"In a year or two this area will be insane." Greenwich Ent. has revealed an official US trailer for an indie dark comedy from Israel titled Concerned Citizen, from filmmaker Idan Haguel. This first premiered at the 2022 Berlin Film Festival last year in the Panorama section, and it's getting a limited released in the US this June. It centers around Ben, a politically liberal, gay man who tries to improve his neighborhood in the slums of south Tel Aviv by planting a tree on his street. Idan Haguel stars in this story about a gay middle-class couple whose desire for self-realisation begins to narrow their worldview, bringing their deep-seated prejudices to light. A deftly told parable about the mechanisms of gentrification which, with a hint of satire, raises an uncomfortable question: exactly how tolerant are we? Well, the answer probably is: not very much. Also starring Ariel Wolf, Shlomi Bertonov,...
- 5/5/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
The festival runs July 21-31.
Alexandru Belc’s Metronom has picked up the award for best international film at the 39th edition of the Jerusalem Film Festival (Jff) this week.
The Romanian film was selected from 11 international titles, which included Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave and Mia Hansen-Løve’s One Fine Morning. It centres around a teenage couple spending their last few days together in 1972. Belc also won the best director award when the film played in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard selection earlier this year.
Berlinale managing director Mariette Rissenbeek, Hungarian filmmaker László Nemes and Icelandic director Rúnar Rúnarsson comprised the jury.
Alexandru Belc’s Metronom has picked up the award for best international film at the 39th edition of the Jerusalem Film Festival (Jff) this week.
The Romanian film was selected from 11 international titles, which included Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave and Mia Hansen-Løve’s One Fine Morning. It centres around a teenage couple spending their last few days together in 1972. Belc also won the best director award when the film played in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard selection earlier this year.
Berlinale managing director Mariette Rissenbeek, Hungarian filmmaker László Nemes and Icelandic director Rúnar Rúnarsson comprised the jury.
- 7/29/2022
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
Festival reveals 13 features set to receive their world premieres.
Jerusalem Film Festival (Jff) has revealed its line-up of Israeli films for its 39th edition, which includes world premieres for anticipated features by Michal Vinik and Yona Rozenkier.
A total of eight features have been selected for the Haggiag Competition for Israeli features while seven titles make up the Diamond Competition for Israeli documentaries.
Scroll down for full list of titles
The Haggiag Competition includes the world premiere of Valeria Gets Married by Israeli filmmaker Vinik, who previously made waves internationally with her 2015 drama Blush about a relationship between two Israeli schoolgirls.
Jerusalem Film Festival (Jff) has revealed its line-up of Israeli films for its 39th edition, which includes world premieres for anticipated features by Michal Vinik and Yona Rozenkier.
A total of eight features have been selected for the Haggiag Competition for Israeli features while seven titles make up the Diamond Competition for Israeli documentaries.
Scroll down for full list of titles
The Haggiag Competition includes the world premiere of Valeria Gets Married by Israeli filmmaker Vinik, who previously made waves internationally with her 2015 drama Blush about a relationship between two Israeli schoolgirls.
- 6/30/2022
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Jerusalem Film Festival Unveils Israeli Competition As It Gears Up For First Full Edition Since 2019
The Jerusalem Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for its Israeli feature film competition as well as all the other local productions selected to screen in its 39th edition, running 21-31.
The event returns to its traditional July dates for the first time since 2019 this year, after the Covid-19 pandemic forced it online in 2020 and pushed it into August and prevented it from inviting international guests in 2021.
This edition is being piloted by Jerusalem Cinematheque manager Roni Mahadav-Levin and artistic director Elad Samorzik, following the departure earlier this year of longtime cinematheque and festival director Noa Regev to head up the Israel Film Fund. Her replacement will be decided after this year’s edition.
World premieres in the Israeli competition include Michal Vinik’s drama Valeria Is Getting Married about two Ukrainian sisters who travel to Israel for marriage. It is Vinik’s first solo feature since 2015 festival breakout Blush.
The event returns to its traditional July dates for the first time since 2019 this year, after the Covid-19 pandemic forced it online in 2020 and pushed it into August and prevented it from inviting international guests in 2021.
This edition is being piloted by Jerusalem Cinematheque manager Roni Mahadav-Levin and artistic director Elad Samorzik, following the departure earlier this year of longtime cinematheque and festival director Noa Regev to head up the Israel Film Fund. Her replacement will be decided after this year’s edition.
World premieres in the Israeli competition include Michal Vinik’s drama Valeria Is Getting Married about two Ukrainian sisters who travel to Israel for marriage. It is Vinik’s first solo feature since 2015 festival breakout Blush.
- 6/30/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Berlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal has closed sales on Berlin Panorama title “Concerned Citizen” – Idan Haguel’s satirical feature on privilege and prejudice set in Tel Aviv – for several additional territories.
Distribution in the U.K. and Ireland will be handled by Peccadillo Pictures; Arti Film will be distributing the film in Benelux, with a nationwide theatrical release at selected cinemas planned later in the year; Tongariro Releasing has taken the rights for Poland, planning a festival run and theatrical release in arthouse cinemas for summer 2022; and Queer Kino has come on board to handle the film in the Czech Republic, where it will have a national premiere at Mezipatra Queer Film Festival and a theatrical release is planned for early 2023.
Following its world premiere at the Berlinale in February, the film has already been picked up for distribution in North America (Greenwich Entertainment), and Germany and Austria (Salzgeber).
“Concerned Citizen” follows Ben,...
Distribution in the U.K. and Ireland will be handled by Peccadillo Pictures; Arti Film will be distributing the film in Benelux, with a nationwide theatrical release at selected cinemas planned later in the year; Tongariro Releasing has taken the rights for Poland, planning a festival run and theatrical release in arthouse cinemas for summer 2022; and Queer Kino has come on board to handle the film in the Czech Republic, where it will have a national premiere at Mezipatra Queer Film Festival and a theatrical release is planned for early 2023.
Following its world premiere at the Berlinale in February, the film has already been picked up for distribution in North America (Greenwich Entertainment), and Germany and Austria (Salzgeber).
“Concerned Citizen” follows Ben,...
- 5/13/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Greenwich Entertainment has taken North American rights to dark comedy-drama “Concerned Citizen,” which had its world premiere in the Panorama section of the Berlinale. Salzgeber has taken the rights for Germany and Austria. Berlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal is selling the film.
