Exclusive: Newly launched Dubai-based sales company Mad World has acquired worldwide rights to Egyptian director Morad Mostafa’s Aisha Can’t Fly Away, a tense African migrant drama shooting later this year in Egypt.
The title joins the inaugural slate of Mad World, as the Arab cinema-focused sales arm of Mena distributor and talent agency Mad Solutions gears up for its Cannes Market debut next week.
Aisha Can’t Fly Away revolves around the story of Aisha, a 26-year-old African immigrant caregiver residing in Ain-shams, a Cairo neighborhood with a large African migrant community.
The film explores the intricate dynamics of a world where the authorities’ indifference to the violent tensions between Egyptians and various African nationalities has allowed different gangs to seize control. Aisha’s situation turns sour after one of these gangs offers protection in exchange for a favor.
Egypt-based South Sudanese model Buliana Simona plays Aisha in...
The title joins the inaugural slate of Mad World, as the Arab cinema-focused sales arm of Mena distributor and talent agency Mad Solutions gears up for its Cannes Market debut next week.
Aisha Can’t Fly Away revolves around the story of Aisha, a 26-year-old African immigrant caregiver residing in Ain-shams, a Cairo neighborhood with a large African migrant community.
The film explores the intricate dynamics of a world where the authorities’ indifference to the violent tensions between Egyptians and various African nationalities has allowed different gangs to seize control. Aisha’s situation turns sour after one of these gangs offers protection in exchange for a favor.
Egypt-based South Sudanese model Buliana Simona plays Aisha in...
- 5/10/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival, after being postponed due to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, has announced it will hold a special edition from Dec. 14 to 21.
The event held in a seaside resort near the tourist town of Hurghada, 250 miles south of Cairo, will feature its previously announced full lineup of films, plus a special program dedicated to Palestinian cinema, in collaboration with the Palestine Film Institute.
“Additionally, a fundraising dinner is planned to gather donations for humanitarian aid efforts in Gaza in coordination with the Egyptian Red Crescent during the festival,” the fest said in a statement, adding that it’s “will be held without any celebrations.”
The Egyptian fest’s sixth edition will feature a rich mix of Arabic and international titles launching into the Middle East and plenty of promising projects from Arab countries set to be unveiled to prospective partners at its CineGouna industry side.
The event held in a seaside resort near the tourist town of Hurghada, 250 miles south of Cairo, will feature its previously announced full lineup of films, plus a special program dedicated to Palestinian cinema, in collaboration with the Palestine Film Institute.
“Additionally, a fundraising dinner is planned to gather donations for humanitarian aid efforts in Gaza in coordination with the Egyptian Red Crescent during the festival,” the fest said in a statement, adding that it’s “will be held without any celebrations.”
The Egyptian fest’s sixth edition will feature a rich mix of Arabic and international titles launching into the Middle East and plenty of promising projects from Arab countries set to be unveiled to prospective partners at its CineGouna industry side.
- 11/28/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival is back after a one-year hiatus with a rich mix of Arabic and international titles launching into the Middle East and plenty of promising projects from Arab countries set to be unveiled to prospective partners at its CineGouna industry side.
The event launched in 2017 by Egyptian telecom billionaire Naguib Sawiris – whose brother Samih built the El Gouna resort in a swathe of desert near the tourist town of Hurghada 250 miles south of Cairo – was put on pause in 2022 ostensibly due to the country’s economic crisis following five editions during which fest co-founder Amr Mansi and chief Intishal Al Timimi had managed to rapidly put El Gouna on the international festival map while also making it a favourite with the local crowd.
“If there is a positive from the fact that we were forced to skip a year it’s that we were sorely...
The event launched in 2017 by Egyptian telecom billionaire Naguib Sawiris – whose brother Samih built the El Gouna resort in a swathe of desert near the tourist town of Hurghada 250 miles south of Cairo – was put on pause in 2022 ostensibly due to the country’s economic crisis following five editions during which fest co-founder Amr Mansi and chief Intishal Al Timimi had managed to rapidly put El Gouna on the international festival map while also making it a favourite with the local crowd.
“If there is a positive from the fact that we were forced to skip a year it’s that we were sorely...
- 10/6/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Bosnian director Jasmila Zbanic will preside over the main jury of the 6th edition of Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival, which has announced its full lineup, featuring a rich mix of Arabic and international titles making their Middle East premieres as they compete for top prizes.
Following a one-year hiatus, the Oct. 13-20 event held in the Red Sea resort about 250 miles south of Cairo is back in full swing with founder and director Intishal Al Timimi firmly at the helm bolstered by widely respected Egyptian producer-director Marianne Khoury in the artistic director chair.
Alongside a roster of previously announced international festival circuit standouts competing for El Gouna awards, such as Justine Triet’s Cannes Palm d’Or-winning “Anatomy of a Fall,” Todd Haynes’ “May December” and Luc Besson’s “Dogman,” which was announced today, the new Arabic additions to El Gouna’s competition selection comprise the world premiere...
Following a one-year hiatus, the Oct. 13-20 event held in the Red Sea resort about 250 miles south of Cairo is back in full swing with founder and director Intishal Al Timimi firmly at the helm bolstered by widely respected Egyptian producer-director Marianne Khoury in the artistic director chair.
Alongside a roster of previously announced international festival circuit standouts competing for El Gouna awards, such as Justine Triet’s Cannes Palm d’Or-winning “Anatomy of a Fall,” Todd Haynes’ “May December” and Luc Besson’s “Dogman,” which was announced today, the new Arabic additions to El Gouna’s competition selection comprise the world premiere...
- 9/18/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The non-Member deadline for the 2023 Film Independent Screenwriting Lab is coming up fast: August 28, just ten short days from today! Of course, Members of Film Independent still have until September 11. So maybe you might wanna consider joining? Just a thought. In the meantime, we reached out to 2018 Screenwriting Lab Fellow Miguel Nuñez to help learn what the experience was like for him, and how the Lab directly contributed to the production of his second feature, Hombrecito.
Miguel Nuñez (far right) and the rest of the 2018 Film Independent Screenwriting Lab cohort
There are formative moments that shape us as filmmakers. In my case, attending Werner Herzog’s Rogue Film School was fundamental to developing my vision and philosophy. After that, I was able to take the leap into writing and directing my first feature film. By the time I wrote my second feature, I applied to Film Independent’s Screenwriting Lab.
Miguel Nuñez (far right) and the rest of the 2018 Film Independent Screenwriting Lab cohort
There are formative moments that shape us as filmmakers. In my case, attending Werner Herzog’s Rogue Film School was fundamental to developing my vision and philosophy. After that, I was able to take the leap into writing and directing my first feature film. By the time I wrote my second feature, I applied to Film Independent’s Screenwriting Lab.
- 8/18/2023
- by Miguel Nuñez
- Film Independent News & More
Exclusive: Film Independent has set 26 filmmakers from 15 nations to participate in the 2023 edition of their Global Media Makers LA Residency, which is being held in person this month.
A mentoring initiative and cultural exchange program that connects American filmmakers and industry pros with filmmakers spread across the globe, Gmm sees Fellows participate in filmmaking tracks focused on screenwriting, directing, creative development and documentary filmmaking, where they develop their current projects alongside a team of U.S. mentors.
The program, presented by Film Independent and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, further bolsters up-and-comers by providing access to master classes, industry sessions and field trips, as well as cultural engagement and networking opportunities.
