Cairo-based Mad Distribution has acquired Jonathan Millet’s Critics’ Week opener Ghost Trail from mk2 Films, Somali director Mo Harawe’s Un Certain Regard drama The Village Next To Paradise from Totem Films and Anne-Marie Jacir’s upcoming All Before You for release in the Middle East and North Africa.
They are three of 30 titles secured by Mad Distribution for Mena territories, which also include Saif Hammash’s Palestinian short Deer’s Tooth, selected for La Cinef, and Rayane Mcirdi’s Algerian-French short After The Sun, which plays in Directors’ Fortnight.
The distribution arm of indie studio Mad Solutions plans...
They are three of 30 titles secured by Mad Distribution for Mena territories, which also include Saif Hammash’s Palestinian short Deer’s Tooth, selected for La Cinef, and Rayane Mcirdi’s Algerian-French short After The Sun, which plays in Directors’ Fortnight.
The distribution arm of indie studio Mad Solutions plans...
- 5/18/2024
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: The Arab Film Club, a popular monthly film club on Arab cinema based in London, is expanding.
Actress and presenter Sarah Agha, the club’s founder and curator, is launching The Arab Film Club Podcast, debuting Wednesday, May 1, with an initial five-episode season. Episodes will drop on Podbean, Apple, and Spotify every second Wednesday after that.
The pod’s first season will be dedicated to Palestinian cinema and highlight five different Palestinian filmmakers through intimate interviews. Featured filmmakers will include Darin J. Sallam, best known for her breakout feature Farha, which was Jordan’s Best International Film Oscar in 2022. Agha will also sit down with Bye Bye Tiberias director Lina Soualem. Scroll down to see the full season one lineup.
Agha, an actress, writer, presenter, and film curator is of Palestinian and Irish heritage. She is perhaps best known for presenting the acclaimed BBC doc The Holy Land And...
Actress and presenter Sarah Agha, the club’s founder and curator, is launching The Arab Film Club Podcast, debuting Wednesday, May 1, with an initial five-episode season. Episodes will drop on Podbean, Apple, and Spotify every second Wednesday after that.
The pod’s first season will be dedicated to Palestinian cinema and highlight five different Palestinian filmmakers through intimate interviews. Featured filmmakers will include Darin J. Sallam, best known for her breakout feature Farha, which was Jordan’s Best International Film Oscar in 2022. Agha will also sit down with Bye Bye Tiberias director Lina Soualem. Scroll down to see the full season one lineup.
Agha, an actress, writer, presenter, and film curator is of Palestinian and Irish heritage. She is perhaps best known for presenting the acclaimed BBC doc The Holy Land And...
- 4/17/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
On Oct. 7, when the Israel-Hamas war broke out, Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir was just one week away from starting principal photography in Bethlehem, 45 miles from Gaza, on “All Before You.”
The Oscar-nominated filmmaker’s long-gestating project reconstructs the 1936 farmer-led revolt against British colonial rule and the influx of Jewish settlements in Palestine that has been at the root of the conflict. The latest outbreak of violence came after a Hamas-led terror attack that left about 1,200 Israelis dead while 250 were taken hostage, with more than 100 believed to still be held by Hamas.
Now Jacir, who is based in Ramallah, the de facto capital of the Palestinian Authority, is anxiously waiting for a cease-fire that will put an end to the death and destruction and allow her to go back and shoot the drama. “It’s more important than ever to tell this largely forgotten story,” she says.
As hopes of...
The Oscar-nominated filmmaker’s long-gestating project reconstructs the 1936 farmer-led revolt against British colonial rule and the influx of Jewish settlements in Palestine that has been at the root of the conflict. The latest outbreak of violence came after a Hamas-led terror attack that left about 1,200 Israelis dead while 250 were taken hostage, with more than 100 believed to still be held by Hamas.
Now Jacir, who is based in Ramallah, the de facto capital of the Palestinian Authority, is anxiously waiting for a cease-fire that will put an end to the death and destruction and allow her to go back and shoot the drama. “It’s more important than ever to tell this largely forgotten story,” she says.
As hopes of...
- 3/29/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Qatar’s Doha Film Institute (Dfi) kicks off the 10th edition of its Qumra project and talent incubator event meeting this Friday.
Running from March 1 to 6 in downtown Doha and the lofty surroundings of the city’s I. M. Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art, the event will welcome the filmmakers and producers of 40 projects across all formats for six days of masterclasses, workshops and one-on-one mentoring sessions.
Participants include UK director Ana Naomi de Sousa with Naseem, Fight With Grace about boxing star Naseem Hamed; Moroccan filmmaker Alaa Eddine Aljem with Eldorado, The Taste of the South, his second feature after Cannes Critics’ Week title The Unknown Saint; Tunisian director Mehdi Barsaoui with Aïcha, which follows 2019 drama A Son for which Sami Bouajila won Best Actor in the Venice’s Horizons sidebar, and Palestinian director Saleh Saadi with TV series Dyouf, about a young man who returns to his...
Running from March 1 to 6 in downtown Doha and the lofty surroundings of the city’s I. M. Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art, the event will welcome the filmmakers and producers of 40 projects across all formats for six days of masterclasses, workshops and one-on-one mentoring sessions.
Participants include UK director Ana Naomi de Sousa with Naseem, Fight With Grace about boxing star Naseem Hamed; Moroccan filmmaker Alaa Eddine Aljem with Eldorado, The Taste of the South, his second feature after Cannes Critics’ Week title The Unknown Saint; Tunisian director Mehdi Barsaoui with Aïcha, which follows 2019 drama A Son for which Sami Bouajila won Best Actor in the Venice’s Horizons sidebar, and Palestinian director Saleh Saadi with TV series Dyouf, about a young man who returns to his...
- 2/28/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Qatar, which put itself on the global entertainment map by hosting the 2022 soccer World Cup, isn’t known as a moviemaking hub. But Doha-based Katara Studios, which is keen on fostering filmmaking and content production in the minuscule gas-rich Gulf nation, is getting the ball rolling.
And the World Cup – followed by the AFC Asian Cup soccer tournament that is currently underway – is an integral part of Katara Studios’ multi-pronged strategy.
“When the vision for Katara Studios was established, we thought it would be great to create a space that could include a bit of everything for a filmmaker,” says Katara Studios CEO Ahmed Al Baker. Besides being a filmmaker and producer, Al Baker also served as creative director of the Qatar World Cup opening ceremony and more recently for the opening ceremony for the AFC Asian Cup, which Katara Studios executive produced.
The AFC Asian Cup ceremony, held in...
And the World Cup – followed by the AFC Asian Cup soccer tournament that is currently underway – is an integral part of Katara Studios’ multi-pronged strategy.
“When the vision for Katara Studios was established, we thought it would be great to create a space that could include a bit of everything for a filmmaker,” says Katara Studios CEO Ahmed Al Baker. Besides being a filmmaker and producer, Al Baker also served as creative director of the Qatar World Cup opening ceremony and more recently for the opening ceremony for the AFC Asian Cup, which Katara Studios executive produced.
The AFC Asian Cup ceremony, held in...
- 2/9/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Germany’s second biggest broadcasting network Ard has said it pulled Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir’s 2017 feature Wajib from its schedule this weekend due to concerns over its “narrative perspective” amid the ongoing Israeli-Hamas conflict.
Ard – which is a joint channel involving 10 German regional public broadcasters – has been accused of censorship by the filmmakers.
“In the context of the drastic social and (global) political events, we checked, as per our standard procedure, as to whether our planned program offerings were in line with the current situation,” Ard said in a statement sent to Deadline.
“We had already included the film Wajib you mentioned in our programming a few months ago. However, given the recent events in the Middle East, we currently believe it is not correctly placed in the program as it could be misunderstood due to its narrative perspective.”
Quizzed by Deadline on what aspects of the film...
Ard – which is a joint channel involving 10 German regional public broadcasters – has been accused of censorship by the filmmakers.
“In the context of the drastic social and (global) political events, we checked, as per our standard procedure, as to whether our planned program offerings were in line with the current situation,” Ard said in a statement sent to Deadline.
“We had already included the film Wajib you mentioned in our programming a few months ago. However, given the recent events in the Middle East, we currently believe it is not correctly placed in the program as it could be misunderstood due to its narrative perspective.”
Quizzed by Deadline on what aspects of the film...
- 11/17/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: German broadcasting network Ard has been accused of censorship following its decision to pull a scheduled broadcast of Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir’s 2017 feature Wajib due to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The film’s German co-producer Titus Kreyenberg told Deadline that Wajib had been due to air this Sunday (November 19), with the programming slot set for months and already announced in TV listings.
