Israel's Independence Day, which is celebrated in all glory in the country, actually coincides with the commemoration of Al-Nakba (The Catastrophe), a day the Palestinians commemorate the 1948 events that led to their dispossession and displacement from Mandatory Palestine. Firas Khoury, in his debut movie, uses the particular concept in order to present a coming-of-age story with intense social, political and historical repercussions, by focusing on the lives of youths whose Palestinian parents chose to actually stay in Israel.
“Alam” Premieres on VOD & Digital on April 26, courtesy of Film Movement
17-year-old Tamer is an artistic youth who has troubles at school, as, just like his best friends, Shekel and Rida, he spends most of his time hanging out on the street, searching for way to buy a joint, playing video games, talking about girls, and in general, slacking out. However, when a beautiful new student, Maysaa', joins the classroom, she draws...
“Alam” Premieres on VOD & Digital on April 26, courtesy of Film Movement
17-year-old Tamer is an artistic youth who has troubles at school, as, just like his best friends, Shekel and Rida, he spends most of his time hanging out on the street, searching for way to buy a joint, playing video games, talking about girls, and in general, slacking out. However, when a beautiful new student, Maysaa', joins the classroom, she draws...
- 4/10/2024
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Eimi Imanishi is thematically expanding her Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival winner, “Battalion to My Beat,” as a narrative feature film titled “Doha – The Rising Sun.”
The film, written and directed by Imanishi, will follow Mariam, a young woman who is forced to return home to Western Sahara when she is deported from Europe. Adrift in the very place that was once her home, she desperately searches for the means to assert agency over her own life.
Imanishi participated in Film Independent’s directors lab, followed by the Sundance Institute’s screenwriting and directing labs in 2018. She then met New York-based producer Shrihari Sathe who came on board to produce “Doha.” The producing team has since expanded to include Eric Dupont (“Last Film Show”), who was Oscar-nominated for “Ave Maria”; Virginie Lacombe (“Port Authority”) from France; and Barcelona-based Belén Sanchez (“Tobacco Barns”). Yacine Laloui from the Algiers-based Lunja Productions will...
The film, written and directed by Imanishi, will follow Mariam, a young woman who is forced to return home to Western Sahara when she is deported from Europe. Adrift in the very place that was once her home, she desperately searches for the means to assert agency over her own life.
Imanishi participated in Film Independent’s directors lab, followed by the Sundance Institute’s screenwriting and directing labs in 2018. She then met New York-based producer Shrihari Sathe who came on board to produce “Doha.” The producing team has since expanded to include Eric Dupont (“Last Film Show”), who was Oscar-nominated for “Ave Maria”; Virginie Lacombe (“Port Authority”) from France; and Barcelona-based Belén Sanchez (“Tobacco Barns”). Yacine Laloui from the Algiers-based Lunja Productions will...
- 1/3/2024
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
To find her voice as a filmmaker, Paris-based documentarian Lina Soualem had to first look to the past.
The daughter of French actor Zinedine Soualem and Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass — seen recently as the Machiavellian Marcia Roy in HBO’s “Succession” — Soualem used her directorial debut, “Their Algeria,” to tell the story of her paternal grandparents’ decision to separate after more than 60 years of marriage. Now she returns with another intimate family portrait, “Bye Bye Tiberias,” which premieres Sept. 3 at the Venice Film Festival. Lightdox is handling world sales.
Soualem’s sophomore effort is an emotional journey that sees the filmmaker and her mother return to the family’s ancestral village in Palestine, which Abbass left in her early twenties to pursue her dream of becoming an actress in Europe. In the process, she left behind her mother, grandmother and seven sisters, along with questions that haunt the actress to this day.
The daughter of French actor Zinedine Soualem and Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass — seen recently as the Machiavellian Marcia Roy in HBO’s “Succession” — Soualem used her directorial debut, “Their Algeria,” to tell the story of her paternal grandparents’ decision to separate after more than 60 years of marriage. Now she returns with another intimate family portrait, “Bye Bye Tiberias,” which premieres Sept. 3 at the Venice Film Festival. Lightdox is handling world sales.
Soualem’s sophomore effort is an emotional journey that sees the filmmaker and her mother return to the family’s ancestral village in Palestine, which Abbass left in her early twenties to pursue her dream of becoming an actress in Europe. In the process, she left behind her mother, grandmother and seven sisters, along with questions that haunt the actress to this day.
- 9/3/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
The Blue Caftan by Moroccan director and Cannes 2023 Jury member Maryam Touzani has topped the nominations in the seventh edition of the Critics Awards for Arab Films.