This edition of Gmm is the eighth put on since 2016, and as always, the selection process was highly competitive, attracting a diverse pool of media makers, with the countries of Angola, Libya,...
A mentoring initiative and cultural exchange program that connects American filmmakers and industry pros with filmmakers spread across the globe, Gmm sees Fellows participate in filmmaking tracks focused on screenwriting, directing, creative development and documentary filmmaking, where they develop their current projects alongside a team of U.S. mentors.
The program, presented by Film Independent and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, further bolsters up-and-comers by providing access to master classes, industry sessions and field trips, as well as cultural engagement and networking opportunities.
This edition of Gmm is the eighth put on since 2016, and as always, the selection process was highly competitive, attracting a diverse pool of media makers, with the countries of Angola, Libya,...
- 6/5/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
The Berlin Film Festival has revealed its juries, and the addition of Liu Jian’s animated feature “Art College 1994” to its competition lineup, which now has 19 films and is complete.
In addition to the already announced actor Kristen Stewart as president, the International Jury members will be actor Golshifteh Farahani (Iran/France), director and writer Valeska Grisebach (Germany), director and screenwriter Radu Jude (Romania), casting director and producer Francine Maisler (U.S.), director and screenwriter Carla Simón (Spain), and director and producer Johnnie To.
“Art College 1994” is set in China in the 1990s. It follows a group of young people who “prepare to face a world caught between tradition and modernity,” according to the festival. The film, represented for world sales by Memento Intl., was originally destined for Cannes, but Liu and the film were reported to have faced bureaucratic obstacles, which put the kibosh on those plans. The director...
In addition to the already announced actor Kristen Stewart as president, the International Jury members will be actor Golshifteh Farahani (Iran/France), director and writer Valeska Grisebach (Germany), director and screenwriter Radu Jude (Romania), casting director and producer Francine Maisler (U.S.), director and screenwriter Carla Simón (Spain), and director and producer Johnnie To.
“Art College 1994” is set in China in the 1990s. It follows a group of young people who “prepare to face a world caught between tradition and modernity,” according to the festival. The film, represented for world sales by Memento Intl., was originally destined for Cannes, but Liu and the film were reported to have faced bureaucratic obstacles, which put the kibosh on those plans. The director...
- 2/1/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Director Liu Jian was previously in Competition with ‘Have A Nice Day’ in 2017.
The Berlinale has made a last-minute addition to its Competition lineup with Chinese filmmaker Liu Jian’s animated feature Art College 1994 and revealed its competition juries.
Art College 1994 will receive its world premiere at the festival’s 73rd edition, which runs February 16-26, and marks Liu’s third feature after 2010’s Piercing I and Have A Nice Day, which became the first Chinese animation ever selected to play in Competition at the Berlinale in 2017.
Art College 1994 is set among a group of students in China in the...
The Berlinale has made a last-minute addition to its Competition lineup with Chinese filmmaker Liu Jian’s animated feature Art College 1994 and revealed its competition juries.
Art College 1994 will receive its world premiere at the festival’s 73rd edition, which runs February 16-26, and marks Liu’s third feature after 2010’s Piercing I and Have A Nice Day, which became the first Chinese animation ever selected to play in Competition at the Berlinale in 2017.
Art College 1994 is set among a group of students in China in the...
- 2/1/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Egypt, which is home to the Middle East and North Africa’s biggest film industry, will not participate in the Best International Film Oscar race this year.
According to Egyptian media reports, confirmed by Deadline, the committee of critics and cinema professionals responsible for selecting the country’s submission decided not to send a film for the lack of a credible candidate.
The four films on the final shortlist comprised Marwan Hamed’s Kira & El Gin, Hadi El-Baghoury’s Full Moon, Sherif Arafa’s The Crime and Magdy Ahmed Ali’s 2 Talaat Harb.
Two films generating potential submission buzz — Nadine Khan’s Abu Saddam and Omar El Zohairy’s Cannes 2021 Critics’ Week winner Feathers — could not be taken into consideration because they did not meet the 2022 theatrical release requirements.
The decision for Egypt to opt out of the race was made at the end of September, but the news has...
According to Egyptian media reports, confirmed by Deadline, the committee of critics and cinema professionals responsible for selecting the country’s submission decided not to send a film for the lack of a credible candidate.
The four films on the final shortlist comprised Marwan Hamed’s Kira & El Gin, Hadi El-Baghoury’s Full Moon, Sherif Arafa’s The Crime and Magdy Ahmed Ali’s 2 Talaat Harb.
Two films generating potential submission buzz — Nadine Khan’s Abu Saddam and Omar El Zohairy’s Cannes 2021 Critics’ Week winner Feathers — could not be taken into consideration because they did not meet the 2022 theatrical release requirements.
The decision for Egypt to opt out of the race was made at the end of September, but the news has...
- 10/4/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
167 film critics from 68 countries voted on the awards organised by the Arab Cinema Centre.
Egyptian director Omar El Zohairy’s social satire Feathers, which won the top prize at Cannes Critics’ Week last year, has swept the board at the sixth edition of the Critics’ Awards for Arab Films.
The film, which was nominated in four categories, won best film, director and screenplay.
This year’s edition of the awards, spearheaded by the Cairo-based Arab Cinema Centre (Acc), focuses on Arab-language films that premiered on the festival circuit outside of the Arab world in 2021.
It was voted on by 167 film critics from 68 countries,...
Egyptian director Omar El Zohairy’s social satire Feathers, which won the top prize at Cannes Critics’ Week last year, has swept the board at the sixth edition of the Critics’ Awards for Arab Films.
The film, which was nominated in four categories, won best film, director and screenplay.
This year’s edition of the awards, spearheaded by the Cairo-based Arab Cinema Centre (Acc), focuses on Arab-language films that premiered on the festival circuit outside of the Arab world in 2021.
It was voted on by 167 film critics from 68 countries,...
- 5/22/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Past best film awards from the previous five editions include Wajib, Yomeddine and Gaza Mon Amour.
Jordanian director Bassel Ghandour’s The Alleys and Egyptian director Omar El Zohairy’s Feathers lead the nominations in the sixth edition of the Critics Awards for Arab Films.
The films each garnered nominations in four categories, including best film, director and screenplay.
Spearheaded and run by the Cairo-based Arab Cinema Centre (Acc), this edition focused on Arab-language films that premiered on the festival circuit outside of the Arab world in 2021.
It was voted on by 167 film critics from 68 countries, who viewed the films on Festival Scope.
Jordanian director Bassel Ghandour’s The Alleys and Egyptian director Omar El Zohairy’s Feathers lead the nominations in the sixth edition of the Critics Awards for Arab Films.
The films each garnered nominations in four categories, including best film, director and screenplay.
Spearheaded and run by the Cairo-based Arab Cinema Centre (Acc), this edition focused on Arab-language films that premiered on the festival circuit outside of the Arab world in 2021.
It was voted on by 167 film critics from 68 countries, who viewed the films on Festival Scope.
- 5/10/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Arab cinema is going from strength to strength with a run of really good, successful, films from across the region telling authentic and compelling stories that have captured the hearts and minds of global audiences. During Cannes, filmmakers from the region will come together on May 21 at 10 am at the Marina Stage in the Riviera to discuss the future of Arab cinema and discuss the opportunities and challenges that need to be addressed in order to build a robust industry that will elevate Arab cinema and command the attention it deserves.