Idan Haguel’s film, a satirical parable on the insidious ways in which privilege can unleash the prejudice within, centers on Ben, who thinks of himself as a liberal and enlightened gay man, living in the perfect apartment with his boyfriend Raz. All that’s missing to complete the picture is a baby, which the couple are trying to make a reality.
Meanwhile, Ben decides to improve his up-and-coming neighborhood in gritty south Tel Aviv by planting a new tree on his street. But his good deed soon triggers a sequence of events that leads to the brutal police arrest of an Eritrean immigrant. The guilt trip that ensues...
Idan Haguel’s film, a satirical parable on the insidious ways in which privilege can unleash the prejudice within, centers on Ben, who thinks of himself as a liberal and enlightened gay man, living in the perfect apartment with his boyfriend Raz. All that’s missing to complete the picture is a baby, which the couple are trying to make a reality.
Meanwhile, Ben decides to improve his up-and-coming neighborhood in gritty south Tel Aviv by planting a new tree on his street. But his good deed soon triggers a sequence of events that leads to the brutal police arrest of an Eritrean immigrant. The guilt trip that ensues...
- 3/25/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Most films dealing with the topic of gentrification either focus on the perspective of the victims of this process – excluded, marginalised, deprived of their voice – or relegate the topic to the background, as colour for a completely different story, using well-established narrative patterns. In his Concerned Citizen, Idan Haguel paves a completely new path, playing with a mixture of melodrama, black comedy and socially involved cinema.
Ben (Shlomi Bertonov) and his partner (Ariel Wolf) live in a slum in southern Tel Aviv. The couple, however, are not part of this marginalised world, belonging in every respect to a privileged part of society – a wealthy, well-to-do gay couple are in the process of looking for a surrogate for their planned child. The director strongly uses contrasts, at the very beginning of the film juxtaposing the pedantic purity and carelessness of the fulfilled love in which Ben functions, with the anxiety of the neighborhood.
Ben (Shlomi Bertonov) and his partner (Ariel Wolf) live in a slum in southern Tel Aviv. The couple, however, are not part of this marginalised world, belonging in every respect to a privileged part of society – a wealthy, well-to-do gay couple are in the process of looking for a surrogate for their planned child. The director strongly uses contrasts, at the very beginning of the film juxtaposing the pedantic purity and carelessness of the fulfilled love in which Ben functions, with the anxiety of the neighborhood.
- 2/14/2022
- by Mateusz Tarwacki
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Dark comedy-drama “Concerned Citizen,” which has its world premiere in the Panorama section of the Berlinale, has debuted its trailer. Berlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal will be selling the film during the European Film Market.
The film, a satirical parable on the insidious ways in which privilege can unleash the prejudice within, centers on Ben, who thinks of himself as a liberal and enlightened gay man, living in the perfect apartment with his boyfriend Raz. All that’s missing to complete the picture is a baby, which the couple are trying to make a reality.
Meanwhile, Ben decides to improve his up-and-coming neighborhood in gritty south Tel-Aviv by planting a new tree on his street. But his good deed soon triggers a sequence of events that leads to the brutal police arrest of an Eritrean immigrant. The guilt trip that ensues will fundamentally challenge Ben’s vision of himself and his society,...
The film, a satirical parable on the insidious ways in which privilege can unleash the prejudice within, centers on Ben, who thinks of himself as a liberal and enlightened gay man, living in the perfect apartment with his boyfriend Raz. All that’s missing to complete the picture is a baby, which the couple are trying to make a reality.
Meanwhile, Ben decides to improve his up-and-coming neighborhood in gritty south Tel-Aviv by planting a new tree on his street. But his good deed soon triggers a sequence of events that leads to the brutal police arrest of an Eritrean immigrant. The guilt trip that ensues will fundamentally challenge Ben’s vision of himself and his society,...
- 2/8/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Berlinale Series Market, Co-Production Market name selections.
The world premiere of French filmmaker Alain Guiraudie’s Nobody’s Hero will open the Panorama section at next month’s Berlin International Film Festival, marking the first time the director has screened at the event.
Nobody’s Hero is one of 16 world premiere additions to the Panorama strand, joining the 13 titles confirmed last month for a complete list of 29 films.
Scroll down for the full list of new titles
The film takes place after a terrorist attack in Clermont-Ferrand in France, and centres on a likeable man in his mid-thirties, an older...
The world premiere of French filmmaker Alain Guiraudie’s Nobody’s Hero will open the Panorama section at next month’s Berlin International Film Festival, marking the first time the director has screened at the event.
Nobody’s Hero is one of 16 world premiere additions to the Panorama strand, joining the 13 titles confirmed last month for a complete list of 29 films.
Scroll down for the full list of new titles
The film takes place after a terrorist attack in Clermont-Ferrand in France, and centres on a likeable man in his mid-thirties, an older...
- 1/18/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The program announcements continue for the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival this week, with the full Panorama line-up now confirmed.
Adding to the initial titles unveiled back in April are films including Alain Guiraudie’s Nobody’s Hero, which opens the strand this year.
Also confirmed today were the titles that will participate in the Berlinale Series Market and Co-Pro Series event this year.
Taking part in Berlinale Series Market Selects will be The Fear Index, the upcoming show from Left Bank Pictures that is set to star Josh Hartnett, as well as projects from Keshet, Viaplay and Globo. See the full lists below.
Tomorrow, Berlin chiefs Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek will unveil the 2022 Competition line-up at an event that kicks off at 11Am Cet.
Panorama Additions:
Aşk, Mark ve Ölüm
Germany
by Cem Kaya
World premiere / Panorama Dokumente
Baqyt (Happiness)
Kazakhstan
by Askar Uzabayev
with Laura Myrzakhmetova,...
Adding to the initial titles unveiled back in April are films including Alain Guiraudie’s Nobody’s Hero, which opens the strand this year.
Also confirmed today were the titles that will participate in the Berlinale Series Market and Co-Pro Series event this year.
Taking part in Berlinale Series Market Selects will be The Fear Index, the upcoming show from Left Bank Pictures that is set to star Josh Hartnett, as well as projects from Keshet, Viaplay and Globo. See the full lists below.
Tomorrow, Berlin chiefs Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek will unveil the 2022 Competition line-up at an event that kicks off at 11Am Cet.