The portrait of marriage and stifled sexuality, starring Saleh Bakri and Lubna Azabal has been nominated in seven categories including best film, actor, actress, director, screenplay, cinematography and music.
The film world premiered in Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2022 and went on to be Morocco’s best international film submission for the 2023 Academy Awards making it as far as the first long list.
The Critics Awards for Arab Films are overseen by the Arab Cinema Centre and judged by 193 critics from 72 countries. The winners will be announced at a ceremony during Cannes.
To qualify for consideration, films need to have premiered at international film festivals outside of the Arab world in 2022; involve at least one Arab world production company, and be feature-length.
Other...
The portrait of marriage and stifled sexuality, starring Saleh Bakri and Lubna Azabal has been nominated in seven categories including best film, actor, actress, director, screenplay, cinematography and music.
The film world premiered in Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2022 and went on to be Morocco’s best international film submission for the 2023 Academy Awards making it as far as the first long list.
The Critics Awards for Arab Films are overseen by the Arab Cinema Centre and judged by 193 critics from 72 countries. The winners will be announced at a ceremony during Cannes.
To qualify for consideration, films need to have premiered at international film festivals outside of the Arab world in 2022; involve at least one Arab world production company, and be feature-length.
Other...
- 5/12/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Three categories have been added to this year’s awards.
Moroccan filmmaker Maryam Touzani’s The Blue Caftan leads the nominations in the 7th Critics Awards for Arab Films, which has added categories for best editing, cinematography and music.
The Arabic-language drama, in which a woman and her closeted gay husband hire a young apprentice at their caftan store, secured seven nominations – every category except editing and documentary. The film premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes last year and was Morocco’s submission for the international feature film Oscar, making the shortlist but not final nominations.
A strong showing...
Moroccan filmmaker Maryam Touzani’s The Blue Caftan leads the nominations in the 7th Critics Awards for Arab Films, which has added categories for best editing, cinematography and music.
The Arabic-language drama, in which a woman and her closeted gay husband hire a young apprentice at their caftan store, secured seven nominations – every category except editing and documentary. The film premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes last year and was Morocco’s submission for the international feature film Oscar, making the shortlist but not final nominations.
A strong showing...
- 5/12/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Every morning in northwest Tunisia, a truck drives around picking up day laborers for the nearby fig orchard. While some are old and experienced, “Under the Fig Trees” follows a group of teenage girls who take on this job during their summer school break. When we first meet them, as they giddily (if wearily) walk up onto the pickup truck, it’s clear this has all become routine for them. The day that follows, as chronicled in Erige Sehiri’s sun-dappled film, offers a rare glimpse into their seemingly mundane life and their even richer inner lives.
Working from a script co-written with Ghalya Lacroix and Peggy Hamann, Sehiri turns this rural fig orchard into a stage where dramas, small and big alike, are played out. Away from the prying eyes of their parents yet keenly aware of how they’re looked upon by the men and older women they work with,...
Working from a script co-written with Ghalya Lacroix and Peggy Hamann, Sehiri turns this rural fig orchard into a stage where dramas, small and big alike, are played out. Away from the prying eyes of their parents yet keenly aware of how they’re looked upon by the men and older women they work with,...
- 12/9/2022
- by Manuel Betancourt
- Variety Film + TV
In the appealing, naturalistic drama “Alam,” a middle-class Arab teen living in a village in the Galilee undergoes a political awakening catalyzed by a pretty, outspoken girl from his high school class. Just like the protagonist, the audience, too, receives a provocative civics lesson on the symbolism — and power — of flags and what constitutes resistance. This intelligent, sensitive treatment of the rarely seen, everyday lives of young Palestinian citizens of Israel marks tyro feature writer-director Firas Khoury as a talent to watch, as well as a solid acquisition for Film Movement, the North American distributor. “The film. ”Alam” nabbed three prizes, including best film and audience award, at the Cairo Film Festival.
The story unfolds through the eyes of watchful, artistically-inclined Tamer, a high school senior nearing his matriculation exams. Like his friends, loudmouth Shekel (Mohammad Karaki) and electronic games nerd Rida (Ahmad Zaghmouri), Tamer shares the concerns of a typical male slacker: girls,...
The story unfolds through the eyes of watchful, artistically-inclined Tamer, a high school senior nearing his matriculation exams. Like his friends, loudmouth Shekel (Mohammad Karaki) and electronic games nerd Rida (Ahmad Zaghmouri), Tamer shares the concerns of a typical male slacker: girls,...
- 11/23/2022
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
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