This year there are nine films in the Festival Competition, Un Certain Regard, Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week plus four projects in L’Atelier. They are listed below.
Saudi Film Commission will host a Conference and a panel on the State of Arabia with Lotfy Nathan, producer, director, writer whose work in progress Harka won the US 30,000 award at the 2021 Red Sea Film Festival and is now premiering in Un Certain Regard. Also on the panel is Mohammed Hefzy, producer, writer and Aymebn Khoja, producer, director, writer and to be moderated by Liz Shackelton, Screen International Asia Editor
My Choices for Feature Film: ‘Europa’, Selected Documentary Film: ‘Republic Of Silence’, Selected Actor: Adam Ali, Selected Actress: Maisa Abd Elhadi, Selected Director: Ayten Amin, Selected Screenplay: Ayten Amin — Mahmoud Ezzat
Panelist #1 Lotfy Nathan is the recipient of The Red Sea Fund cash prize awarded in 2021 by the Red Sea Souk Jury. The Red Sea Souk Award grant of US 30,000 was presented for his film Harka aka Contra aka Before the Spring, a “simple, tragic parable” as described by Nathan, about Ali, a young Tunisian making a precarious living selling contraband gas as he faces an impending eviction and is forced to take care of his two younger sisters, who, in real life, precipitated the Arab Spring with his act of defiance demanding dignity. His choice became the symbol of a silenced generation trying to be heard. His film Harka is in Un Certain Regard in the Cannes Film Festival 2022! The international sales agent is Constellation.
Harka
Nathan is an American filmmaker of Egyptian descent. His first feature film, the documentary 12 O’Clock Boys, for which he received the HBO Emerging Artist Award, was selected in over 50 international festivals, including SXSW, Sundance LA, Lincoln Center, Viennale, Hot Docs, London and Copenhagen. It is distributed in the United States by Oscilloscope and has been purchased by Showtime and Amazon as well as being optioned by Will Smith’s company, Overbrook Entrertainement to adapt into a drama. In 2015, Lotfy was a recipient of the Creative Capital and participated in a Cinereach Foundation director’s residency. He had previously been a recipient of the Garrett Scott Fund, the Peter Reed Foundation, the Grainger Marburg Fund, and the IFP Fellowship. This, his first feature film, was developed in the Sundance Film Institute’s Screenwriting Lab in 2016 and is now in post-production.
The film’s producer Julie Viez started her career in the film industry at Warner Bros Emea (Europe Middle East Asia). She then focused on independent film production, working for companies such as Pan-Européenne, The Film, and CG Cinema. She works on an international scale and produces a wide range of budgets. In 2019 Julie shot La Salamandre , the debut feature of director Alex Carvalho which premiered at Venice’s Settimana in 2021. She is developing several ambitious features and series, among which the next features by Cannes-nominated directors Abu Bakr Shawky, Jonathan Littell, Morgan Simon, and Marie Monge.
The third partner are the producers of The Man Who Sold His Skin, Academy Award Nomination 2020 — see my previous blog on that film — whose director, Kaouther Ben Hania, is now President of the Jury for Critics Week.).
Panelist #2 is the prolific Egyptian screenwriter and producer Mohamed Hefzy, with a constantly growing filmography of 30 feature films including worldwide acclaimed titles such as Huda’s Salon (2021) Feathers (2021), Souad (2021) You Will Die at Twenty (2019), Youmeddine (2018), and Clash (2016). He has served as a jury member in various international festivals including the 75th Venice International Film Festival. As of its 40th edition and for four consecutive years; Mohamed Hefzy was the appointed President of the Cairo International Film Festival.
In 2005, He founded Film Clinic; the now pioneer production house in the Mena region with a variety of commercial blockbusters and arthouse films that have participated in major film festivals worldwide including Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Sundance, Toronto, and Tribeca with more than 80 international awards under its belt. Later Hefzy founded Film Clinic Indie Distribution, with a mission to create opportunities for Arab independent films within and beyond festival circuits & Co- founded Meem Creative Circle which produced Netflix’s first Egyptian original series Paranormal.
Hefzy was cited among 30 future leaders in film production by Screen International, headed Variety’s list of Ten Names You Need to Know in the Arab Film Industry and was among Variety’s 500 list of the most influential people in the media industry worldwide. He was granted the Arab Cinema Personality of the Year award by the Hollywood Reporter & Arab Cinema Center. Hefzy is an official member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts And Sciences in the producers’ branch. In recognition of his significant contribution to the Arab film scene, He was honored as a “Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres” from France.
Panelist #3 is Aymen Khoja, a film producer-director committed to bold voices and innovative forms to bridge cultures and to clear up any misunderstandings.
Over six years of experience producing and directing with international studios and production companies, such as Mbc Studios the biggest broadcaster in the Middle East and Viu, the No1 streaming platform east of Asia. Aymen has filmed in different cities all over the world from Los Angeles, Dubai, Abu-Dhabi, Bucharest, Cairo, to Jeddah. He successfully delivers high-quality films and series on time within budget.
In 2016 Aymen co-founded Khoja Brothers Productions and managed to fund, direct, co-produce, co-write his first feature film Shoot Aka The Arabian Warrior, and successfully released it theatrically then sold it to Sony Pictures, Amazon Prime, Google Play, Apple, and lastly Shahid. Aymen’s debut making ultra-low-budget films made him emphasize story quality, maximize creativity, and carefully spend every dollar.
Aymen received his Master’s degree in film with honors from the New York Film Academy, Los Angeles where he produced and directed many short films that have been played in different film festivals around the world. Aymen received his Bachelor’s in Business and Management from King Abdul-Aziz University, Saudi Arabia. This background helped him to be at the top of his organizing game, networking, and career growth.
Born and raised in the east of Saudi Arabia until the age of 11, Khoja then traveled back with his parents to the west, Makkah where he stayed until he was 23 when he traveled to the US to pursue his dream of making films. Aymen had the passion and drive to make movies in a time there were no theaters in his home country. Being a pioneer, he had to push and fight traditions to achieve what he believes is his mission in life: to bridge and close gaps between cultures through the form of cinema by telling the right stories.
Nine Mena Films to see in the Festival:
Cannes Ff Competition Leila’s Brothers directed by Saeed Roustayi from IranCannes Ff Competition Holy Spider directed by Iranian Ali Abbasi but funded by France, Germany, Sweden, DenmarkUn Certain Regard Harka directed by Lotfy Nathan from TunisiaUn Certain Regard The Blue Caftan directed by Maryam Touzani from MoroccoUn Certain Regard Mediterranean Fever directed by Maha Haj from PalestineUn Certain Regard Domingo And The Mist directed by Ariel Escalante from Costa Rica with support from QatarDirectors’ Fortnight Under the Fig Trees directed by Eriga Sehiri from TunisiaDirectors’ Fortnight Ashkal directed by Youssef Chebbi from TunisiaCritics’ Week in Competition Imagine directed by Ali Behrad from IranL’Atelier project: Hamlet From The Slums from Egypt, directed by Ahmed Fawzi SalehL’Atelier project: The Blind Ferryman from Iraq and Switzerland, directed by Ali Al-FatlawiL’Atelier project: You Are My Everything from Israel, directed by Michal VinikdL’Atelier project: The Doubt from Palestine and Israel, directed by Ihab Jadallah...