Panorama Additions:
Aşk, Mark ve Ölüm
Germany
by Cem Kaya
World premiere / Panorama Dokumente
Baqyt (Happiness)
Kazakhstan
by Askar Uzabayev
with Laura Myrzakhmetova,...
- 1/18/2022
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Berlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal has acquired world sales rights to “Concerned Citizen,” the sophomore title from Israeli writer-director Idan Haguel. The film was selected Tuesday to have its world premiere in the Panorama section at next month’s Berlinale (Feb. 10-16).
The film, which stars Shlomi Bertonov and Ariel Wolf, centers around Ben, a politically liberal, gay man who tries to improve his neighborhood in the slums of south Tel Aviv by planting a tree on his street. This triggers a sequence of events that results in him getting mixed up in the brutal police arrest of an immigrant. The guilt trip that ensues challenges Ben’s self-image and threatens to destroy his relationship and aspirations of fatherhood. A satirical parable on the insidious ways in which privilege can unleash the prejudice within.
“The story is told with an undertone of wry humor throughout,” M-Appeal said in a statement,...
The film, which stars Shlomi Bertonov and Ariel Wolf, centers around Ben, a politically liberal, gay man who tries to improve his neighborhood in the slums of south Tel Aviv by planting a tree on his street. This triggers a sequence of events that results in him getting mixed up in the brutal police arrest of an immigrant. The guilt trip that ensues challenges Ben’s self-image and threatens to destroy his relationship and aspirations of fatherhood. A satirical parable on the insidious ways in which privilege can unleash the prejudice within.
“The story is told with an undertone of wry humor throughout,” M-Appeal said in a statement,...
- 1/18/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
French auteur Alain Guiraudie’s political drama “Nobody’s Hero” has been set as the opener of the 2022 Berlin Film Festival’s multifaceted Panorama strand, which has announced its full lineup.
The latest feature from Guiraudie, who is best known for his 2016 “Staying Vertical,” takes place in Clermont-Ferrand, central France, where a terrorist attack triggers some paranoid dynamics involving a young homeless man, a middle-aged sex worker and her married lover who have taken refuge in a building. The film’s cast comprises actor-director Noémie Lvovsky, Jean-Charles Clichet and Doria Tillier.
The ten-title Panorama Dokumente strand, which runs concurrently with the feature films, comprises previously announced transgender-themed doc “Nel Mio Nome” (“Into My Name”) by Italian director and producer Nicolò Bassetti. Elliot Page has come on board as executive producer to support the doc which observes gender transition from a female to a male identity of four characters within a...
The latest feature from Guiraudie, who is best known for his 2016 “Staying Vertical,” takes place in Clermont-Ferrand, central France, where a terrorist attack triggers some paranoid dynamics involving a young homeless man, a middle-aged sex worker and her married lover who have taken refuge in a building. The film’s cast comprises actor-director Noémie Lvovsky, Jean-Charles Clichet and Doria Tillier.
The ten-title Panorama Dokumente strand, which runs concurrently with the feature films, comprises previously announced transgender-themed doc “Nel Mio Nome” (“Into My Name”) by Italian director and producer Nicolò Bassetti. Elliot Page has come on board as executive producer to support the doc which observes gender transition from a female to a male identity of four characters within a...
- 1/18/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Competition jury member Teona Strugar Mitevska won the top co-production prize.
Sarajevo Film Festival’s industry arm CineLink has crowned the winners for its 25th edition, in a ceremony at the city’s National Theatre on Thursday (August 22).
Winners included North Macedonian project The Happiest Man In The World, or Lessons In Love from director Teona Strugar Mitevska and her family-run company Sisters and Brother Mitevski, which took the €20,000 Eurimages co-production development award.
See below for the full list of winners.
Mitevska recently directed Berlinale 2019 competition title God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunija, and was on the Competition jury at...
Sarajevo Film Festival’s industry arm CineLink has crowned the winners for its 25th edition, in a ceremony at the city’s National Theatre on Thursday (August 22).
Winners included North Macedonian project The Happiest Man In The World, or Lessons In Love from director Teona Strugar Mitevska and her family-run company Sisters and Brother Mitevski, which took the €20,000 Eurimages co-production development award.
See below for the full list of winners.
Mitevska recently directed Berlinale 2019 competition title God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunija, and was on the Competition jury at...
- 8/23/2019
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
“Take Me Somewhere Nice,” Bosnian director Ena Sendijarević’s coming-of-age story about a teen raised in the Netherlands who returns to Bosnia to visit her ailing father, won the top prize at the Sarajevo Film Festival Thursday night, earning the Amsterdam-based helmer the coveted Heart of Sarajevo Award.
The jury heralded the “beautifully photographed, acted, scripted and directed movie,” praising its ability to capture the spirit of modern youth while feeling “timeless.” The Bosnian-born Sendijarević was visibly overwhelmed receiving the award in front of her home audience, dedicating it to a festival that celebrated its 25th edition this year.
In announcing the award winners, jury member and Rotterdam festival director Bero Beyer praised filmmakers that “reached out to our hearts as they were exploring modernity versus tradition, rootedness in history against individuality, and who with their films celebrated not so much the brotherhood of men, but rather the sisterhood of human beings.
The jury heralded the “beautifully photographed, acted, scripted and directed movie,” praising its ability to capture the spirit of modern youth while feeling “timeless.” The Bosnian-born Sendijarević was visibly overwhelmed receiving the award in front of her home audience, dedicating it to a festival that celebrated its 25th edition this year.
In announcing the award winners, jury member and Rotterdam festival director Bero Beyer praised filmmakers that “reached out to our hearts as they were exploring modernity versus tradition, rootedness in history against individuality, and who with their films celebrated not so much the brotherhood of men, but rather the sisterhood of human beings.
- 8/23/2019
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
The Sarajevo Film Festival’s CineLink Work in Progress section has become a major venue for filmmakers from Southeastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa – this year it saw nearly 70 submissions, the most in the past decade.
The competitive program boasts a large number of projects that have gone on to achieve major success. This year the fest is screening three films that took part in past Work in Progress editions, including Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska’s documentary “Honeyland,” winner of the grand jury prize at Sundance; Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova’s “Cat in the Wall,” which unspooled at Locarno; and Radu Dragomir’s “Mo.”
