon and Qatar production shown in the Horizons of Arab Cinema section, sees a mother (Carole Abboud) and her pregnant daughter (Omaya Malaaeb) reunite under dramatic circumstances.
While it picked up multiple gongs at the fest, including one for Abboud’s performance and a special jury award, it also ruffled some feathers, mostly due to its depictions of female sexuality and abortion.
“During a Q&a at the festival, the conversation ended up focusing entirely on abortion. It was tough for me. I wasn’t expecting that,” Breche tells Variety after the ceremony.
“I don’t think anyone sets out to make ‘controversial’ films. I just have so many questions about families in general, I am interested in them. In the film, I am not wondering if abortion is halal...
- 11/23/2022
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
The five projects are from Tunisia, Lebanon, and Morocco.
Five female Arab producers and directors have received a total of 250,000 from Netflix and the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (Afac) in an initative aimed at strenghtening the pipeline of Arab women behind the camera.
The recipients are Moroccan director-producer Asmae El Moudir’s The Mother of All Lies’, Tunisian director-producer Sarra Abidi with her project My Name Is Clara, and Diala Kachmar’s From The Other Shore, Jana Wehbe’s The Day Vladimir Died and Tania Khoury’s Manity, all from Lebanon.
“More and more Arab women filmmakers are...
Five female Arab producers and directors have received a total of 250,000 from Netflix and the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (Afac) in an initative aimed at strenghtening the pipeline of Arab women behind the camera.
The recipients are Moroccan director-producer Asmae El Moudir’s The Mother of All Lies’, Tunisian director-producer Sarra Abidi with her project My Name Is Clara, and Diala Kachmar’s From The Other Shore, Jana Wehbe’s The Day Vladimir Died and Tania Khoury’s Manity, all from Lebanon.
“More and more Arab women filmmakers are...
- 4/19/2022
- by Melissa Kasule
- ScreenDaily
The five projects are from Tunisia, Lebanon, and Morocco.
Five female Arab producers and directors have received a total of 250,000 from Netflix and the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (Afac) in an initative aimed at strenghtening the pipeline of Arab women behind the camera.
The recipients are Moroccan director-producer Asmae El Moudir’s The Mother of All Lies’, Tunisian director-producer Sarra Abidi with her project My Name Is Clara, and Diala Kachmar’s From The Other Shore, Jana Wehbe’s The Day Vladimir Died and Tania Khoury’s Manity, all from Lebanon.
“More and more Arab women filmmakers are...
Five female Arab producers and directors have received a total of 250,000 from Netflix and the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (Afac) in an initative aimed at strenghtening the pipeline of Arab women behind the camera.
The recipients are Moroccan director-producer Asmae El Moudir’s The Mother of All Lies’, Tunisian director-producer Sarra Abidi with her project My Name Is Clara, and Diala Kachmar’s From The Other Shore, Jana Wehbe’s The Day Vladimir Died and Tania Khoury’s Manity, all from Lebanon.
“More and more Arab women filmmakers are...
- 4/19/2022
- by Melissa Kasule
- ScreenDaily
Netflix is partnering with the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (Afac) to support five Arab women filmmakers. The pact will see the streamer provide a one-time grant of 250,000 to female producers and directors in the Arab world through the Netflix Fund for Creative Equity which aims to help create new opportunities for underrepresented communities within the entertainment industry.
Five projects have been shortlisted, spearheaded by women from Tunisia, Lebanon and Morocco. Among the projects are director/producer Asmae El Moudir’s The Mother Of All Lies which has been shortlisted for the non-fiction category. Lebanese producers Diala Kachmar (From The Other Shore), Jana Wehbe (The Day Vladimir Died) and Tania Khoury (Manity) have fiction projects in the mix; rounding out the five is Tunisian director/producer Sarra Abidi’s My Name Is Clara.
Says Nuha el Tayeb, Netflix’s Director Content Acquisitions (Mena and Turkey), “We are committed to...