This year there are nine films in the Festival Competition, Un Certain Regard, Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week plus four projects in L’Atelier. They are listed below.
Saudi Film Commission will host a Conference and a panel on the State of Arabia with Lotfy Nathan, producer, director, writer whose work in progress Harka won the US 30,000 award at the 2021 Red Sea Film Festival and is now premiering in Un Certain Regard. Also on the panel is Mohammed Hefzy, producer, writer and Aymebn Khoja, producer, director, writer and to be moderated by Liz Shackelton, Screen International Asia Editor
My Choices for Feature Film: ‘Europa’, Selected Documentary Film: ‘Republic Of Silence’, Selected Actor: Adam Ali, Selected Actress: Maisa Abd Elhadi, Selected Director: Ayten Amin, Selected Screenplay: Ayten Amin — Mahmoud Ezzat
Panelist #1 Lotfy Nathan is the recipient of The Red Sea Fund cash prize awarded in 2021 by the Red Sea Souk Jury. The Red Sea Souk Award grant of US 30,000 was presented for his film Harka aka Contra aka Before the Spring, a “simple, tragic parable” as described by Nathan, about Ali, a young Tunisian making a precarious living selling contraband gas as he faces an impending eviction and is forced to take care of his two younger sisters, who, in real life, precipitated the Arab Spring with his act of defiance demanding dignity. His choice became the symbol of a silenced generation trying to be heard. His film Harka is in Un Certain Regard in the Cannes Film Festival 2022! The international sales agent is Constellation.
Harka
Nathan is an American filmmaker of Egyptian descent. His first feature film, the documentary 12 O’Clock Boys, for which he received the HBO Emerging Artist Award, was selected in over 50 international festivals, including SXSW, Sundance LA, Lincoln Center, Viennale, Hot Docs, London and Copenhagen. It is distributed in the United States by Oscilloscope and has been purchased by Showtime and Amazon as well as being optioned by Will Smith’s company, Overbrook Entrertainement to adapt into a drama. In 2015, Lotfy was a recipient of the Creative Capital and participated in a Cinereach Foundation director’s residency. He had previously been a recipient of the Garrett Scott Fund, the Peter Reed Foundation, the Grainger Marburg Fund, and the IFP Fellowship. This, his first feature film, was developed in the Sundance Film Institute’s Screenwriting Lab in 2016 and is now in post-production.
The film’s producer Julie Viez started her career in the film industry at Warner Bros Emea (Europe Middle East Asia). She then focused on independent film production, working for companies such as Pan-Européenne, The Film, and CG Cinema. She works on an international scale and produces a wide range of budgets. In 2019 Julie shot La Salamandre , the debut feature of director Alex Carvalho which premiered at Venice’s Settimana in 2021. She is developing several ambitious features and series, among which the next features by Cannes-nominated directors Abu Bakr Shawky, Jonathan Littell, Morgan Simon, and Marie Monge.
The third partner are the producers of The Man Who Sold His Skin, Academy Award Nomination 2020 — see my previous blog on that film — whose director, Kaouther Ben Hania, is now President of the Jury for Critics Week.).
Panelist #2 is the prolific Egyptian screenwriter and producer Mohamed Hefzy, with a constantly growing filmography of 30 feature films including worldwide acclaimed titles such as Huda’s Salon (2021) Feathers (2021), Souad (2021) You Will Die at Twenty (2019), Youmeddine (2018), and Clash (2016). He has served as a jury member in various international festivals including the 75th Venice International Film Festival. As of its 40th edition and for four consecutive years; Mohamed Hefzy was the appointed President of the Cairo International Film Festival.
In 2005, He founded Film Clinic; the now pioneer production house in the Mena region with a variety of commercial blockbusters and arthouse films that have participated in major film festivals worldwide including Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Sundance, Toronto, and Tribeca with more than 80 international awards under its belt. Later Hefzy founded Film Clinic Indie Distribution, with a mission to create opportunities for Arab independent films within and beyond festival circuits & Co- founded Meem Creative Circle which produced Netflix’s first Egyptian original series Paranormal.
Hefzy was cited among 30 future leaders in film production by Screen International, headed Variety’s list of Ten Names You Need to Know in the Arab Film Industry and was among Variety’s 500 list of the most influential people in the media industry worldwide. He was granted the Arab Cinema Personality of the Year award by the Hollywood Reporter & Arab Cinema Center. Hefzy is an official member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts And Sciences in the producers’ branch. In recognition of his significant contribution to the Arab film scene, He was honored as a “Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres” from France.
Panelist #3 is Aymen Khoja, a film producer-director committed to bold voices and innovative forms to bridge cultures and to clear up any misunderstandings.
Over six years of experience producing and directing with international studios and production companies, such as Mbc Studios the biggest broadcaster in the Middle East and Viu, the No1 streaming platform east of Asia. Aymen has filmed in different cities all over the world from Los Angeles, Dubai, Abu-Dhabi, Bucharest, Cairo, to Jeddah. He successfully delivers high-quality films and series on time within budget.
In 2016 Aymen co-founded Khoja Brothers Productions and managed to fund, direct, co-produce, co-write his first feature film Shoot Aka The Arabian Warrior, and successfully released it theatrically then sold it to Sony Pictures, Amazon Prime, Google Play, Apple, and lastly Shahid. Aymen’s debut making ultra-low-budget films made him emphasize story quality, maximize creativity, and carefully spend every dollar.
Aymen received his Master’s degree in film with honors from the New York Film Academy, Los Angeles where he produced and directed many short films that have been played in different film festivals around the world. Aymen received his Bachelor’s in Business and Management from King Abdul-Aziz University, Saudi Arabia. This background helped him to be at the top of his organizing game, networking, and career growth.
Born and raised in the east of Saudi Arabia until the age of 11, Khoja then traveled back with his parents to the west, Makkah where he stayed until he was 23 when he traveled to the US to pursue his dream of making films. Aymen had the passion and drive to make movies in a time there were no theaters in his home country. Being a pioneer, he had to push and fight traditions to achieve what he believes is his mission in life: to bridge and close gaps between cultures through the form of cinema by telling the right stories.
Nine Mena Films to see in the Festival:
Cannes Ff Competition Leila’s Brothers directed by Saeed Roustayi from IranCannes Ff Competition Holy Spider directed by Iranian Ali Abbasi but funded by France, Germany, Sweden, DenmarkUn Certain Regard Harka directed by Lotfy Nathan from TunisiaUn Certain Regard The Blue Caftan directed by Maryam Touzani from MoroccoUn Certain Regard Mediterranean Fever directed by Maha Haj from PalestineUn Certain Regard Domingo And The Mist directed by Ariel Escalante from Costa Rica with support from QatarDirectors’ Fortnight Under the Fig Trees directed by Eriga Sehiri from TunisiaDirectors’ Fortnight Ashkal directed by Youssef Chebbi from TunisiaCritics’ Week in Competition Imagine directed by Ali Behrad from IranL’Atelier project: Hamlet From The Slums from Egypt, directed by Ahmed Fawzi SalehL’Atelier project: The Blind Ferryman from Iraq and Switzerland, directed by Ali Al-FatlawiL’Atelier project: You Are My Everything from Israel, directed by Michal VinikdL’Atelier project: The Doubt from Palestine and Israel, directed by Ihab Jadallah...