Among the 11 projects selected this year were nine features and two documentaries, including Dimitris Bavellas’s Greek drama “In the Strange Pursuit of Laura Durand,” about two dysfunctional men searching for the love of their life: a 90s porn star who mysteriously...
The competitive program boasts a large number of projects that have gone on to achieve major success. This year the fest is screening three films that took part in past Work in Progress editions, including Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska’s documentary “Honeyland,” winner of the grand jury prize at Sundance; Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova’s “Cat in the Wall,” which unspooled at Locarno; and Radu Dragomir’s “Mo.”
Among the 11 projects selected this year were nine features and two documentaries, including Dimitris Bavellas’s Greek drama “In the Strange Pursuit of Laura Durand,” about two dysfunctional men searching for the love of their life: a 90s porn star who mysteriously...
- 8/21/2019
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Jerusalem Film Festival’s industry sidebar, Pitch Point, has unveiled its selection of projects, including new works from Avishai Sivan, Shira Geffen (“Jellyfish”), Keren Yedaya (“My Treasure”), and Tawfik Abu Wael (“Atash”).
Among the 10 projects selected for Pitch Point is “Lot’s Wife,” Sivan’s follow-up to “Tikkun,” which won the top prize at the Jerusalem fest in 2015. Set up at Ronen Ben Tal at Plan b Productions, “Lot’s Wife” centers on a religious couple who, after 10 years of childlessness, has a child born with two heads, named Noah and Lot. Lot is wicked, Noah good-hearted. After Noah dies and his head is detached, Lot sets on a challenge to overcome his nature.
Geffen will present “A Responsible Adult,” which is being produced by Elad Gavish at Marker Films.The project follows Maya, a 13-year-old girl who goes on a school trip and whose father joins the group as...
Among the 10 projects selected for Pitch Point is “Lot’s Wife,” Sivan’s follow-up to “Tikkun,” which won the top prize at the Jerusalem fest in 2015. Set up at Ronen Ben Tal at Plan b Productions, “Lot’s Wife” centers on a religious couple who, after 10 years of childlessness, has a child born with two heads, named Noah and Lot. Lot is wicked, Noah good-hearted. After Noah dies and his head is detached, Lot sets on a challenge to overcome his nature.
Geffen will present “A Responsible Adult,” which is being produced by Elad Gavish at Marker Films.The project follows Maya, a 13-year-old girl who goes on a school trip and whose father joins the group as...
- 7/2/2018
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Tikkun director among Israeli filmmakers presenting at 13th edition of showcase.
Ahead of the 2018 Jerusalem Film Festival (July 26 – Aug 5), the projects for the annual Pitch Point competition have been unveiled.
Held on July 27 and 28, the initiative, now in its 13th year, is an opportunity for Israeli filmmakers to showcase in-progress projects to attending international film industry, with a view to forging co-production ties.
The 2018 showcase includes new works from Avishai Sivan, Shira Geffen, Keren Yedaya, That Lovely Girl), and Tawfik Abu Wael (Cannes 2004 Fipresci prize winner Atash).
The Pitch Point jury this year is comprised of Kirsten Niehuus (Medienboard Berlin...
Ahead of the 2018 Jerusalem Film Festival (July 26 – Aug 5), the projects for the annual Pitch Point competition have been unveiled.
Held on July 27 and 28, the initiative, now in its 13th year, is an opportunity for Israeli filmmakers to showcase in-progress projects to attending international film industry, with a view to forging co-production ties.
The 2018 showcase includes new works from Avishai Sivan, Shira Geffen, Keren Yedaya, That Lovely Girl), and Tawfik Abu Wael (Cannes 2004 Fipresci prize winner Atash).
The Pitch Point jury this year is comprised of Kirsten Niehuus (Medienboard Berlin...
- 6/29/2018
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
A Sunday in the Country 2016For the 5th time, “A Sunday in the Country,” one of the most inventive and out of the box workshops for young European film critics and journalists, was organized within the framework of the 16th T-Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival in an old guest house by the Bystrzyckie lake during the first weekend of the cinematic event (21–24 July, 2016).
There, in Zagórze Śląslie in Lower Silesia, during three days, the group watched and discussed films, networked, exchanged thoughts and practices and shared their professional experiences. Under the tutelage of Pascal Edelmann of the European Film Academy, Ula Śniegowska of the New Horizons Association and the Dutch film critic of de Filmkrant, Dana Linssen, the critics and journalists spent the weekend cooking, networking, watching films, meeting with filmmakers and discussing cinephilia as well as issues such as the critic’s responsibility — if there is one — towards...
There, in Zagórze Śląslie in Lower Silesia, during three days, the group watched and discussed films, networked, exchanged thoughts and practices and shared their professional experiences. Under the tutelage of Pascal Edelmann of the European Film Academy, Ula Śniegowska of the New Horizons Association and the Dutch film critic of de Filmkrant, Dana Linssen, the critics and journalists spent the weekend cooking, networking, watching films, meeting with filmmakers and discussing cinephilia as well as issues such as the critic’s responsibility — if there is one — towards...
- 8/31/2016
- by Tara Karajica
- Sydney's Buzz
This year we are seeing many films from Mena, that is an acronym for the Middle East and North Africa. More commonly called “Arab” cinema, (though the term is inaccurate because several countries in the region are not actually “Arab”) the films of this region are winning many awards and garnering much interest worldwide.
More than 10 Arab films participated in the Berlinale’s Forum and Forum Expanded programs this year, in addition to the ones which participated in the Official Competition (“Inhebek Hedi”/ “Hedi” from Tunisia and “A Dragon Arrives!” by Mani Haghighi from Iran). This makes an especially remarkable year for Arab cinema’s presence in Berlin.
The Forum focus on Arab cinema, represented with films from Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Saudi Arabia highlights mostly young directors whose works explore both the past and present of their homelands.
The films included: “A Magical Substance Flows into Me” by artist Jumana Manna (Palestine), “Akher ayam el madina”/ “In the Last Days of the City” (Egypt) by Tamer El Said (international sales by Still Moving), documentary “Makhdoumin”/ “A Maid for Each” (Lebanon) by Maher Abi Samra (Isa: Docs & Film), “Barakah yoqabil Barakah”/ “Barakah Meets Barakah” (Saudi Arabia) by Mahmoud Sabbagh and Manazil (Isa: Mpm), “Bela abwab”/ “Houses without Doors” by Syrian-Armenian director Avo Kaprealian. Of course the 46th Berlinale Forum also screens films from European, Latin American and Asian directors.