“It’s been taken off the schedule. Internally, we were told that it was decided that this was not the time to show a Palestinian film,” said Kreyenberg who works under the banner of Berlin and Cologne-based Unafilm with recent credits including Octopus Skin and A Woman.
Deadline has contacted Ard – a joint network involving 10 German regional public broadcasters – as well as Hamburg-based member Ndr, which backed the production. The networks have yet to respond.
Jacir’s drama Wajib is a gentle comedy-drama capturing the reality of Palestinians living within Israeli borders.
The film’s German co-producer Titus Kreyenberg told Deadline that Wajib had been due to air this Sunday (November 19), with the programming slot set for months and already announced in TV listings.
“It’s been taken off the schedule. Internally, we were told that it was decided that this was not the time to show a Palestinian film,” said Kreyenberg who works under the banner of Berlin and Cologne-based Unafilm with recent credits including Octopus Skin and A Woman.
Deadline has contacted Ard – a joint network involving 10 German regional public broadcasters – as well as Hamburg-based member Ndr, which backed the production. The networks have yet to respond.
Jacir’s drama Wajib is a gentle comedy-drama capturing the reality of Palestinians living within Israeli borders.
- 11/16/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Some European crew evacuated in wake of Israel-Hamas conflict.
Filming on Palestinian-American filmmaker Cherien Dabis’ upcoming feature All That’s Left Of You in Jaffa, the mixed city just south of Tel Aviv in Israel, has been disrupted by the ongoing conflict in the region.
Dabis was on a tech recce in Jaffa for her third feature, a historical drama chronicling one Palestinian family over three generations, when the October 7 Hamas attacks took place, sparking Israeli retaliation in Gaza.
“We had to evacuate all of our foreign crew,” Dabis told Screen. “We were hearing bombs and fighter jets overhead. The...
Filming on Palestinian-American filmmaker Cherien Dabis’ upcoming feature All That’s Left Of You in Jaffa, the mixed city just south of Tel Aviv in Israel, has been disrupted by the ongoing conflict in the region.
Dabis was on a tech recce in Jaffa for her third feature, a historical drama chronicling one Palestinian family over three generations, when the October 7 Hamas attacks took place, sparking Israeli retaliation in Gaza.
“We had to evacuate all of our foreign crew,” Dabis told Screen. “We were hearing bombs and fighter jets overhead. The...
- 10/16/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
Some European crew evacuated in wake of Israel-Hamas conflict.
Filming on Palestinian-American filmmaker Cherien Dabis’ upcoming feature All That’s Left Of You has been disrupted by the ongoing conflict in the region.
Dabis was on a tech recce in Jaffa for her third feature, a historical drama chronicling one Palestinian family over three generations, when the October 7 Hamas attacks took place, sparking Israeli retaliation in Gaza.
“We had to evacuate all of our foreign crew,” Dabis told Screen. “We were hearing bombs and fighter jets overhead. The tensions were really high for the first days we stayed there before evacuating.
Filming on Palestinian-American filmmaker Cherien Dabis’ upcoming feature All That’s Left Of You has been disrupted by the ongoing conflict in the region.
Dabis was on a tech recce in Jaffa for her third feature, a historical drama chronicling one Palestinian family over three generations, when the October 7 Hamas attacks took place, sparking Israeli retaliation in Gaza.
“We had to evacuate all of our foreign crew,” Dabis told Screen. “We were hearing bombs and fighter jets overhead. The tensions were really high for the first days we stayed there before evacuating.
- 10/16/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
Variety is debuting an exclusive clip from Farah Nabulsi’s thriller “The Teacher,” starring Imogen Poots (“The Father”) and Saleh Bakri. The film will have its world premiere on Saturday at the Toronto Film Festival in the Discovery section.
The film is Nabulsi’s feature debut following her Oscar-nominated and BAFTA award-winning short “The Present,” which also starred Bakri.
“The Teacher” follows Palestinian schoolteacher Basem (Bakri), who acts as a father figure to two of his students, Yacoub and Adam (Muhammad Abed Elrahman), amidst turmoil in the West Bank. Upon meeting British volunteer worker Lisa (Poots), Basem struggles to reconcile his life-threatening commitment to political resistance and his emotional support for Yacoub and Adam with the chance of a new romantic relationship.
The story – based on true events – takes place against the backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, offering insight into the lives of the people living in the region from all religious and cultural backgrounds.
The film is Nabulsi’s feature debut following her Oscar-nominated and BAFTA award-winning short “The Present,” which also starred Bakri.
“The Teacher” follows Palestinian schoolteacher Basem (Bakri), who acts as a father figure to two of his students, Yacoub and Adam (Muhammad Abed Elrahman), amidst turmoil in the West Bank. Upon meeting British volunteer worker Lisa (Poots), Basem struggles to reconcile his life-threatening commitment to political resistance and his emotional support for Yacoub and Adam with the chance of a new romantic relationship.
The story – based on true events – takes place against the backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, offering insight into the lives of the people living in the region from all religious and cultural backgrounds.
- 9/7/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Speakers at Screen round-table in Venice included Daniela Elstner, Film i Vast’s Kristina Borjeson, and Lucky Red founder Andrea Occhipinti.
Unifrance’s Daniela Elstner, Film i Vast’s Kristina Borjeson, and Lucky Red founder Andrea Occhipinti were among the international executives who came together to share insights into producing and distributing non-English language films outside of their home territories at a roundtable event in Venice hosted by Screen International and sponsored by the Saudi Film Commission.
In many ways, it seems a good time for non-English language films – audiences and awards have flocked to films and series like Parasite,...
Unifrance’s Daniela Elstner, Film i Vast’s Kristina Borjeson, and Lucky Red founder Andrea Occhipinti were among the international executives who came together to share insights into producing and distributing non-English language films outside of their home territories at a roundtable event in Venice hosted by Screen International and sponsored by the Saudi Film Commission.
In many ways, it seems a good time for non-English language films – audiences and awards have flocked to films and series like Parasite,...
- 9/7/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Speakers at Screen round-table in Venice included
Unifrance’s Daniela Elstner, Film i Vast’s Kristina Borjeson, and Lucky Red founder Andrea Occhipinti were among the international executives who came together to share insights into producing and distributing non-English language films outside of their home territories at a roundtable event in Venice sponsored by Screen International and the Saudi Film Commission.
In many ways, it seems a good time for non-English language films – audiences and awards have flocked to films and series like Parasite, All Quiet On The Western Front, Money Heist and Squid Game. However, programming at most cinemas...
Unifrance’s Daniela Elstner, Film i Vast’s Kristina Borjeson, and Lucky Red founder Andrea Occhipinti were among the international executives who came together to share insights into producing and distributing non-English language films outside of their home territories at a roundtable event in Venice sponsored by Screen International and the Saudi Film Commission.
In many ways, it seems a good time for non-English language films – audiences and awards have flocked to films and series like Parasite, All Quiet On The Western Front, Money Heist and Squid Game. However, programming at most cinemas...
- 9/7/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
The Venice Gap-Financing Market is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this year with record-breaking attendance and impressive new figures on the projects that the core component of Venice’s industry side has helped bring to the big screen.
All told, over the span of a decade, “We have had 370 films (including immersive) from 70 countries and 80% of them have been completed within six months after the festival,” says Pascal Diot who heads the Venice Production Bridge, as the Lido’s market is known. All projects unveiled at the Venice Gap Financing Market must have at least 70% of their funding in place.
Steve McQueen’s documentary “Occupied City,” Wim Wenders’ “The Secrets of Places,” a 3D feature doc about Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, and Alain Parroni’s “An Endless Sunday,” which is premiering both at Venice and Toronto this year, are among standout titles that have closed their financing on the Lido.
This...
All told, over the span of a decade, “We have had 370 films (including immersive) from 70 countries and 80% of them have been completed within six months after the festival,” says Pascal Diot who heads the Venice Production Bridge, as the Lido’s market is known. All projects unveiled at the Venice Gap Financing Market must have at least 70% of their funding in place.
Steve McQueen’s documentary “Occupied City,” Wim Wenders’ “The Secrets of Places,” a 3D feature doc about Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, and Alain Parroni’s “An Endless Sunday,” which is premiering both at Venice and Toronto this year, are among standout titles that have closed their financing on the Lido.
This...
- 9/1/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The Venice Film Festival has unveiled the names who will join Damien Chazelle on the main Competition jury of its 80th edition, running Aug 30 — Sep 9.
Jury members include Saleh Bakri, Jane Campion, Mia Hansen-Løve, Gabriele Mainetti, Martin McDonagh, Santiago Mitre, Laura Poitras, and Shu Qi.