- 5/8/2022
- by Sydney
- Sydney's Buzz
Film Independent today announced the names of the 30 filmmakers, from 11 nations, selected to participate in its 2022 Global Media Makers LA Residency, taking place in person this month.
The filmmakers and projects chosen are Sumon Delwar (My Cousin), Ali El Arabi and Ahmed El Zoghby (The Legend of Zeinab and Noah), Prantik Basu (Dengue), Archana Borhade and Mangesh Joshi (Purjey (Parts)), Sriram Raja and Deyali Mukherjee (New Sweetness), Kushal Batunge (They Call Her Mafia), Gaby Zarazir and Michael Zarazir, Lamia Chraibi and Hicham Lasri (Meskoun), Anup Poudel and Abinash Bikram Shah (Elephants in the Fog), Rajan Kathet and Sunir Pandey (No Winter Holidays), Fizza Ali Meerza and Nabeel Qureshi (There Was a Boy), Suzannah Mirghani (Cotton Queen), Amjad Abu Alala and Mohamed Kordofani (Goodbye Julia), Lotfi Achour and Anissa Daoud (Red Path), Rashid Abdelhamid and Ismahane Lahmar (A Respectable Family), Sezen Kayhan and Beste Yamalıoğlu (Women with...
The filmmakers and projects chosen are Sumon Delwar (My Cousin), Ali El Arabi and Ahmed El Zoghby (The Legend of Zeinab and Noah), Prantik Basu (Dengue), Archana Borhade and Mangesh Joshi (Purjey (Parts)), Sriram Raja and Deyali Mukherjee (New Sweetness), Kushal Batunge (They Call Her Mafia), Gaby Zarazir and Michael Zarazir, Lamia Chraibi and Hicham Lasri (Meskoun), Anup Poudel and Abinash Bikram Shah (Elephants in the Fog), Rajan Kathet and Sunir Pandey (No Winter Holidays), Fizza Ali Meerza and Nabeel Qureshi (There Was a Boy), Suzannah Mirghani (Cotton Queen), Amjad Abu Alala and Mohamed Kordofani (Goodbye Julia), Lotfi Achour and Anissa Daoud (Red Path), Rashid Abdelhamid and Ismahane Lahmar (A Respectable Family), Sezen Kayhan and Beste Yamalıoğlu (Women with...
- 4/13/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Cannes 2019 discoveries Mounia Meddour and Maryam Touzani are among the Mena filmmakers with works in post-production.
Middle Eastern and North African cinema enjoyed a high profile on the 2021 festival scene thanks to a raft of works from the region including Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch’s Casablanca Beats, Egyptian Cannes Critics’ Week winner Feathers, Lebanese filmmaker Mounia Akl’s Costa Brava, Lebanon, and Tribeca selection Souad by Egyptian filmmaker Ayten Amin.
Will this trend continue into 2022? Screen rounds up key titles from the Middle East and North Africa that are likely to excite festival programmers this year.
Am-Bi-Gu-i-Ty (Tun)
Dir. Nada Mezni Hafaiedh...
Middle Eastern and North African cinema enjoyed a high profile on the 2021 festival scene thanks to a raft of works from the region including Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch’s Casablanca Beats, Egyptian Cannes Critics’ Week winner Feathers, Lebanese filmmaker Mounia Akl’s Costa Brava, Lebanon, and Tribeca selection Souad by Egyptian filmmaker Ayten Amin.
Will this trend continue into 2022? Screen rounds up key titles from the Middle East and North Africa that are likely to excite festival programmers this year.
Am-Bi-Gu-i-Ty (Tun)
Dir. Nada Mezni Hafaiedh...
- 1/26/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
With last year’s surprise nominee “The Man Who Sold His Skin” hailing from Tunisia, Oscar handicappers should be sure to give West Asia and North Africa titles close scrutiny this time around.
Among the 11 submissions are several titles likely to be highly competitive in the international feature category. These include Iran’s social media critique “A Hero” from previous two-time winner Asghar Farhadi; Israel’s “Let It Be Morning”, a wry satire helmed by Eran Kolirin, about a Palestinian village put under military lockdown by the Israeli army; and Lebanon’s “Costa Brava, Lebanon,” a darkly comic commentary on the realities of modern-day Lebanon from feature debutant Mounia Akl.
Although “A Hero” may not be prime Farhadi, it already boasts the Grand Prix from Cannes. The narrative focuses on one of life’s losers, a likeable working-class man who, while on a short furlough from debtors prison, engineers events...
Among the 11 submissions are several titles likely to be highly competitive in the international feature category. These include Iran’s social media critique “A Hero” from previous two-time winner Asghar Farhadi; Israel’s “Let It Be Morning”, a wry satire helmed by Eran Kolirin, about a Palestinian village put under military lockdown by the Israeli army; and Lebanon’s “Costa Brava, Lebanon,” a darkly comic commentary on the realities of modern-day Lebanon from feature debutant Mounia Akl.
Although “A Hero” may not be prime Farhadi, it already boasts the Grand Prix from Cannes. The narrative focuses on one of life’s losers, a likeable working-class man who, while on a short furlough from debtors prison, engineers events...
- 12/13/2021
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
Egypt’s official submission for the ‘Best International Feature’ category at the 94th Academy Awards is Ayten Amin‘s Souad, which received the official Cannes 2020 label and premiered in the 2021 Berlinale while also winning Best Actress for its two leads at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival. In anticipation of For Your Consideration screenings, I had the opportunity to converse with director Ayten Amin, discussing the process of the project, which originated alongside her screenwriter Mahmoud Ezzat initially as a documentary subject. Amin shares details on her approach to filmmaking, funding issues, festival play and inspirations (including the Dardenne Bros.,…...
- 12/10/2021
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
19 films on international, 14 on documentary list.
Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or winner Titane and Andrea Arnold’s Cow have made the longlists for best international independent film and best documentary respectively at the 2021 British Independent Film Awards (Bifa).
Titane is one of 19 titles on the international list, alongside fellow Cannes 2021 titles A Chiara, Compartment No. 6, Drive My Car, Great Freedom, Paris, 13th District and Red Rocket.
Scroll down for the full list of titles
Six of the 19 international titles hail from North America, with 12 from Europe and one from Japan. Nine of the 19 directors are women.
Alongside Cow on...
Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or winner Titane and Andrea Arnold’s Cow have made the longlists for best international independent film and best documentary respectively at the 2021 British Independent Film Awards (Bifa).
Titane is one of 19 titles on the international list, alongside fellow Cannes 2021 titles A Chiara, Compartment No. 6, Drive My Car, Great Freedom, Paris, 13th District and Red Rocket.
Scroll down for the full list of titles
Six of the 19 international titles hail from North America, with 12 from Europe and one from Japan. Nine of the 19 directors are women.
Alongside Cow on...
- 10/26/2021
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Ayten Amin’s Souad is a razor-sharp portrayal of sisterhood and sexual awakening that is rarely represented on screen
When the Egyptian director Ayten Amin was 10 years old, a classmate’s sister killed herself. The news gripped the school. But, in a society where suicide is a sin, no one talked about it; instead, they mourned the girl as though she had died mysteriously, or in an accident. “When I was shooting my first film, it suddenly hit me,” Amin says over a video call from her home in Cairo. “How did my classmate feel back then? How did she grow up knowing what happened, but with no one talking about it?”