The Tunisian film in Competition “Inhebek Hedi”/ “Hedi” by Mohamed Ben Attia, won the Best First Feature Award and its leading man, Majd Mastoura, received the prestigious Silver Bear for Best Actor for his role as Hedi. Attia’s debut feature film is a thoughtful love story about identity and independence in Tunisian society. It is being sold internationally by Luxbox.
Palestinian director Mahdi Fleifel won the Silver Bear Jury Prize for Short Film for “ A Man Returned”, a 30-minute portrayal of a young refugee struggling to make a life for himself in Lebanon’s Ain El-Helweh camp, being sold internationally by 3.14 Collectif. He previously made an award-winning documentary about his own experience as a refugee. The short film was also selected as the Berlin Short Film Nominee for the European Film Awards.
The Ecumenical Jury awarded the Forum Prize to Saudi filmmaker Mahmoud Sabbagh for his well-received romantic comedy “Barakah Yoqabil Barakah”/ “Barakah Meets Barakah”, a social commentary on the lives of young people in Saudi Arabia. It shared the prize with Danish production “Les Sauteurs”/ “Those Who Jump” – a film that also highlights the plight of Europe-bound refugees.
Egyptian filmmaker Tamer El-Said’s feature film “Akher Ayam El-Madina”/ “In the Last Days of the City” won the Caligari Film Prize. The film looks at a young filmmaker’s struggle to complete a film about Cairo. It was the only Egyptian film to participate in the 2016 Berlinale Forum.
Lebanese filmmaker Maher Abi Samra’s documentary “Makhdoumin”/ “A Maid for Each”, a look at the legal system that controls the lives of Lebanon’s foreign domestic workers, won the Peace Film Prize.
“Zinzana”/ “Rattle the Cage” director, Majid al Ansari, from the Arab Emirates, was honored with Variety’s Mid-East Filmmaker of the Year Award at the Berlinale. The film is the first genre movie of its kind produced in the UAE. It was financed and produced by Abu Dhabi’s ImageNation. It is repped for Us by Cinetic and international sales are by Im Global.
Projects “Mawlana”, based on Ibrahim Issa’s best-selling novel and shortlisted for the Arabic Booker Prize and director’s Mohamed Yassein’s “Wedding Song” based on Naguib Mahfouz’s novel, the Nobel Prize Winner for Literature were being promoted at the Arab Cinema Center at the Market. Reflecting a decadent Egypt from the 1970s, “Wedding Song” is one of the largest TV productions in the Arab World in 2016.
“Theeb”, a Jordanian Epic about Bedouins, is the Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. It played in Venice. International sales agent Fortissimo has licensed it to Film Movement for U.S., ABC for Benelux, New Wave for U.K., As Fidalgo for Norway, Jiff for Australia, trigon-film for Switzerland. Mad Solutions is handling the Middle East. “Ave Maria” a 14-minute Palestine satirical short is the Academy Award nomination for Best Short Fiction and is being sold internationally by Ouat Media. “ The Idol” (Palestine) played Tiff 2015 and other top fests and has sold widely throughout the world through Canada-based international sales agent Seville. Not since Elia Suleiman won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival for “Divine Intervention” has a Palestinian film director made as much of an impact as “The Idol” director Hany Abu-Assad whose “Paradise Now” and “Omar” both went to the Academy Awards.
Kudos for much of the success of Arab cinema go to Mad Solutions, the Cairo, Abu Dhabi and New York based marketing and distribution company for its marketing and social media strategies as well as its release of “Theeb”, “Zinzana” and “Ave Maria”. It also helped create the Arab Cinema Center which was launched last year at the Berlinale and Efm.
In all, 20 Mena films played in the Festival and Market this year.
And what of that other small country in the region called Israel (and/ or Palestine) which is not included in the term Mena? While Israeli films that showed in Berlin received international praise, they will never show in any of the Arab countries and are sometimes boycotted by international film festivals who succumb to censorship tactics.
Most of the larger Israeli features go to Cannes, Venice and Toronto; “Afterthought” went to Cannes, “Mountain” to Venice, “Barash” to San Sebastian”, “Wedding Doll” to London and “A.K.A. Nadia” to Talinn Black Nights Film Festival. In Berlin many are screened as German Premieres.
What Israeli films have won acclaim lately? Is it possible that our hero, Katriel Schory, head of the Israel Film Fund, whose stand for true art has earned him Israeli government censure at home (A prophet is never honored in his own land) and fame abroad with new countries striving to create national cinema, is being eclipsed by the growth of “Arab” cinema?
“Sandstorm” directed by Elite Zexer (international sales by Beta) made its way to Panorama from its world premiere in Sundance where it won the Best Actress Award for Palestinian actress Lamis Ammar’s portrayal of a young Bedouin woman forced to choose between modern freedom or traditional societal strictures within an arranged marriage.
Panorama also screened “Junction 48” (international sales by The Match Factory) which received international praise and audience acclaim. The Israeli-Palestinian hip-hop movie by Israeli-American filmmaker, Udi Aloni, was supported by the Israel-based Rabinovich Foundation. The story is about Kareem who lives in a mixed Jewish-Arab crime-ridden ghetto outside Tel Aviv. He deals drugs and lives dangerously until he discovers hip-hop and decides to express his life as a Palestinian youth along with young singer Manar. Palestinian and Israeli musicians drive this music movie and for Aloni, just seeing the film made, and then shown at the Berlin Film Festival proves its success.
“Suddenly a group of people just choose to make a film and the film is extremely professional. It’s very important that this bi-national energy can create high quality stuff, the high quality is almost the symbol of the resistance. We should not even have to tell the story about the issue. The fact that we could create it is amazing,” Aloni told Euronews.
Thirty-seven-year-old Arab-Israeli rapper Tamer Nafar plays the lead role, and has known the 56-year-old Aloni for some time. “We have been on the same demonstrations, in the parties since 2000, so we live in each other’s world. He has been to my concerts many times, he directed a video clip, I was in his movies as a producer a few times. It’s not about an old generation and new generation, it’s just about creating the right generation,” he said. “He has that gift of being a good story teller and director but he gives us the stage, no, he doesn’t give us a stage, we are building a stage together… he has his own perspective but we are all on the same level,” said actress Samar Qupty. The struggle for equal rights for Palestinians or Arab Israelis inside Israel is at its crux.