Five projects have been shortlisted, spearheaded by women from Tunisia, Lebanon and Morocco. Among the projects are director/producer Asmae El Moudir’s The Mother Of All Lies which has been shortlisted for the non-fiction category. Lebanese producers Diala Kachmar (From The Other Shore), Jana Wehbe (The Day Vladimir Died) and Tania Khoury (Manity) have fiction projects in the mix; rounding out the five is Tunisian director/producer Sarra Abidi’s My Name Is Clara.
Says Nuha el Tayeb, Netflix’s Director Content Acquisitions (Mena and Turkey), “We are committed to...
- 4/18/2022
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
An economic crisis, Covid-19 spike and devastating Beirut explosion have all impacted the industry.
The recent experiences of the filmmakers behind Sarajevo CineLink title The Maiden’s Pond have revealed the multiple challenges facing those operating within the troubled Lebanese film industry.
The film, written and directed by Emmy award-winning Bassem Breche, was first brought to Sarajevo in 2017 as a guest project at the CineLink Coproduction market through the collaboration between the festival and the Doha Film Institute. It is close to being finished.
However, a dramatic spike in Covid cases in Lebanon combined with the economic crisis and massive...
The recent experiences of the filmmakers behind Sarajevo CineLink title The Maiden’s Pond have revealed the multiple challenges facing those operating within the troubled Lebanese film industry.
The film, written and directed by Emmy award-winning Bassem Breche, was first brought to Sarajevo in 2017 as a guest project at the CineLink Coproduction market through the collaboration between the festival and the Doha Film Institute. It is close to being finished.
However, a dramatic spike in Covid cases in Lebanon combined with the economic crisis and massive...
- 8/20/2020
- by 57¦Geoffrey Macnab¦41¦
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Gravitas Ventures has acquired North American rights to Van Ditthavong’s feature directorial debut All Roads To Pearla (formerly known as Sleeping In Plastic), which had its world premiere at the 2019 Austin Film Festival. The crime-thriller stars Alex MacNicoll, Addison Timlin, Corin Nemec, Nick Chinlund and Dash Mihok. The film dark coming-of-age tale is set in a small Texas town and follows a high school wrestler who gets entangled with a beautiful drifter and her psychopathic lover. Pic is produced by Derek D. Brown, Red Sanders of Red Entertainment and Van Ditthavong of goPop Films. It will be released in select theaters and available on demand September 25. The distribution deal was negotiated by Gravitas’ Brendan Gallagher and Igor Princ of Princ Films on behalf of the filmmakers. Earlier this week, Gravitas announced the acquisition of Sundance 2020 documentary The Mole Agent.
The Sarajevo Film Festival, which shifted its upcoming event...
The Sarajevo Film Festival, which shifted its upcoming event...
- 8/7/2020
- by Andreas Wiseman and Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
The selection will be screened to industry representatives online.
Sarajevo Film Festival’s CineLink Industry Days has chosen nine feature projects from Southeast Europe and the Middle East/North Africa region for its work-in-progress strand.
The seven fiction and two documentary projects will be presented online to industry professionals, with the aim of assisting completion and enhancing distribution possibilities.
The projects will compete for three awards: the Post Republic award, the CineLink Iridium award, and the Turkish National Radio Television award.
The five-person jury selecting the winners consists of Vanja Kaludjercic, new festival director at International Film Festival Rotterdam; Tobias Pausinger,...
Sarajevo Film Festival’s CineLink Industry Days has chosen nine feature projects from Southeast Europe and the Middle East/North Africa region for its work-in-progress strand.
The seven fiction and two documentary projects will be presented online to industry professionals, with the aim of assisting completion and enhancing distribution possibilities.
The projects will compete for three awards: the Post Republic award, the CineLink Iridium award, and the Turkish National Radio Television award.
The five-person jury selecting the winners consists of Vanja Kaludjercic, new festival director at International Film Festival Rotterdam; Tobias Pausinger,...
- 8/7/2020
- by 1101321¦Ben Dalton¦26¦
- ScreenDaily
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