In her new film, Souad, Amin explores precisely this: the hidden lives of teenage girls in Egypt. It follows the title character (played by Bassant Ahmed) and Rabab (Basmala Elghaiesh), sisters of 19 and 13 living in Zagazig, a small...
When the Egyptian director Ayten Amin was 10 years old, a classmate’s sister killed herself. The news gripped the school. But, in a society where suicide is a sin, no one talked about it; instead, they mourned the girl as though she had died mysteriously, or in an accident. “When I was shooting my first film, it suddenly hit me,” Amin says over a video call from her home in Cairo. “How did my classmate feel back then? How did she grow up knowing what happened, but with no one talking about it?”
In her new film, Souad, Amin explores precisely this: the hidden lives of teenage girls in Egypt. It follows the title character (played by Bassant Ahmed) and Rabab (Basmala Elghaiesh), sisters of 19 and 13 living in Zagazig, a small...
- 8/19/2021
- by Coco Khan
- The Guardian - Film News
Updated with audience award winners. The Tribeca Festival has announced its Audience Award winners: Catch the Fair One for Best Narrative Feature, Blind Ambition for Best Documentary Feature and Ferguson Rises for Best Online Feature. The winners of the narrative and documentary categories will receive a cash prize of $10,000.
Tribeca’s 20th edition wrapped up on Sunday.
Previously: Lauren Hadaway’s The Novice, about a queer college freshman who joins her university’s rowing team and undertakes an obsessive physical and psychological journey to make it to the top boat, has won the Best U.S. Narrative Feature Film prize at the Tribeca Festival.
Star Isabelle Furman won the best actress prize, and Todd Martin took cinematography honors for the film, the first feature for Hadaway, a former competitive rower.
Brighton 4th, directed by Levan Koguashvili, won the fest’s Best International Narrative Feature Film prize, taking that honor as...
Tribeca’s 20th edition wrapped up on Sunday.
Previously: Lauren Hadaway’s The Novice, about a queer college freshman who joins her university’s rowing team and undertakes an obsessive physical and psychological journey to make it to the top boat, has won the Best U.S. Narrative Feature Film prize at the Tribeca Festival.
Star Isabelle Furman won the best actress prize, and Todd Martin took cinematography honors for the film, the first feature for Hadaway, a former competitive rower.
Brighton 4th, directed by Levan Koguashvili, won the fest’s Best International Narrative Feature Film prize, taking that honor as...
- 6/24/2021
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has closed major territories on Hadas Ben Aroya’s daring sophomore outing “All Eyes Off Me,” which world premiered at Berlin in the Panorama section.
The drama, which is set in contemporary Tel Aviv, was sold to Film Movement for North America, and also lured buyers in France (Wayna Pitch), Japan (Klockworx), Spain (Filmin), Portugal (Nitrato) and South Korea (Lumix Media).
The film weaves three stories portraying Tel Aviv’s youth and is headlined by a cast of fresh faces and up-and-comers including Elisheva Weil (“Just For Today”), Leib Lev Levin (“Blackspace”), Yoav Hait and Hadar Katz.
The plot revolves around Danny who is searching for Max at a party to tell him that she’s pregnant with his child. But Max just started a new relationship with the wild Avishag, who actually has someone else in mind.
“All Eyes Off Me” is produced by Ben Aroya,...
The drama, which is set in contemporary Tel Aviv, was sold to Film Movement for North America, and also lured buyers in France (Wayna Pitch), Japan (Klockworx), Spain (Filmin), Portugal (Nitrato) and South Korea (Lumix Media).
The film weaves three stories portraying Tel Aviv’s youth and is headlined by a cast of fresh faces and up-and-comers including Elisheva Weil (“Just For Today”), Leib Lev Levin (“Blackspace”), Yoav Hait and Hadar Katz.
The plot revolves around Danny who is searching for Max at a party to tell him that she’s pregnant with his child. But Max just started a new relationship with the wild Avishag, who actually has someone else in mind.
“All Eyes Off Me” is produced by Ben Aroya,...
- 6/21/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Audience award winners to be announced next week.
The Novice, Brighton 4th, and Ascension have triumphed in the juried awards categories at 2021 Tribeca Festival.
Lauren Hadaway’s The Novice was named best US narrative feature at 2021 Tribeca Festival, while Levan Koguashvili’s Brighton 4th won best international film.
Jessica Kingdon’s Ascension (2014)[/link]Ascension was named best documentary feature in the juried awards. Visit Films holds worldwide rights and is launching sales at the virtual Cannes market next week.
In other awards announced on Thursday (June 17), Isabelle Furman won best actress for The Novice and Matthew Leone was named best actor for...
The Novice, Brighton 4th, and Ascension have triumphed in the juried awards categories at 2021 Tribeca Festival.
Lauren Hadaway’s The Novice was named best US narrative feature at 2021 Tribeca Festival, while Levan Koguashvili’s Brighton 4th won best international film.
Jessica Kingdon’s Ascension (2014)[/link]Ascension was named best documentary feature in the juried awards. Visit Films holds worldwide rights and is launching sales at the virtual Cannes market next week.
In other awards announced on Thursday (June 17), Isabelle Furman won best actress for The Novice and Matthew Leone was named best actor for...
- 6/18/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The Tribeca Festival 2021 has announced the full list of winners for each of its competition categories. Lauren Hadaway’s “The Novice” won for narrative feature, Levan Koguashvili’s “Brighton 4th” won for international feature and Jessica Kingdon’s “Ascension” won for documentary feature.
Awards were given out for the following competition categories: U.S. narrative, international narrative, documentary, short films, immersive, the Nora Ephron award and the first-ever podcast and games categories.
“It’s been a challenging time for filmmakers, storytellers, and actors, and we’re so proud to honor the perseverance and dedication many of them displayed while working through the many obstacles that arose as a result of Covid-19,” Cara Cusumano, festival director and vice president of programming, said in a statement. “Each of these recipients truly embody the spirit of our creative community.”
The winners of the audience awards, which are determined by audience votes throughout the festival,...
Awards were given out for the following competition categories: U.S. narrative, international narrative, documentary, short films, immersive, the Nora Ephron award and the first-ever podcast and games categories.
“It’s been a challenging time for filmmakers, storytellers, and actors, and we’re so proud to honor the perseverance and dedication many of them displayed while working through the many obstacles that arose as a result of Covid-19,” Cara Cusumano, festival director and vice president of programming, said in a statement. “Each of these recipients truly embody the spirit of our creative community.”
The winners of the audience awards, which are determined by audience votes throughout the festival,...
- 6/17/2021
- by Antonio Ferme
- Variety Film + TV
The 20th annual Tribeca Festival has announced the winners in the competition categories at this year’s awards ceremony out of Spring Studios in New York City. Awards were given in the following competition categories: U.S. Narrative, International Narrative, Documentary; Short Films, Immersive, the Nora Ephron Award, and the first-ever Podcast and Games categories. For the first time ever, Italian eyewear brand Persol presented the award to the 2021 Best Actor, U.S. Narrative, recipient.
The Festival, which had the honor of welcoming back in-person audiences, concludes on June 20.
The top honors in feature films went to “The Novice,” “Brighton 4th,” and “Ascension.”
Chanel James and Taylor Garron won the Nora Ephron Award and a $25,000 prize for “As of Yet.” The award, created nine years ago, honors a female writer or director embodying the late filmmaker.
“It’s been a challenging time for filmmakers, storytellers, and actors, and we’re...