The jury will award the following official prizes to the feature films in Competition, with no joint awards allowed: Golden Lion for Best Film, Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize, Silver Lion for Best Director, Coppa Volpi for Best Actress, Coppa Volpi for Best Actor, Special Jury Prize, Award for Best Screenplay, and “Marcello Mastroianni” Award for Best New Young Actor or Actress.
Saleh Bakri is a Palestinian film and theater actor. For the movie Wajib (2017) by Annemarie Jacir, Bakri won the Muhr Award for Best Actor at the Dubai Film Festival. His latest film performances are in the Oscar-nominated short film The Present by Farah Nabulsi (2020) and in Costa Brava,...
Jury members include Saleh Bakri, Jane Campion, Mia Hansen-Løve, Gabriele Mainetti, Martin McDonagh, Santiago Mitre, Laura Poitras, and Shu Qi.
The jury will award the following official prizes to the feature films in Competition, with no joint awards allowed: Golden Lion for Best Film, Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize, Silver Lion for Best Director, Coppa Volpi for Best Actress, Coppa Volpi for Best Actor, Special Jury Prize, Award for Best Screenplay, and “Marcello Mastroianni” Award for Best New Young Actor or Actress.
Saleh Bakri is a Palestinian film and theater actor. For the movie Wajib (2017) by Annemarie Jacir, Bakri won the Muhr Award for Best Actor at the Dubai Film Festival. His latest film performances are in the Oscar-nominated short film The Present by Farah Nabulsi (2020) and in Costa Brava,...
- 7/13/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
The Venice Gap-Financing Market (September 1-3), part of the Venice Production Bridge, will present 34 fiction and documentary projects.
The Venice Gap-Financing Market (September 1-3), part of the Venice Production Bridge, will present 34 fiction and documentary projects at the 80th Venice International Film Festival (August 30-Septmber 9), including a new project from Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir, All Before You.
All Before You offers a retelling of the 1963 farner-led revolt against British colonial rule in Palestine. Jacir’s previous director credits include The Oblivion Theory, which won the top prize at the Berlinale co-production market in 2021, Salt Of This Sea, Wajib and When I Saw You,...
The Venice Gap-Financing Market (September 1-3), part of the Venice Production Bridge, will present 34 fiction and documentary projects at the 80th Venice International Film Festival (August 30-Septmber 9), including a new project from Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir, All Before You.
All Before You offers a retelling of the 1963 farner-led revolt against British colonial rule in Palestine. Jacir’s previous director credits include The Oblivion Theory, which won the top prize at the Berlinale co-production market in 2021, Salt Of This Sea, Wajib and When I Saw You,...
- 7/3/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
The 10th edition of the Venice Gap-Financing Market, organized as part of the Venice Film Festival’s industry program Venice Production Bridge, has selected 62 projects in the final stages of development and funding.
Filmmakers taking projects to Venice include Jim Sheridan, an Oscar nominee with “In America,” “In the Name of the Father” and “My Left Foot”; Annemarie Jacir, whose credits include Cannes’ “Salt of This Sea,” Berlin’s “When I Saw You” and Locarno’s “Wajib”; Aisling Walsh, who directed “Maudie” with Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke, and “Elizabeth Is Missing” with Glenda Jackson; and Kim Mordaunt, who won best debut at Berlin with “The Rocket.”
Also selected are Roberto Minervini, who directed Cannes’ “The Other Side” and Venice’s “What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire?”; Laurynas Bareisa, who won the Venice Horizons Award for “Pilgrims”; Måns Månsson, who was in Berlin competition with “The Real Estate”; György Pálfi,...
Filmmakers taking projects to Venice include Jim Sheridan, an Oscar nominee with “In America,” “In the Name of the Father” and “My Left Foot”; Annemarie Jacir, whose credits include Cannes’ “Salt of This Sea,” Berlin’s “When I Saw You” and Locarno’s “Wajib”; Aisling Walsh, who directed “Maudie” with Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke, and “Elizabeth Is Missing” with Glenda Jackson; and Kim Mordaunt, who won best debut at Berlin with “The Rocket.”
Also selected are Roberto Minervini, who directed Cannes’ “The Other Side” and Venice’s “What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire?”; Laurynas Bareisa, who won the Venice Horizons Award for “Pilgrims”; Måns Månsson, who was in Berlin competition with “The Real Estate”; György Pálfi,...
- 7/3/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir, Canadian filmmaker Geneviève Dulude-De Celles, Brazilian filmmaker Ricardo Alves Jr., veteran Hungarian filmmaker György Palfi and Italian filmmaker Roberto Minervini are five filmmakers among the 62 projects selected for the 2023 edition of the Venice Gap-Financing Market (September 1st to the 3rd).
The filmmaker behind Wajib in Annemarie Jacir (who also has the book to screen project The Oblivion Theory in the works), will present All Before You at the market. Docu-fiction blending helmer Roberto Minervini (who is among the producers on Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light) is going full fiction with The Damned.…...
The filmmaker behind Wajib in Annemarie Jacir (who also has the book to screen project The Oblivion Theory in the works), will present All Before You at the market. Docu-fiction blending helmer Roberto Minervini (who is among the producers on Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light) is going full fiction with The Damned.…...
- 7/3/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
New Feature projects by Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir, Ireland’s Aisling Walsh and Jim Sheridan as well as Romanian filmmaker Anca Damian have been selected for the upcoming edition of the Venice Gap-Financing Market.
The 10th edition of the co-financing meeting will run from Sept. 1 to 3 as part as of the Venice Production Bridge, which is the industry component of the Venice Film Festival (Aug 30 to Sept. 9)
The market will present 62 projects in the final stages of development and funding, selected from 280 submissions.
The selection spans 34 feature-length fiction Film and documentary projects, 14 Immersive projects, 11 Biennale College Cinema – Virtual Reality projects and three Biennale College Cinema projects.
To be eligible for inclusion, the fiction films must have at least 70% of funding in place and be looking for minority partners only.
Full List of Feature Film Projects:
After The Evil (doc) by Tamara Erde, Gloria Films Production All Before You (fiction), by Annemarie Jacir,...
The 10th edition of the co-financing meeting will run from Sept. 1 to 3 as part as of the Venice Production Bridge, which is the industry component of the Venice Film Festival (Aug 30 to Sept. 9)
The market will present 62 projects in the final stages of development and funding, selected from 280 submissions.
The selection spans 34 feature-length fiction Film and documentary projects, 14 Immersive projects, 11 Biennale College Cinema – Virtual Reality projects and three Biennale College Cinema projects.
To be eligible for inclusion, the fiction films must have at least 70% of funding in place and be looking for minority partners only.
Full List of Feature Film Projects:
After The Evil (doc) by Tamara Erde, Gloria Films Production All Before You (fiction), by Annemarie Jacir,...
- 7/3/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Ebla Mari has a confession. Before she was approached for the lead role in Ken Loach’s latest (and quite possibly, last) film The Old Oak, she says she was “ashamed” to say she didn’t know who the director was.
Not that the 25-year-old really had any reason to.
As a Syrian theater teacher in the village of Majdal Shams, part of the Golan Heights that has been under Israeli military occupation since the six-day war of 1967, and with no previous screen experience, it’s understandable if Loach’s body of work — largely focussed on the troubles within U.K. society — may have passed her by. But Mari soon caught up.
In The Old Oak, she plays Yara, a Syrian refugee and recent U.K. arrival shipped off with her family to a former mining town in the northeast of England and into the center of a community torn...
Not that the 25-year-old really had any reason to.
As a Syrian theater teacher in the village of Majdal Shams, part of the Golan Heights that has been under Israeli military occupation since the six-day war of 1967, and with no previous screen experience, it’s understandable if Loach’s body of work — largely focussed on the troubles within U.K. society — may have passed her by. But Mari soon caught up.
In The Old Oak, she plays Yara, a Syrian refugee and recent U.K. arrival shipped off with her family to a former mining town in the northeast of England and into the center of a community torn...
- 5/17/2023
- by Alex Ritman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Three months ago, Doha’s new Downtown Msheireb district was the throbbing heart of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar as one of its main fan zones.
Quiz any local on the street or in its cafes and shops about what it was like, and their faces light up as they recount how packed it was and the magical atmosphere.
Billed as the world’s first sustainable downtown regeneration project, the pedestrianized neighborhood is now acting as the backdrop to the Doha Film Institute’s annual Qumra talent incubator, alongside the I.M. Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art (Mia).
The event, which kicked off on Friday, aims to hothouse 44 film and series projects in various formats and stages of production. All the projects are recipients of the Dfi’s generous grant program
The focus is on Middle East and North African filmmakers but there are also projects from further afield...
Quiz any local on the street or in its cafes and shops about what it was like, and their faces light up as they recount how packed it was and the magical atmosphere.