Panorama Documents screened “Who’s Gonna Love Me Now?” directed by Tomer Haymann and Barak Heymann co-directed by Alexander Bodin Saphir and being sold by Austria’s Autlook. Forum showed “ Inertia” by Idan Haguel being sold by Oration Films’ Timothy O’Brian of the U.S., and “Between Fences” by Avi Mograbi, being sold by Docs & Film’s Daniela Elstner of France. Culinary Cinema showed “Café Nagler” by Mor Kaplansky and Yariv Barel is being sold internationally by Go2Films.
Teddy 30 (the retrospective of Teddy Award winners over the past 30 years) honored Dan Wolman’s 1979 film “Hide and Seek”/ “Machboim”. Berlinale Shorts screened Rotem Murat’s “Winds Junction” from Sapir College which also holds international rights; Generation 14 Plus screened “Mushkie” by Aleeza Chanowitz from the Jerusalem San Spiegel Film School, being sold by Cinephil. Seven other films were sold in the market by various sales agents.
One of the very special events I attended at the Berlinale this year was the Shabbat Dinner, held the first Friday in the Festival and hosted by Nicola Galliner, Founder and Force of the Berlin Jewish Film Festival. There was a table full of Jews: the new Director of the Jerusalem Film Festival, Noa Regev, PhD; Jay Rosenblatt, Program Director of San Francisco’sJewish Film Institute and its former Director, Peter Stein, now the Senior Programmer of Frameline, San Francisco’s Lgbtq Film Festival; Judy Ironside, the Founder and President of UK Jewish Film and of the sixth edition of the Geneva and Zurich Jewish Film Festivals, the new young director of the Boston Jewish Film Festival, Ariana Cohen-Halberstam who recently moved from the New York Jcc to Boston, the prolific Israeli director, filmmaker Dan Wolman whose new film will soon be out and whose 1979 film “Hide and Seek”/ “Machboim” was part of the Teddy 30th Anniversary Retrospective held by the Berlinale Panorama.
Talk was about films, about politics including gender politics, about our concerns, (we Jews are better worriers than warriors) and just plain gossip.
Now if my readers will excuse my interjecting myself into this article:
It is my opinion that the region of the world called the Middle East, and the three major monotheistic religions of the world whose origin is there had better learn to do more than merely co-exist peacefully if we are to see peaceful and fruitful consequences which will set the world back upon its proper axis.
Art breaks down borders; it is subversive rather than observant of the exigencies of ever changing governments. It creates new perspectives and breaks down old ways of seeing. What I call “Cinema” is Art. Other movies may simply entertain and not aspire to more or they may propagate dogmas, but Art serves no master; it is not tethered; it is freedom of expression which should be honored with freedom to travel.
More than 10 Arab films participated in the Berlinale’s Forum and Forum Expanded programs this year, in addition to the ones which participated in the Official Competition (“Inhebek Hedi”/ “Hedi” from Tunisia and “A Dragon Arrives!” by Mani Haghighi from Iran). This makes an especially remarkable year for Arab cinema’s presence in Berlin.
The Forum focus on Arab cinema, represented with films from Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Saudi Arabia highlights mostly young directors whose works explore both the past and present of their homelands.
The films included: “A Magical Substance Flows into Me” by artist Jumana Manna (Palestine), “Akher ayam el madina”/ “In the Last Days of the City” (Egypt) by Tamer El Said (international sales by Still Moving), documentary “Makhdoumin”/ “A Maid for Each” (Lebanon) by Maher Abi Samra (Isa: Docs & Film), “Barakah yoqabil Barakah”/ “Barakah Meets Barakah” (Saudi Arabia) by Mahmoud Sabbagh and Manazil (Isa: Mpm), “Bela abwab”/ “Houses without Doors” by Syrian-Armenian director Avo Kaprealian. Of course the 46th Berlinale Forum also screens films from European, Latin American and Asian directors.
The Tunisian film in Competition “Inhebek Hedi”/ “Hedi” by Mohamed Ben Attia, won the Best First Feature Award and its leading man, Majd Mastoura, received the prestigious Silver Bear for Best Actor for his role as Hedi. Attia’s debut feature film is a thoughtful love story about identity and independence in Tunisian society. It is being sold internationally by Luxbox.
Palestinian director Mahdi Fleifel won the Silver Bear Jury Prize for Short Film for “ A Man Returned”, a 30-minute portrayal of a young refugee struggling to make a life for himself in Lebanon’s Ain El-Helweh camp, being sold internationally by 3.14 Collectif. He previously made an award-winning documentary about his own experience as a refugee. The short film was also selected as the Berlin Short Film Nominee for the European Film Awards.
The Ecumenical Jury awarded the Forum Prize to Saudi filmmaker Mahmoud Sabbagh for his well-received romantic comedy “Barakah Yoqabil Barakah”/ “Barakah Meets Barakah”, a social commentary on the lives of young people in Saudi Arabia. It shared the prize with Danish production “Les Sauteurs”/ “Those Who Jump” – a film that also highlights the plight of Europe-bound refugees.
Egyptian filmmaker Tamer El-Said’s feature film “Akher Ayam El-Madina”/ “In the Last Days of the City” won the Caligari Film Prize. The film looks at a young filmmaker’s struggle to complete a film about Cairo. It was the only Egyptian film to participate in the 2016 Berlinale Forum.
Lebanese filmmaker Maher Abi Samra’s documentary “Makhdoumin”/ “A Maid for Each”, a look at the legal system that controls the lives of Lebanon’s foreign domestic workers, won the Peace Film Prize.
“Zinzana”/ “Rattle the Cage” director, Majid al Ansari, from the Arab Emirates, was honored with Variety’s Mid-East Filmmaker of the Year Award at the Berlinale. The film is the first genre movie of its kind produced in the UAE. It was financed and produced by Abu Dhabi’s ImageNation. It is repped for Us by Cinetic and international sales are by Im Global.
Projects “Mawlana”, based on Ibrahim Issa’s best-selling novel and shortlisted for the Arabic Booker Prize and director’s Mohamed Yassein’s “Wedding Song” based on Naguib Mahfouz’s novel, the Nobel Prize Winner for Literature were being promoted at the Arab Cinema Center at the Market. Reflecting a decadent Egypt from the 1970s, “Wedding Song” is one of the largest TV productions in the Arab World in 2016.