The Festival, which had the honor of welcoming back in-person audiences, concludes on June 20.
The top honors in feature films went to “The Novice,” “Brighton 4th,” and “Ascension.”
Chanel James and Taylor Garron won the Nora Ephron Award and a $25,000 prize for “As of Yet.” The award, created nine years ago, honors a female writer or director embodying the late filmmaker.
“It’s been a challenging time for filmmakers, storytellers, and actors, and we’re...
- 6/17/2021
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Social media as a way of hiding ourselves and assuming a new identity is an increasingly familiar cinematic concept, and in most genre films, that flexibility can introduce a kind of threat. In Gia Coppola’s recent “Mainstream,” Jan Komasa’s “The Hater,” and Leo Gabriadze’s “Unfriended,” Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram allow for a veiling of users’ true identities.
Continue reading ‘Souad’: Ayten Amin’s Provocative Portrait of Social Media Isolation Is Empathetic & Sometimes Underformed [Tribeca Review] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Souad’: Ayten Amin’s Provocative Portrait of Social Media Isolation Is Empathetic & Sometimes Underformed [Tribeca Review] at The Playlist.
- 6/11/2021
- by Roxana Hadadi
- The Playlist
Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has acquired “Medusa,” a timely drama directed by rising Brazilian helmer Anita Rocha da Silveira. The film will world premiere at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight.
“Medusa” marks Da Silveira’s follow up to her critically acclaimed feature debut “Kill me Please” which premiered at Venice in 2015 and went on to play at SXSW and New Directors/New Films, among other festivals. Da Silveira was previously at Directors’ Fortnight with her 2012 short “The Living Dead.”
Set in contemporary Brazil, “Medusa” tells the story of 21-year old Mariana, who belongs to a world where women must always look perfect. She and her girlfriends try their best to control everything and everyone around them, and that includes beating up women who have deviated from the right path. At night, their vigilante girl squad put on masks and hunt down the sinners.
“Medusa” is headlined by newcomers, including Mari Oliveira (“Kill me Please”), Lara Tremouroux,...
“Medusa” marks Da Silveira’s follow up to her critically acclaimed feature debut “Kill me Please” which premiered at Venice in 2015 and went on to play at SXSW and New Directors/New Films, among other festivals. Da Silveira was previously at Directors’ Fortnight with her 2012 short “The Living Dead.”
Set in contemporary Brazil, “Medusa” tells the story of 21-year old Mariana, who belongs to a world where women must always look perfect. She and her girlfriends try their best to control everything and everyone around them, and that includes beating up women who have deviated from the right path. At night, their vigilante girl squad put on masks and hunt down the sinners.
“Medusa” is headlined by newcomers, including Mari Oliveira (“Kill me Please”), Lara Tremouroux,...
- 6/9/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Ayten Amin’s teenage drama received a Cannes 2020 label.
BFI Distribution has secured UK and Ireland rights to Ayten Amin’s teenage drama Souad from Brussels-based Best Friend Forever.
The Egyptian drama is set to receive its physical world premiere in competition at Tribeca Film Festival next month, having previously received a Cannes 2020 label and selection for the industry-focused, online-only Berlinale in March.
BFI Distribution is planning a theatrical release in the UK and Ireland on August 27 and it will also feature as the flagship title in BFI Southbank’s upcoming September season, No News From Home, showcasing Arab filmmakers.
BFI Distribution has secured UK and Ireland rights to Ayten Amin’s teenage drama Souad from Brussels-based Best Friend Forever.
The Egyptian drama is set to receive its physical world premiere in competition at Tribeca Film Festival next month, having previously received a Cannes 2020 label and selection for the industry-focused, online-only Berlinale in March.
BFI Distribution is planning a theatrical release in the UK and Ireland on August 27 and it will also feature as the flagship title in BFI Southbank’s upcoming September season, No News From Home, showcasing Arab filmmakers.
- 5/14/2021
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
There are two gods in “Souad,” Allah and smart phones, but in a battle between the two it’s clear who’ll be the winner. Ayten Amin’s bold second feature is brilliantly alive to the contradictions of teenage life in conservative Egypt, where the pressures of social media clash with traditional religious strictures, leading to schizophrenic lives of acute unease. making each character rounded yet ultimately unknowable. Backed by powerhouse regional and European co-producers, Cannes 2020 selection “Souad” can finally be seen following its Berlinale Panorama premiere.
Right from the start, Amin grabs our attention, signaling how she’ll be taking normal situations and giving them a twist. Souad (Bassant Ahmed) pleasantly chats with the conservatively dressed older fellow bus passenger beside her, conveying the image of a good god-fearing young woman excited about medical school and her fiancé. In the next shot and still in a hijab, she projects...
Right from the start, Amin grabs our attention, signaling how she’ll be taking normal situations and giving them a twist. Souad (Bassant Ahmed) pleasantly chats with the conservatively dressed older fellow bus passenger beside her, conveying the image of a good god-fearing young woman excited about medical school and her fiancé. In the next shot and still in a hijab, she projects...
- 3/3/2021
- by Jay Weissberg
- Variety Film + TV
Brussels-based Best Friend Forever Sales has given Variety exclusive access to the international trailer for Berlin Panorama player “All Eyes Off Me,” the sexually charged sophomore outing of actor-director Hadas Ben Aroya.
Told in three distinct yet related chapters, the film begins at a party in Tel Aviv where young Danny is trying to find Max to let him know that she’s pregnant with his child. Max, however, has other things on his mind and is with his new girlfriend, trying to live up to her violent sexual fantasies for the two of them. She wants to be hit and choked, which leaves her bruised when she visits an older man for whom she dog sits.
In the trailer, all three scenarios are represented in microcosm. backed by pounding dance beats and colored with flashing lights, we find out that Danny is planning, or at least claims to be planning,...
Told in three distinct yet related chapters, the film begins at a party in Tel Aviv where young Danny is trying to find Max to let him know that she’s pregnant with his child. Max, however, has other things on his mind and is with his new girlfriend, trying to live up to her violent sexual fantasies for the two of them. She wants to be hit and choked, which leaves her bruised when she visits an older man for whom she dog sits.
In the trailer, all three scenarios are represented in microcosm. backed by pounding dance beats and colored with flashing lights, we find out that Danny is planning, or at least claims to be planning,...
- 3/2/2021
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Popular French theater director Jean-Christophe Meurisse is making his sophomore film outing with “Bloody Oranges,” a black comedy headlined by Denis Podalydès (“La Belle Epoque”), Blanche Gardin (“Delete History”) and Christophe Paou (“Synonyms”).
Brussels-based outfit Best Friend Forever has acquired international sales rights to the film, which is produced by Rectangle Prods. “(“It Must Be Heaven,” “Climax”) and Mamma Roman.
“Bloody Oranges” marks Meurisse’s follow-up to “Apnee,” which premiered in Cannes Critics’ Week in 2016. Meurisse is also a well-known figure in the world of theater, having launched the Chiens de Navarre theater troupe.
“Bloody Oranges” takes place in contemporary France and weaves the stories of a retired couple overwhelmed by debt trying to win a dance contest, a minister of economy who is suspected of tax evasion, a teenage girl coming across a sexual maniac and young lawyer trying to climb the social ladder. When the shoe drops, the...
Brussels-based outfit Best Friend Forever has acquired international sales rights to the film, which is produced by Rectangle Prods. “(“It Must Be Heaven,” “Climax”) and Mamma Roman.