Billed as the world’s first sustainable downtown regeneration project, the pedestrianized neighborhood is now acting as the backdrop to the Doha Film Institute’s annual Qumra talent incubator, alongside the I.M. Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art (Mia).
The event, which kicked off on Friday, aims to hothouse 44 film and series projects in various formats and stages of production. All the projects are recipients of the Dfi’s generous grant program
The focus is on Middle East and North African filmmakers but there are also projects from further afield...
- 3/10/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
I have been tracking producer Sol Bondy since 2016 when co-production The Happiest Day in the Life of Ölli Mäki won the Un Certain Regard Grand Prize and the European Film Award for Best Debut. He and Fred Burle have been developing The Girl from Köln (aka Köln 75) with writer-director Ido Fluk, the filmmaker behind 2016 Tribeca selection The Ticket since 2019. "This project has been very close to our hearts in the last few years and we're very excited with the way it's been shaped so far," said Bondy, a Variety Producer to Watch in 2018. "It's been such a joy working with Ido on this exciting story and we're thrilled to have put an amazing team together," added Burle, Brazilian born producer who was just made a partner in One Two Films, alongside co-founders Sol Bondy and Christoph Lange. Burle joined One Two in January 2017, having graduated from the German Film and Television Academy (dffb) the previous year. He has previously worked as a film critic, at The Match Factory, and as curator of the inaugural dffb film festival. One Two Films has produced and co-produced award-winning films such as Holy Spider (Read my blog about it here), Vadim Perelman's Persian Lessons (Read my blog about it here), Jennifer Fox's Sundance breakout The Tale, Isabel Coixet's The Bookshop and Juho Kuosmanen's The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki.Other titles in the pipeline include Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson's dark comedy Northern Comfort, which premieres in SXSW later this month, Annemarie Jacir's survival drama The Oblivion Theory, Sarah Arnold's debut feature Wild Encounters and Michiel ten Horn's romantic comedy Any Other Night. In Berlin this year it was announced that Bankside would be The Girl from Köln's international sales agent and was launching sales. Alamode Film already has German-speaking territories and is a coproducer, who have very recently secured funding through the Fff, the local fund in Bavaria. It is in early pre-production and will shoot this year in Poland and Germany. The Girl from Köln tells the little-known story of Vera Brandes, who, in 1975, at the age of 17, staged the famous Köln Concert by jazz musician Keith Jarrett, which became the top-selling jazz solo album of all time. With Polish Film Institute backing, Oscar-winning Polish producer Ewa Puszczynska (Ida, Cold War) of Extreme Emotions is co-producing along with Annegret Weitkämper-Krug of Germany's Gretchenfilm (Seneca). Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Oren Moverman (Love & Mercy, Bad Education) serves as executive producer. Moverman also produced Fluk's previous feature, The Ticket. The Tale writer-director Jennifer Fox also serves as executive producer. Stephen Kelliher and Sophie Green executive produce for Bankside. It stars Mala Emde (Skin Deep, And Tomorrow the Entire World) in the lead role, alongside John Magaro (Past Lives) as Jarrett. Magaro was also in Cannes last year with Kelly Reichardt's competition title Showing Up.Other cast attached include Alexander Scheer (Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush), Ulrich Tukur (The Life of Others), Susanne Wolff (Sisi & I, Styx), Jördis Triebel (Dark), Jan Bülow (Lindenberg) and Marie-Lou Sellem (Tar, Exit Marrakesh). The NYU-graduate Fluk was dubbed "a talent to watch" by Variety following his feature debut Never Too Late, the first crowd-sourced Israeli film ever made. His American debut, the Tribeca competition selection, The Ticket, starred Dan Stevens and Malin Akerman. Upcoming projects include 24 Hours in June, a retelling of the final day in the life of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg who were convicted of spying on behalf of the Soviet Union, to be produced by Academy Award winner James Schamus (Brokeback Mountain) and Joe Pirro (Driveways). Fluk is repped by Amotz Zakai, Amy Schiffman, and Kegan Schell at Echo Lake Entertainment. He is also created the recently-announced HBO series Empty Mansions for Fremantle with director Joe Wright (Atonement, Darkest Hour) attached to direct the pilot. "From the moment I heard Vera's story, about how as a high school teenager she organized one of the greatest concerts in history, I knew her story had to be told," said Fluk. "We were immediately exhilarated by Vera Brandes' remarkable female empowerment story. Her strength, courage and sheer belief in herself and the music of Keith Jarrett will entertain and inspire audiences around the world," added Kelliher.
- 3/5/2023
- by Sydney
- Sydney's Buzz
Burle also spearheads Annemarie Jacir’s ‘The Oblivion Theory’.
One Two Films, the Berlin-based production company behind Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider, has promoted Fred Burle to partner in the company, alongside co-founders Sol Bondy and Christoph Lange.
Brazilian producer Burle will realise his own projects and continue to work alongside One Two managing director Bondy.
Burle joined One Two in January 2017, having graduated from the German Film and Television Academy (Dffb) the previous year.
He has previously worked as a film critic, in sales at The Match Factory, and as curator of the inaugural Dffb film festival.
One Two...
One Two Films, the Berlin-based production company behind Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider, has promoted Fred Burle to partner in the company, alongside co-founders Sol Bondy and Christoph Lange.
Brazilian producer Burle will realise his own projects and continue to work alongside One Two managing director Bondy.
Burle joined One Two in January 2017, having graduated from the German Film and Television Academy (Dffb) the previous year.
He has previously worked as a film critic, in sales at The Match Factory, and as curator of the inaugural Dffb film festival.
One Two...
- 2/16/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
This year, women directors – and their women-centric subjects – swept the awards at Sundance Film Festival. Three women directors – Madeleine Gavin, Maryam Keshavarz, and Noora Niasari – won Audience Awards for their films on North Korea (“Beyond Utopia”), intergenerational motherhood (“The Persian Version”), and custody in diaspora (“Shayda”). Portraits of masculinity were also celebrated as well. First-time feature filmmaker Sing J. Lee won the Directing Award for his touching portrait of masculinity and fatherhood in “The Accidental Getaway Driver,” while Sauvnik Kaur’s intimate documentary on brotherhood “Against The Tide” took home a Special Jury Award. After two years of isolation and virtual festival-ing, it seems that stories of tenderness appealed over aggressive storytelling at Park City this year.
“This year’s Festival has been an extraordinary experience,” said Joana Vicente, Sundance Institute CEO. “The artists that comprise the 2023 Sundance Film Festival have demonstrated a sense of urgency and dedication to excellence in independent film.
“This year’s Festival has been an extraordinary experience,” said Joana Vicente, Sundance Institute CEO. “The artists that comprise the 2023 Sundance Film Festival have demonstrated a sense of urgency and dedication to excellence in independent film.
- 2/1/2023
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
Festival runs through January 29.
A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand And One took the 2023 Sundance U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic prize and Charlotte Regan’s UK entry Scrapper earned the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at the 2023 Sundance awards ceremony on Friday.
Audience award winners included Maryam Keshavarz’s The Persian Version in U.S. Dramatic Competition, Madeleine Gavin’s Beyond Utopia in U.S. Documentary, Mstylav Chernov’s 20 Days In Mariupol in World Cinema Documentary, and Noora Niasari’s Shayda in World Cinema Dramatic.
Sundance Institute CEO Joana Vicente said the selection “demonstrated a sense of...
A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand And One took the 2023 Sundance U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic prize and Charlotte Regan’s UK entry Scrapper earned the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at the 2023 Sundance awards ceremony on Friday.
Audience award winners included Maryam Keshavarz’s The Persian Version in U.S. Dramatic Competition, Madeleine Gavin’s Beyond Utopia in U.S. Documentary, Mstylav Chernov’s 20 Days In Mariupol in World Cinema Documentary, and Noora Niasari’s Shayda in World Cinema Dramatic.
Sundance Institute CEO Joana Vicente said the selection “demonstrated a sense of...
- 1/27/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
A Thousand and One took the jury prize in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, with Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project taking the top prize in the U.S. Documentary Competition section.
A Thousand and One is directed by A.V. Rockwell and follows a mother who kidnaps her six-year-old son Terry from the foster care system, a secret that threatens their way of life as Terry gets older. The Focus Features title stars Teyana Taylor, Josiah Cross and Will Catlett.
“When I was writing this film, I was thinking about mother and son relationships. I was thinking about Black women and Black men relationships. I was thinking about marginalized people and their relationship to their homes,” said Rockwell, accepting the award. “Thank you to everyone for seeing all of those groups and for seeing me.” A tearful Jeremy O. Harris, who was a part of the dramatic jury,...