“Theeb”, a Jordanian Epic about Bedouins, is the Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. It played in Venice. International sales agent Fortissimo has licensed it to Film Movement for U.S., ABC for Benelux, New Wave for U.K., As Fidalgo for Norway, Jiff for Australia, trigon-film for Switzerland. Mad Solutions is handling the Middle East. “Ave Maria” a 14-minute Palestine satirical short is the Academy Award nomination for Best Short Fiction and is being sold internationally by Ouat Media. “ The Idol” (Palestine) played Tiff 2015 and other top fests and has sold widely throughout the world through Canada-based international sales agent Seville. Not since Elia Suleiman won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival for “Divine Intervention” has a Palestinian film director made as much of an impact as “The Idol” director Hany Abu-Assad whose “Paradise Now” and “Omar” both went to the Academy Awards.
Kudos for much of the success of Arab cinema go to Mad Solutions, the Cairo, Abu Dhabi and New York based marketing and distribution company for its marketing and social media strategies as well as its release of “Theeb”, “Zinzana” and “Ave Maria”. It also helped create the Arab Cinema Center which was launched last year at the Berlinale and Efm.
In all, 20 Mena films played in the Festival and Market this year.
And what of that other small country in the region called Israel (and/ or Palestine) which is not included in the term Mena? While Israeli films that showed in Berlin received international praise, they will never show in any of the Arab countries and are sometimes boycotted by international film festivals who succumb to censorship tactics.
Most of the larger Israeli features go to Cannes, Venice and Toronto; “Afterthought” went to Cannes, “Mountain” to Venice, “Barash” to San Sebastian”, “Wedding Doll” to London and “A.K.A. Nadia” to Talinn Black Nights Film Festival. In Berlin many are screened as German Premieres.
What Israeli films have won acclaim lately? Is it possible that our hero, Katriel Schory, head of the Israel Film Fund, whose stand for true art has earned him Israeli government censure at home (A prophet is never honored in his own land) and fame abroad with new countries striving to create national cinema, is being eclipsed by the growth of “Arab” cinema?
“Sandstorm” directed by Elite Zexer (international sales by Beta) made its way to Panorama from its world premiere in Sundance where it won the Best Actress Award for Palestinian actress Lamis Ammar’s portrayal of a young Bedouin woman forced to choose between modern freedom or traditional societal strictures within an arranged marriage.
Panorama also screened “Junction 48” (international sales by The Match Factory) which received international praise and audience acclaim. The Israeli-Palestinian hip-hop movie by Israeli-American filmmaker, Udi Aloni, was supported by the Israel-based Rabinovich Foundation. The story is about Kareem who lives in a mixed Jewish-Arab crime-ridden ghetto outside Tel Aviv. He deals drugs and lives dangerously until he discovers hip-hop and decides to express his life as a Palestinian youth along with young singer Manar. Palestinian and Israeli musicians drive this music movie and for Aloni, just seeing the film made, and then shown at the Berlin Film Festival proves its success.
“Suddenly a group of people just choose to make a film and the film is extremely professional. It’s very important that this bi-national energy can create high quality stuff, the high quality is almost the symbol of the resistance. We should not even have to tell the story about the issue. The fact that we could create it is amazing,” Aloni told Euronews.
Thirty-seven-year-old Arab-Israeli rapper Tamer Nafar plays the lead role, and has known the 56-year-old Aloni for some time. “We have been on the same demonstrations, in the parties since 2000, so we live in each other’s world. He has been to my concerts many times, he directed a video clip, I was in his movies as a producer a few times. It’s not about an old generation and new generation, it’s just about creating the right generation,” he said. “He has that gift of being a good story teller and director but he gives us the stage, no, he doesn’t give us a stage, we are building a stage together… he has his own perspective but we are all on the same level,” said actress Samar Qupty. The struggle for equal rights for Palestinians or Arab Israelis inside Israel is at its crux.
Panorama Documents screened “Who’s Gonna Love Me Now?” directed by Tomer Haymann and Barak Heymann co-directed by Alexander Bodin Saphir and being sold by Austria’s Autlook. Forum showed “ Inertia” by Idan Haguel being sold by Oration Films’ Timothy O’Brian of the U.S., and “Between Fences” by Avi Mograbi, being sold by Docs & Film’s Daniela Elstner of France. Culinary Cinema showed “Café Nagler” by Mor Kaplansky and Yariv Barel is being sold internationally by Go2Films.
Teddy 30 (the retrospective of Teddy Award winners over the past 30 years) honored Dan Wolman’s 1979 film “Hide and Seek”/ “Machboim”. Berlinale Shorts screened Rotem Murat’s “Winds Junction” from Sapir College which also holds international rights; Generation 14 Plus screened “Mushkie” by Aleeza Chanowitz from the Jerusalem San Spiegel Film School, being sold by Cinephil. Seven other films were sold in the market by various sales agents.
One of the very special events I attended at the Berlinale this year was the Shabbat Dinner, held the first Friday in the Festival and hosted by Nicola Galliner, Founder and Force of the Berlin Jewish Film Festival. There was a table full of Jews: the new Director of the Jerusalem Film Festival, Noa Regev, PhD; Jay Rosenblatt, Program Director of San Francisco’sJewish Film Institute and its former Director, Peter Stein, now the Senior Programmer of Frameline, San Francisco’s Lgbtq Film Festival; Judy Ironside, the Founder and President of UK Jewish Film and of the sixth edition of the Geneva and Zurich Jewish Film Festivals, the new young director of the Boston Jewish Film Festival, Ariana Cohen-Halberstam who recently moved from the New York Jcc to Boston, the prolific Israeli director, filmmaker Dan Wolman whose new film will soon be out and whose 1979 film “Hide and Seek”/ “Machboim” was part of the Teddy 30th Anniversary Retrospective held by the Berlinale Panorama.
Talk was about films, about politics including gender politics, about our concerns, (we Jews are better worriers than warriors) and just plain gossip.
Now if my readers will excuse my interjecting myself into this article:
It is my opinion that the region of the world called the Middle East, and the three major monotheistic religions of the world whose origin is there had better learn to do more than merely co-exist peacefully if we are to see peaceful and fruitful consequences which will set the world back upon its proper axis.
