“El Houb” (“The Love”) tells the story of Karim (Fahd Larhzaoui), a young Moroccan-Dutch man caught by his father with another man, who rushes home to finally talk to his parents about the truth he’s hidden from them for so long. What follows is a difficult but necessary confrontation as Karim, after years of keeping up appearances, finally opens up about the fact that he’s gay — but can he expect acceptance from his family if he still hasn’t come to terms with his sexuality?
Watch the trailer, exclusively at TheWrap, at the top of the page.
The intimate new drama from writer-director Shariff Nasr defies stereotypes about Middle Eastern and North African (Mena) immigrant communities, examining how for many in this situation, the challenge to overcome isn’t hate or bigotry, but silence. Starring Larhzaoui, Lubna Azabal, and Slimane Dazi, “El Houb” was written by Nasr, Philip Delmaar and Fahd Larhzaoui,...
Watch the trailer, exclusively at TheWrap, at the top of the page.
The intimate new drama from writer-director Shariff Nasr defies stereotypes about Middle Eastern and North African (Mena) immigrant communities, examining how for many in this situation, the challenge to overcome isn’t hate or bigotry, but silence. Starring Larhzaoui, Lubna Azabal, and Slimane Dazi, “El Houb” was written by Nasr, Philip Delmaar and Fahd Larhzaoui,...
- 3/27/2023
- by Ross A. Lincoln
- The Wrap
It’s a long journey from a school in Beirut in the early 90s to a screening room at the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. But two school friends, director Samah El Kadi and writer Rani Nasr, have teamed up with producer Michelle Ayoub to bring their story of childhood innocence clashing with political reality to life in “Bubblegum Brigades,” a feature film project pitched as part of the Red Sea Lodge workshop.
El Kadi told Variety that the real life “Bubblegum Brigades” started as “a secret society where we used bubblegum as a bribery technique to get members, and then it got cooler, and then we staged sit-ins and a revolution, and it failed as did every revolution we were part of in Lebanon afterwards.”
Commercials producer Ayoub first read the script in 2019. Its tale of rebellion chimed with the political ferment of the time, and not only in Lebanon.
El Kadi told Variety that the real life “Bubblegum Brigades” started as “a secret society where we used bubblegum as a bribery technique to get members, and then it got cooler, and then we staged sit-ins and a revolution, and it failed as did every revolution we were part of in Lebanon afterwards.”
Commercials producer Ayoub first read the script in 2019. Its tale of rebellion chimed with the political ferment of the time, and not only in Lebanon.
- 12/6/2022
- by John Bleasdale
- Variety Film + TV
A clash between people representing very different social strata electrifies the drama “19B,” the sixth feature from Egyptian helmer-writer Ahmad Abdalla, a progenitor of the new wave of independent Arab cinema in the early 2000s. Like his other films, “19B” deals with the changes taking place in contemporary Egypt and his characters’ struggle to find their place. The film claimed awards for best Arab film, cinematography and the international critics’ prize at the recent Cairo fest.
The story unfolds in an affluent Cairo neighborhood once filled with big homes and shady gardens, where an abandoned villa becomes derelict even as the building’s elderly caretaker clings to his makeshift life there. At the same time, on the street, the impoverished children of the new Egypt attempt to make their living in not altogether legal ways.
Like the building he believes he is guarding, the nameless old man has seen better days.
The story unfolds in an affluent Cairo neighborhood once filled with big homes and shady gardens, where an abandoned villa becomes derelict even as the building’s elderly caretaker clings to his makeshift life there. At the same time, on the street, the impoverished children of the new Egypt attempt to make their living in not altogether legal ways.
Like the building he believes he is guarding, the nameless old man has seen better days.
- 11/30/2022
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
Egyptian helmer-writer Ahmad Abdalla, known for being part of the new wave of independent cinema in the Arab world with his early films “Heliopolis” (2009) and “Microphone” (2010), returns to the Cairo Film Festival with the world premiere of his sixth feature, “19B.” It marks the sole film from the host country in the International Competition lineup.
The multi-layered narrative centers on the elderly caretaker of an abandoned Cairo villa known as 19B. The owners have been absent for so long that no one even knows how to contact them, and the building is falling apart. Nevertheless, the caretaker is happy with his jerry-rigged life there, sharing the space with abandoned dogs and cats, and drinking tea with the doorman of a high-rise down the block. But things change when the old man is bullied and threatened by the aggressive ex-con Nasr, the leader of a street gang.
Talking to Variety from...
The multi-layered narrative centers on the elderly caretaker of an abandoned Cairo villa known as 19B. The owners have been absent for so long that no one even knows how to contact them, and the building is falling apart. Nevertheless, the caretaker is happy with his jerry-rigged life there, sharing the space with abandoned dogs and cats, and drinking tea with the doorman of a high-rise down the block. But things change when the old man is bullied and threatened by the aggressive ex-con Nasr, the leader of a street gang.
Talking to Variety from...
- 11/11/2022
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
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