A Thousand and One is directed by A.V. Rockwell and follows a mother who kidnaps her six-year-old son Terry from the foster care system, a secret that threatens their way of life as Terry gets older. The Focus Features title stars Teyana Taylor, Josiah Cross and Will Catlett.
“When I was writing this film, I was thinking about mother and son relationships. I was thinking about Black women and Black men relationships. I was thinking about marginalized people and their relationship to their homes,” said Rockwell, accepting the award. “Thank you to everyone for seeing all of those groups and for seeing me.” A tearful Jeremy O. Harris, who was a part of the dramatic jury,...
- 1/27/2023
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Fund has unveiled its latest round of feature film grantees from the Arab world and Africa.
The announcement comes just days after the fund revealed it had boarded French director Maïwenn’s upcoming costume drama Jeanne du Barry starring Johnny Depp, in its first European investment as executive producer.
In its latest funding round for Arab and African filmmakers, it is getting behind 36 productions by Saudi, Arab and African filmmakers, 25 in or on the verge of production, 11 in post-production.
The 25 production grant winners include upcoming films by established directors such as Abderrahmane Sissako’s The Perfumed Hill, Haifaa Al-Mansour’s Miss Camel, Annemarie Jacir, Kaouther Ben Hania’s Mime, Cherien Dabis, and Karim Moussaoui’s The Vanishing.
The fund has also gotten behind buzzy, emerging talents such as Saudi Arabian filmmaker Sara Mesfer, who is gearing up for her first solo feature Habibi And I In Eden.
The announcement comes just days after the fund revealed it had boarded French director Maïwenn’s upcoming costume drama Jeanne du Barry starring Johnny Depp, in its first European investment as executive producer.
In its latest funding round for Arab and African filmmakers, it is getting behind 36 productions by Saudi, Arab and African filmmakers, 25 in or on the verge of production, 11 in post-production.
The 25 production grant winners include upcoming films by established directors such as Abderrahmane Sissako’s The Perfumed Hill, Haifaa Al-Mansour’s Miss Camel, Annemarie Jacir, Kaouther Ben Hania’s Mime, Cherien Dabis, and Karim Moussaoui’s The Vanishing.
The fund has also gotten behind buzzy, emerging talents such as Saudi Arabian filmmaker Sara Mesfer, who is gearing up for her first solo feature Habibi And I In Eden.
- 1/18/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Further projects come from Mehdi M. Barsaoui, Ameer Fakher Eldin, Haifaa Al-Mansour and Annemarie Jacir.
The Red Sea Film Festival Foundation has unveiled the 36 recipients of the Red Sea Fund’s 2022 production and post-production funding cycles.
All titles are from Arab and African filmmakers, who will receive grants to help them complete films that shine a light on narratives and new talents emerging from the region.
Two films selected have previously received support at the development stage by the Red Sea Fund. Captain Mbaye from Rwandan filmmaker Joel Karekezi follows a Un observer sent to Rwanda as genocide breaks out.
The Red Sea Film Festival Foundation has unveiled the 36 recipients of the Red Sea Fund’s 2022 production and post-production funding cycles.
All titles are from Arab and African filmmakers, who will receive grants to help them complete films that shine a light on narratives and new talents emerging from the region.
Two films selected have previously received support at the development stage by the Red Sea Fund. Captain Mbaye from Rwandan filmmaker Joel Karekezi follows a Un observer sent to Rwanda as genocide breaks out.
- 1/18/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Saudi director Haifaa Al Mansour’s long-gestating female empowerment feature film “Miss Camel” is among the projects being supported by Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival Foundation. The org has announced the recipients of the Red Sea Fund’s latest round of grants for Saudi, Arab and African films.
Al Mansour made waves in 2013 with “Wadjda,” about a 10-year-old Saudi girl who wants to ride a bicycle even though it is forbidden in her country. She more recently directed English-language biopic “Mary Shelley,” starring Elle Fanning, and the comedy drama “The Perfect Candidate,” which launched from Venice in 2019, about a young female physician who manoeuvres through her male-dominated society to run in municipal elections.
“Miss Camel” is about a Saudi teen who will do anything to escape her arranged marriage and fulfill her goal of attending art school outside of Saudi Arabia, according to a synopsis.
Other well-known directors...
Al Mansour made waves in 2013 with “Wadjda,” about a 10-year-old Saudi girl who wants to ride a bicycle even though it is forbidden in her country. She more recently directed English-language biopic “Mary Shelley,” starring Elle Fanning, and the comedy drama “The Perfect Candidate,” which launched from Venice in 2019, about a young female physician who manoeuvres through her male-dominated society to run in municipal elections.
“Miss Camel” is about a Saudi teen who will do anything to escape her arranged marriage and fulfill her goal of attending art school outside of Saudi Arabia, according to a synopsis.
Other well-known directors...
- 1/18/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The Sundance Institute has announced the jurors for the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, which kicks off next week in Park City, Utah. Per usual, the teams tasked with selecting winners in the Dramatic, Documentary, World Cinema, and Short Film Competitions contain an eclectic mix of prominent artists working in film, theatre, book publishing, and visual arts.
Notable jurors include comedian Jim Gaffigan, “Slave Play” and “Zola” writer Jeremy O. Harris, and “Short Term 12” and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” director Destin Daniel Cretton.
“The jury plays a crucial role in the Festival by amplifying breakthrough works and providing the audience with further opportunities for discovery,” Sundance Institute CEO Joana Vicente said in a statement. “We thank them for their dedication to artistic excellence and their thoughtful lens on cinematic expression and all that independent film offers.”
“We are thrilled to welcome these esteemed and accomplished visionaries to the Festival as our jury,...
Notable jurors include comedian Jim Gaffigan, “Slave Play” and “Zola” writer Jeremy O. Harris, and “Short Term 12” and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” director Destin Daniel Cretton.
“The jury plays a crucial role in the Festival by amplifying breakthrough works and providing the audience with further opportunities for discovery,” Sundance Institute CEO Joana Vicente said in a statement. “We thank them for their dedication to artistic excellence and their thoughtful lens on cinematic expression and all that independent film offers.”
“We are thrilled to welcome these esteemed and accomplished visionaries to the Festival as our jury,...
- 1/11/2023
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Jeremy O. Harris, Eliza Hittman, and Marlee Matlin have been named the jurors of the U.S. Dramatic Competition section at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Harris was at Sundance in 2020 with Zola, the same years Hittman screened her film Never Rarely Sometimes Always. Matlin starred in 2021 Sundance winner Coda.
W. Kamau Bell, Ramona Diaz, and Carla Gutierrez are the jurors for the U.S. Documentary Competition; Shozo Ichiyama, Annemarie Jacir, and Funa Maduka for World Cinema Dramatic Competition; and Karim Amer, Petra Costa, and Alexander Nanau for World Cinema Documentary Competition. Madeleine Olnek is the juror for the Next competition section, Destin Daniel Cretton, Marie-Louise Khondji, and Deborah Stratman will judge the Short Film Program Competition.
The jury for Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize is Dr. Heather Berlin, Jim Gaffigan, Dr. Mandë Holford, Shalini Kantayya, and Lydia Dean Pilcher, and have already awarded the prize to Sophie Barthes’ The Pod Generation.
W. Kamau Bell, Ramona Diaz, and Carla Gutierrez are the jurors for the U.S. Documentary Competition; Shozo Ichiyama, Annemarie Jacir, and Funa Maduka for World Cinema Dramatic Competition; and Karim Amer, Petra Costa, and Alexander Nanau for World Cinema Documentary Competition. Madeleine Olnek is the juror for the Next competition section, Destin Daniel Cretton, Marie-Louise Khondji, and Deborah Stratman will judge the Short Film Program Competition.
The jury for Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize is Dr. Heather Berlin, Jim Gaffigan, Dr. Mandë Holford, Shalini Kantayya, and Lydia Dean Pilcher, and have already awarded the prize to Sophie Barthes’ The Pod Generation.
- 1/11/2023
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Sundance has announced the 16 jurors granting awards at this year’s film festival, ranging from playwright Jeremy O. Harris to Oscar winner Marlee Matlin.
This year’s Sundance Film Festival will take place from Jan. 19-29 in Utah, marking its first return to Park City since the pandemic. The awards ceremony will take place on Jan. 27, with grants bestowed for feature and short films.
Jurors are Harris, Matlin and Eliza Hittman for U.S. dramatic competition; W. Kamau Bell, Ramona Diaz and Carla Gutierrez for U.S. documentary competition; Shozo Ichiyama, Annemarie Jacir and Funa Maduka for world cinema dramatic competition; Karim Amer, Petra Costa and Alexander Nanau for world cinema documentary competition; Madeleine Olnek for the Next competition section; and Destin Daniel Cretton, Marie-Louise Khondji and Deborah Stratman for the short film program competition.