Art breaks down borders; it is subversive rather than observant of the exigencies of ever changing governments. It creates new perspectives and breaks down old ways of seeing. What I call “Cinema” is Art. Other movies may simply entertain and not aspire to more or they may propagate dogmas, but Art serves no master; it is not tethered; it is freedom of expression which should be honored with freedom to travel.
- 3/6/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Exclusive: La outfit inks deals for Sterlin Harjo’s thriller and is talking up Idan Haguel’s Inertia.
Timothy O’Brien’s Los Angeles-based sales company Oration Films has cut first deals on Sterlin Harjo’s thriller Mekko [pictured] and is talking up Idan Haguel’s Israeli film Inertia that screens in Forum on Monday.
Vendetta Films has licensed all Australasian rights to Mekko, which received its international premiere in Toronto.
Chad Burris of Indion Entertainment produced Mekko with Jasper Zweibel of Jasper Z Presents. The film follows a released convict who falls in with a troubled community.
Oration handles worldwide sales on Inertia in association with Claudia Landsberger of Baseworx For Film.
The story tells of a woman going through an existential crisis when her husband disappears without any explanation.
The Oration slate includes New Zealand director Rebecca Tansley’s documentary Crossing Rachmaninoff, which had its international premiere at Fipa in January.
Timothy O’Brien’s Los Angeles-based sales company Oration Films has cut first deals on Sterlin Harjo’s thriller Mekko [pictured] and is talking up Idan Haguel’s Israeli film Inertia that screens in Forum on Monday.
Vendetta Films has licensed all Australasian rights to Mekko, which received its international premiere in Toronto.
Chad Burris of Indion Entertainment produced Mekko with Jasper Zweibel of Jasper Z Presents. The film follows a released convict who falls in with a troubled community.
Oration handles worldwide sales on Inertia in association with Claudia Landsberger of Baseworx For Film.
The story tells of a woman going through an existential crisis when her husband disappears without any explanation.
The Oration slate includes New Zealand director Rebecca Tansley’s documentary Crossing Rachmaninoff, which had its international premiere at Fipa in January.
- 2/14/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Claudia Landsberger, after 20 years as head of international promotion for Holland Film (now Eyeworks) where she was known and loved by so many people and helped the Dutch win two Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, has gone independent. Idan Haguel's "Inertia," which will premiere in the Berlinale Forum, is the first film she has engaged in selling through Baseworx For Film, so check it out as she is known for her good taste in films.
Taking place by the shores of the Mediterranean, the film is a deadpan surrealist and blackly comic examination of a woman's identity crisis - utterly modern yet timeless in it's exploration of the impact of dreams and desires.
On her involvement with the film Claudia Landsberger said: “ Discovering this quirky little gem was like treasure hunting. 'Inertia' being invited in the Forum program of the Berlinale is a wonderful start for the filmmaker’s career and I am very proud BaseWorx For Film is involved with this talented team’”.
The official synopsis reads as follows:
Mira is a woman trapped in a dull life - alienated yet unable to envisage any improvement in her circumstances. One morning she wakes up screaming after a nightmare where her husband is gone. He's already left the apartment but he never comes back. When she comes to terms with his mysterious and seemingly permanent disappearance, she experiences the possibility of anew life with the exhilaration, and also guilt, that this entails.
Festival screenings:
Saturday February 13 at 9:00 Pm - CinemaxX 8 (Press and Industry)
Monday February 15 at 10:00 Pm - CineStar 8 (International Premiere)
Wednesday February 17 at 4:45 Pm -Delphi
Friday February 19 at 10:00 Pm - CinemaxX 4
Saturday February 20 at 8:00 Pm - Colosseum 1...
Taking place by the shores of the Mediterranean, the film is a deadpan surrealist and blackly comic examination of a woman's identity crisis - utterly modern yet timeless in it's exploration of the impact of dreams and desires.
On her involvement with the film Claudia Landsberger said: “ Discovering this quirky little gem was like treasure hunting. 'Inertia' being invited in the Forum program of the Berlinale is a wonderful start for the filmmaker’s career and I am very proud BaseWorx For Film is involved with this talented team’”.
The official synopsis reads as follows:
Mira is a woman trapped in a dull life - alienated yet unable to envisage any improvement in her circumstances. One morning she wakes up screaming after a nightmare where her husband is gone. He's already left the apartment but he never comes back. When she comes to terms with his mysterious and seemingly permanent disappearance, she experiences the possibility of anew life with the exhilaration, and also guilt, that this entails.
Festival screenings:
Saturday February 13 at 9:00 Pm - CinemaxX 8 (Press and Industry)
Monday February 15 at 10:00 Pm - CineStar 8 (International Premiere)
Wednesday February 17 at 4:45 Pm -Delphi
Friday February 19 at 10:00 Pm - CinemaxX 4
Saturday February 20 at 8:00 Pm - Colosseum 1...
- 2/10/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Programme includes 34 world premieres.
The line-up for the 46th Berlinale Forum has been announced and will feature a total of 44 films in its main programme, of which 34 are world premieres and nine international premieres.
One focus of this year’s programme is the Arab region, with films shot by mainly young directors from an area that stretches between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, exploring both the past and present of their homelands.
In A Magical Substance Flows into Me, artist Jumana Manna sets out in search of the musical diversity of the Palestinian region.
Tamer El Said’s feature In the Last Days of the City (Akher ayam el madina) sends his alter-ego Khalid through the director’s home city of Cairo, which is in a state of uproar.
Maher Abi Samra’s documentary A Maid for Each (Makhdoumin) grapples with the employment of maids from the Global South in middle-class Lebanese households, a practice...
The line-up for the 46th Berlinale Forum has been announced and will feature a total of 44 films in its main programme, of which 34 are world premieres and nine international premieres.
One focus of this year’s programme is the Arab region, with films shot by mainly young directors from an area that stretches between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, exploring both the past and present of their homelands.
In A Magical Substance Flows into Me, artist Jumana Manna sets out in search of the musical diversity of the Palestinian region.
Tamer El Said’s feature In the Last Days of the City (Akher ayam el madina) sends his alter-ego Khalid through the director’s home city of Cairo, which is in a state of uproar.
Maher Abi Samra’s documentary A Maid for Each (Makhdoumin) grapples with the employment of maids from the Global South in middle-class Lebanese households, a practice...
- 1/19/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
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