“The jury plays a crucial role in the festival by amplifying breakthrough works and providing...
This year’s Sundance Film Festival will take place from Jan. 19-29 in Utah, marking its first return to Park City since the pandemic. The awards ceremony will take place on Jan. 27, with grants bestowed for feature and short films.
Jurors are Harris, Matlin and Eliza Hittman for U.S. dramatic competition; W. Kamau Bell, Ramona Diaz and Carla Gutierrez for U.S. documentary competition; Shozo Ichiyama, Annemarie Jacir and Funa Maduka for world cinema dramatic competition; Karim Amer, Petra Costa and Alexander Nanau for world cinema documentary competition; Madeleine Olnek for the Next competition section; and Destin Daniel Cretton, Marie-Louise Khondji and Deborah Stratman for the short film program competition.
“The jury plays a crucial role in the festival by amplifying breakthrough works and providing...
- 1/11/2023
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety Film + TV
The Sundance Institute has today named the jurors who will preside over awards for the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. The 16-person lineup features everyone from Coda star Marlee Matlin to We Need To Talk About Cosby‘s W. Kamau Bell, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton and actor-comedian Jim Gaffigan.
Matlin will assess the awards potential amongst titles in U.S. Documentary Competition with Slave Play creator Jeremy O. Harris and Never Rarely Sometimes Always filmmaker Eliza Hittman. Bell, meanwhile, will oversee U.S. Documentary Competition, being joined in that arena by filmmaker Ramona S. Diaz (A Thousand Cuts) and editor Carla Gutiérrez (Julia).
While Wild Nights with Emily filmmaker Madeleine Olnek will preside alone over the Next section, Cretton has been assigned to the Short Film Program Competition, being joined there by artist-filmmaker Deborah Stratman and Marie-Louise Khondji, who founded the free streaming platform,...
Matlin will assess the awards potential amongst titles in U.S. Documentary Competition with Slave Play creator Jeremy O. Harris and Never Rarely Sometimes Always filmmaker Eliza Hittman. Bell, meanwhile, will oversee U.S. Documentary Competition, being joined in that arena by filmmaker Ramona S. Diaz (A Thousand Cuts) and editor Carla Gutiérrez (Julia).
While Wild Nights with Emily filmmaker Madeleine Olnek will preside alone over the Next section, Cretton has been assigned to the Short Film Program Competition, being joined there by artist-filmmaker Deborah Stratman and Marie-Louise Khondji, who founded the free streaming platform,...
- 1/11/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
“For me, honestly, the most important thing is to focus on Sudanese women,” Suzannah Mirghani tells Variety.
“We have so many documentaries about them already and there was a time when these stories were in terrible need of being told. But the culture has shifted. Now, we have to let Sudanese people make their own [films].”
Currently developing her fiction feature debut “Cotton Queen,” the Sudanese-Russian filmmaker is coming back to the story she explored in her short “Al-Sit” in 2020. It shows a teenage girl living in a cotton-farming village, learning about life and love under the watchful eye of her grandmother, until a young businessman from abroad decides to marry her.
“There is no infrastructure in Sudan, no film industry, so I thought I would start small,” she explains. Mirghani is now based in Doha.
“I went there with some money and a script. That’s all I had. I...
“We have so many documentaries about them already and there was a time when these stories were in terrible need of being told. But the culture has shifted. Now, we have to let Sudanese people make their own [films].”
Currently developing her fiction feature debut “Cotton Queen,” the Sudanese-Russian filmmaker is coming back to the story she explored in her short “Al-Sit” in 2020. It shows a teenage girl living in a cotton-farming village, learning about life and love under the watchful eye of her grandmother, until a young businessman from abroad decides to marry her.
“There is no infrastructure in Sudan, no film industry, so I thought I would start small,” she explains. Mirghani is now based in Doha.
“I went there with some money and a script. That’s all I had. I...
- 11/23/2022
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
The Cairo Film Festival’s Cairo Film Connection co-production market spread the love at an award ceremony Sunday night, with 15 projects claiming 20 prizes in the Egyptian capital valued at some 225,000.
Among the standouts were Suzannah Mirghani’s “Cotton Queen” and “Lamp in the Dark,” from Sudanese filmmaker Mahdi El-Tayeb, which both took home awards from marketing and distribution outfit Mad Solutions for distribution in the Arab world with a 50,000 minimum guarantee.
Set in a cotton-farming village in Sudan, “Cotton Queen” — which won the ArteKino Award at the Cannes Film Festival’s L’Atelier this year — follows a teenage girl as she begins to question cultural expectations and the collapsing cotton industry, under threat from both insect and human pests. “Lamp in the Dark” turns on a generational clash in a Sudanese village after the arrival of a mobile cinema.
No film won more than two prizes, with Amjad Al Rasheed...
Among the standouts were Suzannah Mirghani’s “Cotton Queen” and “Lamp in the Dark,” from Sudanese filmmaker Mahdi El-Tayeb, which both took home awards from marketing and distribution outfit Mad Solutions for distribution in the Arab world with a 50,000 minimum guarantee.
Set in a cotton-farming village in Sudan, “Cotton Queen” — which won the ArteKino Award at the Cannes Film Festival’s L’Atelier this year — follows a teenage girl as she begins to question cultural expectations and the collapsing cotton industry, under threat from both insect and human pests. “Lamp in the Dark” turns on a generational clash in a Sudanese village after the arrival of a mobile cinema.
No film won more than two prizes, with Amjad Al Rasheed...
- 11/21/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
New works by Palestinian docmaker Amer Shomali (“The Wanted 18”), emerging Egyptian filmmaker Sara Shazli (“Back Home”) and first-time Jordanian director Amjad Al Rasheed are among the 16 projects selected for the 9th Cairo Film Connection, the Cairo Film Festival’s co-production platform.
The event features films from 10 countries, including five from the host nation, with 11 fiction and documentary features in development and five currently in post-production being presented to producers, distributors, sales agents and festival programmers.
This year’s edition received a record 135 submissions, according to incoming Cairo Film Connection manager Lynda Belkhiria, pointing toward a broader surge in production across North Africa and the Middle East. “There is a need, there is a demand,” she said. “There is something going on across the region.”
Many of the projects are female-led and examine the ongoing struggle of women to define themselves against the expectations of their families and societies. Still others...
The event features films from 10 countries, including five from the host nation, with 11 fiction and documentary features in development and five currently in post-production being presented to producers, distributors, sales agents and festival programmers.
This year’s edition received a record 135 submissions, according to incoming Cairo Film Connection manager Lynda Belkhiria, pointing toward a broader surge in production across North Africa and the Middle East. “There is a need, there is a demand,” she said. “There is something going on across the region.”
Many of the projects are female-led and examine the ongoing struggle of women to define themselves against the expectations of their families and societies. Still others...
- 11/17/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
The third season of Ramy Youssef’s award-winning show Ramy, which dropped on Hulu at the end of September, saw the titular American-Egyptian protagonist head to Jerusalem to cut a business deal with a tough-talking diamond dealing clan in an episode entitled Egyptian Cigarettes.
Naïve to the realities of the 74-year Middle East conflict, he gets a taste of life on both sides of Israel’s controversial separation wall.
In between meetings with his new Israeli partners at a luxury villa, he squeezes in a date with a Palestinian girl in East Jerusalem on the other side of a checkpoint, where his actions will result in a local teenager being detained by the Israeli army.
International productions set in Israel and the West Bank rarely shoot in either territory. Most head to neighboring Jordan, and sometimes Morocco, deterred by the possibility of a flare-up in the conflict, in which both...
Naïve to the realities of the 74-year Middle East conflict, he gets a taste of life on both sides of Israel’s controversial separation wall.
In between meetings with his new Israeli partners at a luxury villa, he squeezes in a date with a Palestinian girl in East Jerusalem on the other side of a checkpoint, where his actions will result in a local teenager being detained by the Israeli army.
International productions set in Israel and the West Bank rarely shoot in either territory. Most head to neighboring Jordan, and sometimes Morocco, deterred by the possibility of a flare-up in the conflict, in which both...
- 11/9/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Spoiler Alert: Do not read if you haven’t watched “Ramy” Season 3.
Ramy is suffering an identity crisis.
The character, that is. “Ramy” the show, as well as its creator and star Ramy Youssef, couldn’t be in a more confident place creatively. After Season 2 finale “You Are Naked in Front of Your Sheikh” saw Ramy confess to Zainab (MaameYaa Boafo) on their wedding night that he’d cheated on her with his own cousin (Rosaline Elbay) the night before, Season 3 begins with a full embrace of the dirtbag Ramy has become. He’s left his job with his uncle Naseem to start his own competing business in New York’s diamond district, and having lost the religious guidance of Zainab’s father, Sheikh Ali Malik (Mahershala Ali), he is nothing outside of his work. He’s rich now, but nearly friendless, especially neglecting his longtime best friend Steve (Steve Way...
Ramy is suffering an identity crisis.
The character, that is. “Ramy” the show, as well as its creator and star Ramy Youssef, couldn’t be in a more confident place creatively. After Season 2 finale “You Are Naked in Front of Your Sheikh” saw Ramy confess to Zainab (MaameYaa Boafo) on their wedding night that he’d cheated on her with his own cousin (Rosaline Elbay) the night before, Season 3 begins with a full embrace of the dirtbag Ramy has become. He’s left his job with his uncle Naseem to start his own competing business in New York’s diamond district, and having lost the religious guidance of Zainab’s father, Sheikh Ali Malik (Mahershala Ali), he is nothing outside of his work. He’s rich now, but nearly friendless, especially neglecting his longtime best friend Steve (Steve Way...
- 9/30/2022
- by Selome Hailu
- Variety Film + TV
Berlin-based One Two Films, in Cannes this week with Ali Abbasi’s competition title “Holy Spider,” is prepping a new feature from writer-director Ido Fluk, the filmmaker behind 2016 Tribeca selection “The Ticket.”
“Köln 75” tells the true story of Vera Brandes, who, in 1975 and at the age of 17, staged the famous Köln Concert by jazz musician Keith Jarrett, which became the top-selling jazz solo album of all time. It stars Mala Emde (“And Tomorrow the Entire World”) in the lead role, alongside John Magaro (“First Cow”) as Jarrett. Magaro is also in Cannes with Kelly Reichardt’s competition title “Showing Up.”
Oscar-winning Polish producer Ewa Puszczynska of Extreme Emotions will co-produce, with Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Oren Moverman serving as executive producer. Moverman also produced Fluk’s previous feature, “The Ticket.”
Other cast attached include Alexander Scheer (“Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush”), Ulrich Tukur (“The Life of Others”), Susanne Wolff...
“Köln 75” tells the true story of Vera Brandes, who, in 1975 and at the age of 17, staged the famous Köln Concert by jazz musician Keith Jarrett, which became the top-selling jazz solo album of all time. It stars Mala Emde (“And Tomorrow the Entire World”) in the lead role, alongside John Magaro (“First Cow”) as Jarrett. Magaro is also in Cannes with Kelly Reichardt’s competition title “Showing Up.”
Oscar-winning Polish producer Ewa Puszczynska of Extreme Emotions will co-produce, with Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Oren Moverman serving as executive producer. Moverman also produced Fluk’s previous feature, “The Ticket.”
Other cast attached include Alexander Scheer (“Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush”), Ulrich Tukur (“The Life of Others”), Susanne Wolff...
- 5/20/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Award-winning filmmakers are helpin filmmakers develop their projects at the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra event.
International filmmakers Talal Derki, Tala Hadid and Annemarie Jacir are among the lead mentors at this year’s edition of the Doha Film Institute’s talent and project incubator Qumra, running online March 18 to 25.
They reveal their own career breakthrough moments and the lessons learned that they now pass onto a new generation of filmmakers.
Syrian documentarian Talal Derki
What got you into film?
I belong to the generation that grew up with film as an art and way of giving a story meaning...
International filmmakers Talal Derki, Tala Hadid and Annemarie Jacir are among the lead mentors at this year’s edition of the Doha Film Institute’s talent and project incubator Qumra, running online March 18 to 25.
They reveal their own career breakthrough moments and the lessons learned that they now pass onto a new generation of filmmakers.
Syrian documentarian Talal Derki
What got you into film?
I belong to the generation that grew up with film as an art and way of giving a story meaning...
- 3/21/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Louverture Films, the production company founded by actor Danny Glover and Joslyn Barnes, is moving into television as well as animation, gaming and installation works. With two new principal partners in situ, the expansion has enlisted a host of creatives, including directors Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Lucrecia Martel.
Co-founded by Glover and Barnes in 2005 — alongside long-time partners Susan Rockefeller and the Bertha Foundation’s Tony Tabatznik — the company has brought on board Sawsan Asfari and Jeffrey Clark as principal partners. Variety understands that the new partners will allow Louverture to access more funding resources.
In addition, producer Karin Chien, who on Sunday delivered a rousing Sundance Institute Producing Fellows’ keynote, is becoming a partner and executive VP. Meanwhile, Barnes has been promoted to president while Glover remains CEO and co-founder.
Louverture, named after Haitian revolutionary leader Toussaint Louverture, has built its reputation on international and arthouse films and a strong theatrical documentary slate.
Co-founded by Glover and Barnes in 2005 — alongside long-time partners Susan Rockefeller and the Bertha Foundation’s Tony Tabatznik — the company has brought on board Sawsan Asfari and Jeffrey Clark as principal partners. Variety understands that the new partners will allow Louverture to access more funding resources.
In addition, producer Karin Chien, who on Sunday delivered a rousing Sundance Institute Producing Fellows’ keynote, is becoming a partner and executive VP. Meanwhile, Barnes has been promoted to president while Glover remains CEO and co-founder.
Louverture, named after Haitian revolutionary leader Toussaint Louverture, has built its reputation on international and arthouse films and a strong theatrical documentary slate.
- 1/24/2022
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Lina Wertmüller in Behind the White Glasses (2015).Italian filmmaker Lina Wertmüller, the first woman to be nominated for a directing Oscar (for 1975's Seven Beauties), died on December 9. After working as an assistant director for Federico Fellini on 8 1/2, Wertmüller went on to become a prolific and distinctive filmmaker in her own right, combining politics and sex and humor in films like The Seduction of Mimi and Swept Away. In an interview with Criterion, she stated: "I consider myself a director, not a female director. I think there’s no difference. The difference is between good movies and bad movies. We should not make other distinctions." The prolific critic and theorist bell hooks has died today. In addition to her many writings on the feminist movement and cultural politics, hooks was also an important media theorist.
- 12/15/2021
- MUBI
The inaugural edition of the Red Souk project market handed out $355,000 worth of prizes and other collateral awards.
Egyptian-uk filmmaker Lotfy Nathan’s debut fiction feature Contra scooped the top $30,000 post-production at the inaugural Red Sea Souk project market over the weekend.
The Tunisia-set, post-revolutionary tale follows an impoverished young man who is left in sole charge of his younger sisters when his father dies suddenly. It is lead produced by Julie Viez at Paris-based Cinenovo and Films Constellation is handling sales.
It was among five works in progress and 11 in projects in development or production, and another 12 projects developed...
Egyptian-uk filmmaker Lotfy Nathan’s debut fiction feature Contra scooped the top $30,000 post-production at the inaugural Red Sea Souk project market over the weekend.
The Tunisia-set, post-revolutionary tale follows an impoverished young man who is left in sole charge of his younger sisters when his father dies suddenly. It is lead produced by Julie Viez at Paris-based Cinenovo and Films Constellation is handling sales.
It was among five works in progress and 11 in projects in development or production, and another 12 projects developed...
- 12/13/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Eric Lagesse, the CEO/president of Paris-based arthouse distributor and world sales outfit Pyramide Films, received the Industry Tribute Award at Cairo Film Festival on Friday. Variety spoke with him about his relationship with Arab cinema, and the state of the independent film business in France.
How do you feel about receiving this tribute?
It’s great, but I have had a year to get used to it. Because of the pandemic, I didn’t receive it last year, as planned. Nothing major has changed in the meantime. I am still very fond of Arab and Egyptian films. We are now working with a new generation of films and filmmakers like “Amira” (pictured), which played in the Horizons Competition at the Venice Film Festival this year.
What is your connection to the Arab film world?
We have been collaborating with the Arab world since the beginning of Pyramide. The first...
How do you feel about receiving this tribute?
It’s great, but I have had a year to get used to it. Because of the pandemic, I didn’t receive it last year, as planned. Nothing major has changed in the meantime. I am still very fond of Arab and Egyptian films. We are now working with a new generation of films and filmmakers like “Amira” (pictured), which played in the Horizons Competition at the Venice Film Festival this year.
What is your connection to the Arab film world?
We have been collaborating with the Arab world since the beginning of Pyramide. The first...
- 12/5/2021
- by Liza Foreman
- Variety Film + TV
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car triumphed this eve at the 14th Asia Pacific Screen Awards. The movie scooped best film, which Japanese filmmaker Hamaguchi shared with producer Teruhisa Yamamoto, and best screenplay, which the director shared with Oe Takamasa. Scroll down for the full list of winners on the night.
Further winners included Asghar Farhadi, who took Best Director for A Hero, and Hogir Hirori’s Sabaya, which win Best Documentary Feature Film.
Two Jury Grand Prizes were awarded this year, one to Abdullah Mohammad Saad, director of Rehana, and Leah Purcell for The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson.
Best Performance by an Actor was awarded to Georgian actor Merab Ninidze for Alexey German Jr’s House Arrest, while Best Performance by an Actress went to Azmeri Haque Badhon for Rehana. Nguyễn Vinh Phúc won achievement in cinematography for Taste.
This was Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s...
Further winners included Asghar Farhadi, who took Best Director for A Hero, and Hogir Hirori’s Sabaya, which win Best Documentary Feature Film.
Two Jury Grand Prizes were awarded this year, one to Abdullah Mohammad Saad, director of Rehana, and Leah Purcell for The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson.
Best Performance by an Actor was awarded to Georgian actor Merab Ninidze for Alexey German Jr’s House Arrest, while Best Performance by an Actress went to Azmeri Haque Badhon for Rehana. Nguyễn Vinh Phúc won achievement in cinematography for Taste.
This was Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s...
- 11/11/2021
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Leah Purcell is the first Australian to be awarded the Jury Grand Prize at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa) after being recognised for The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson.
A total of ten films from 11 countries triumphed at the 14th Apsa Ceremony tonight, which was presented from Hota (Home of the Arts) on the Gold Coast.
A re-imagining of the Henry Lawson short story, The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson follows a woman and her stubborn determination to protect her family from the harshness of life in the 1893 Snowy Mountains.
Purcell wrote directed, starred in, and co-produced the project, which was adapted from her stageplay of the same name.
The Apsa international jury said the final product represented “not only an artist’s total dedication to her craft but also a spirited act of courage and tenacity”.
“The Drover’s Wife is a film that quickly...
A total of ten films from 11 countries triumphed at the 14th Apsa Ceremony tonight, which was presented from Hota (Home of the Arts) on the Gold Coast.
A re-imagining of the Henry Lawson short story, The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson follows a woman and her stubborn determination to protect her family from the harshness of life in the 1893 Snowy Mountains.
Purcell wrote directed, starred in, and co-produced the project, which was adapted from her stageplay of the same name.
The Apsa international jury said the final product represented “not only an artist’s total dedication to her craft but also a spirited act of courage and tenacity”.
“The Drover’s Wife is a film that quickly...
- 11/11/2021
- by Sean Slatter
- IF.com.au
The Red Sea International Film Festival has set the lineup for its inaugural edition which runs from December 6-15 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The roster includes 138 titles from 67 countries and will open with MGM’s Joe Wright-directed musical romance Cyrano. The film previously played Telluride and Rome among others and releases domestically on December 31. Among highlights are also Netflix’s Venice Film Festival drama The Lost Daughter. Closing the Red Sea Fest is the world premiere of Egyptian director Amr Salama’s Bara El Manhag.
Sixteen films will run in the competition which is focused on films from Asia, Africa and the Arab world (see full list below). They will vie for the Golden Yusr Award as well as in individual directing, acting and writing categories. Among the titles screening are Hany Abu-Assad’s Huda’s Salon, Georgian Oscar submission Brighton 4th and Panah Panahi’s Hit The Road.
Kaleem Aftab,...
The roster includes 138 titles from 67 countries and will open with MGM’s Joe Wright-directed musical romance Cyrano. The film previously played Telluride and Rome among others and releases domestically on December 31. Among highlights are also Netflix’s Venice Film Festival drama The Lost Daughter. Closing the Red Sea Fest is the world premiere of Egyptian director Amr Salama’s Bara El Manhag.
Sixteen films will run in the competition which is focused on films from Asia, Africa and the Arab world (see full list below). They will vie for the Golden Yusr Award as well as in individual directing, acting and writing categories. Among the titles screening are Hany Abu-Assad’s Huda’s Salon, Georgian Oscar submission Brighton 4th and Panah Panahi’s Hit The Road.
Kaleem Aftab,...
- 11/9/2021
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Documentaries
Toronto Raptors vice-chair and president Masai Ujiri has joined the upcoming documentary series on the Basketball Africa League (Bal), a partnership between the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the International Basketball Federation (Fiba), as an executive producer.
Fremantle and Passenger are producing the as yet untitled series, which tells the story of the creation, launch and inaugural season of the Bal, a new professional basketball league in Africa featuring 12 club teams from across the African continent. The series is being directed by emerging South African director Tebogo Malope.
Ujiri was the architect behind the Raptors’ historic 2019 NBA Championship win and he also serves as president of Giants of Africa, the non-profit he co-founded in 2003, which uses basketball as a tool to educate and enrich the lives of African youth.
The first edition of Bal took place in May in Kigali, Rwanda. Working alongside showrunner and executive producer Richard Brown...
Toronto Raptors vice-chair and president Masai Ujiri has joined the upcoming documentary series on the Basketball Africa League (Bal), a partnership between the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the International Basketball Federation (Fiba), as an executive producer.
Fremantle and Passenger are producing the as yet untitled series, which tells the story of the creation, launch and inaugural season of the Bal, a new professional basketball league in Africa featuring 12 club teams from across the African continent. The series is being directed by emerging South African director Tebogo Malope.
Ujiri was the architect behind the Raptors’ historic 2019 NBA Championship win and he also serves as president of Giants of Africa, the non-profit he co-founded in 2003, which uses basketball as a tool to educate and enrich the lives of African youth.
The first edition of Bal took place in May in Kigali, Rwanda. Working alongside showrunner and executive producer Richard Brown...
- 10/28/2021
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Five works in progress and 11 films in development due to be showcased at event running December 8-11.
The Red Souk, the industry component of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival’s project market, has unveiled fresh details for its inaugural edition running December 8-11.
Running within the framework of its larger parent festival, which will also mark its first edition this year from December 6-15, the souk will focus on Arab and African filmmakers and will feature a project market, work in progress screenings, an exhibition space and an industry talks programme.
Lebanese-French director Wissam Charaf’s Beirut-set romantic drama Dirty Difficult Dangerous,...
The Red Souk, the industry component of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival’s project market, has unveiled fresh details for its inaugural edition running December 8-11.
Running within the framework of its larger parent festival, which will also mark its first edition this year from December 6-15, the souk will focus on Arab and African filmmakers and will feature a project market, work in progress screenings, an exhibition space and an industry talks programme.
Lebanese-French director Wissam Charaf’s Beirut-set romantic drama Dirty Difficult Dangerous,...
- 9/30/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
When Annemarie Jacir pitched her thesis film at graduate school some 20 years ago, her advisor told her the best place for her script was in the garbage. It was an ambitious project for the young Columbia University student: A Palestinian film crew navigating their way through Israeli checkpoints in occupied territory as they attempt to reach Jerusalem certainly didn’t fit the traditional mold of thesis short films.
But the brilliance of Jacir and her work is that she is not a filmmaker who conforms. Steadfast in her ambition to bring this story to light, she put the project together through old-fashioned crowdfunding, sheer determination and grit. She shot the 17-minute short film, titled Like Twenty Impossibles, across a year and a half in occupied Palestine during the Second Intifada, one of the region’s most violent times in modern history, a brave feat for the then twentysomething writer, director and editor.
But the brilliance of Jacir and her work is that she is not a filmmaker who conforms. Steadfast in her ambition to bring this story to light, she put the project together through old-fashioned crowdfunding, sheer determination and grit. She shot the 17-minute short film, titled Like Twenty Impossibles, across a year and a half in occupied Palestine during the Second Intifada, one of the region’s most violent times in modern history, a brave feat for the then twentysomething writer, director and editor.
- 7/8/2021
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
Doha Film Industry has supported more than 640 films from 70 countries since it began.
UK-Palestinian director Farah Nabulsi, who was Oscar-nominated this year for her debut short The Present, has secured the backing of the Doha Film Institute (Dfi) for her upcoming first feature The Teacher.
It is one of 32 projects hailing from 13 territories to receive funding from the Qatari institution in its spring 2021 grants round.
According to a logline provided by the Dfi, it follows “a Palestinian teenage boy who discovers his teacher is involved with the darker side of resistance and feels emboldened to seek revenge for the death...
UK-Palestinian director Farah Nabulsi, who was Oscar-nominated this year for her debut short The Present, has secured the backing of the Doha Film Institute (Dfi) for her upcoming first feature The Teacher.
It is one of 32 projects hailing from 13 territories to receive funding from the Qatari institution in its spring 2021 grants round.
According to a logline provided by the Dfi, it follows “a Palestinian teenage boy who discovers his teacher is involved with the darker side of resistance and feels emboldened to seek revenge for the death...
- 6/9/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
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