“Bloody Oranges” marks Meurisse’s follow-up to “Apnee,” which premiered in Cannes Critics’ Week in 2016. Meurisse is also a well-known figure in the world of theater, having launched the Chiens de Navarre theater troupe.
“Bloody Oranges” takes place in contemporary France and weaves the stories of a retired couple overwhelmed by debt trying to win a dance contest, a minister of economy who is suspected of tax evasion, a teenage girl coming across a sexual maniac and young lawyer trying to climb the social ladder. When the shoe drops, the...
- 3/1/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
“All Eyes Off Me,” Hadas Ben Aroya’s drama which will world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, has been acquired by Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever for international sales.
Set to bow in the Panorama section, “All Eyes Off Me” takes place in contemporary Tel Aviv and weaves three stories portraying Tel Aviv’s youth. The plot revolves around Danny who is searching for Max at a party to tell him that she’s pregnant with his child. But Max just started a new relationship with the wild Avishag, who actually has someone else in mind.
The cast of fresh faces and up-and-comers includes Elisheva Weil (“Just For Today”), Leib Lev Levin (“Blackspace”), Yoav Hait and Hadar Katz.
“We fell in love with the film, how it manages to create the portrait of a fascinating woman through the eyes of three different point of view,” said Martin Gondre and Charles Bin,...
Set to bow in the Panorama section, “All Eyes Off Me” takes place in contemporary Tel Aviv and weaves three stories portraying Tel Aviv’s youth. The plot revolves around Danny who is searching for Max at a party to tell him that she’s pregnant with his child. But Max just started a new relationship with the wild Avishag, who actually has someone else in mind.
The cast of fresh faces and up-and-comers includes Elisheva Weil (“Just For Today”), Leib Lev Levin (“Blackspace”), Yoav Hait and Hadar Katz.
“We fell in love with the film, how it manages to create the portrait of a fascinating woman through the eyes of three different point of view,” said Martin Gondre and Charles Bin,...
- 2/12/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
New features from ‘Thunder Road’ director Jim Cummings and Denis Cote among line-up.
The Berlin International Film Festival has unveiled the features that will comprise its Encounters and Panorama strands, which will first be seen at the industry-focused, online-only event from March 1-5.
Panorama will include 19 titles, of which 16 are world premieres, while Encounters includes 12 features, all world premieres.
Like other strands that have been slimmed down for this year’s first virtual edition, Panorama is nearly half of the 36 titles that were selected last year. However, the Encounters competition, now in its second year, is just three titles fewer...
The Berlin International Film Festival has unveiled the features that will comprise its Encounters and Panorama strands, which will first be seen at the industry-focused, online-only event from March 1-5.
Panorama will include 19 titles, of which 16 are world premieres, while Encounters includes 12 features, all world premieres.
Like other strands that have been slimmed down for this year’s first virtual edition, Panorama is nearly half of the 36 titles that were selected last year. However, the Encounters competition, now in its second year, is just three titles fewer...
- 2/10/2021
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
The Berlin Film Festival has revealed 12 titles from 16 countries that will compete in the festival’s Encounters strand, including Denis Côté’s “Social Hygiene” from Canada, Alice Diop’s “We” from France, and Fern Silva’s “Rock Bottom Riser” from the U.S.
The selections also take in “As I Want” (Egypt/France/Norway/Palestine) by Samaher Alqadi; “Azor” (Switzerland/France/Argentina) by Andreas Fontana; “The Beta Test” (U.S./U.K.) by Jim Cummings, Pj McCabe; and “Bloodsuckers (Germany) by Julian Radlmaier.
Also competing will be “The Girl and the Spider” (Switzerland) by Ramon Zürcher, Silvan Zürcher; “District Terminal” (Iran/Germany) by Bardia Yadegari, Ehsan Mirhosseini; “Moon, 66 Questions” (Greece/France) by Jacqueline Lentzou; “The Scary of Sixty-First” (U.S.) by Dasha Nekrasova; and “Taste” (Vietnam/Singapore/France/Thailand/Germany/Taiwan) by Lê Bảo.
The Encounters strand supports new or innovative voices in cinema. A jury will choose winners for best film,...
The selections also take in “As I Want” (Egypt/France/Norway/Palestine) by Samaher Alqadi; “Azor” (Switzerland/France/Argentina) by Andreas Fontana; “The Beta Test” (U.S./U.K.) by Jim Cummings, Pj McCabe; and “Bloodsuckers (Germany) by Julian Radlmaier.
Also competing will be “The Girl and the Spider” (Switzerland) by Ramon Zürcher, Silvan Zürcher; “District Terminal” (Iran/Germany) by Bardia Yadegari, Ehsan Mirhosseini; “Moon, 66 Questions” (Greece/France) by Jacqueline Lentzou; “The Scary of Sixty-First” (U.S.) by Dasha Nekrasova; and “Taste” (Vietnam/Singapore/France/Thailand/Germany/Taiwan) by Lê Bảo.
The Encounters strand supports new or innovative voices in cinema. A jury will choose winners for best film,...
- 2/10/2021
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Two powerful figures in the Arab world, Egyptian screenwriter and producer Mohamed Hefzy and Tunisian-born actor and model Hend Sabri, have been named Chevalier and Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters, France’s highest honors, respectively.
The ceremony took place in Cairo on Wednesday, and the honor was given by Stéphane Romatet, the ambassador of France in Egypt. The Order of Arts and Letters recognizes “eminent artists and writers, as well as people who have contributed significantly to furthering the arts in France and throughout the world.”
Hefzy, who is known for being charismatic and forward-thinking, has presided over the Cairo Film Festival since 2018 and has succeeded in raising its international profile significantly.
Hefzy’s award-winning credits span more than 30 feature films in Egypt, the U.S., U.K. and the Arab world. His banner Film Clinic, which was founded in 2006 and now ranks as a leading production...
The ceremony took place in Cairo on Wednesday, and the honor was given by Stéphane Romatet, the ambassador of France in Egypt. The Order of Arts and Letters recognizes “eminent artists and writers, as well as people who have contributed significantly to furthering the arts in France and throughout the world.”
Hefzy, who is known for being charismatic and forward-thinking, has presided over the Cairo Film Festival since 2018 and has succeeded in raising its international profile significantly.
Hefzy’s award-winning credits span more than 30 feature films in Egypt, the U.S., U.K. and the Arab world. His banner Film Clinic, which was founded in 2006 and now ranks as a leading production...
- 1/27/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has acquired “Mother Schmuckers,” which will world premiere at Sundance. The film marks the feature debut of Lenny and Harpo Guit, and is the first Belgian movie set to play in Sundance’s midnight section.
Set in contemporary Brussels, the film tells the story of two brothers in their twenties, supremely stupid and never bored. When they lose their mother’s beloved dog, they have 24 hours to find it — or she will kick them out. The film’s cast features French star Mathieu Amalric, along with a string of newcomers such as Maxi Delmelle, Harpo Guit and Claire Bodson (“Young Ahmed”).
“We hadn’t laughed that much since ages. The film’s creativity is so refreshing; it’s full of ideas and boasts obvious cult potential,” said Martin Gondre and Charles Bin, Best Friend Forever’s co-founders. “It reminded us of John Waters in a way,...
Set in contemporary Brussels, the film tells the story of two brothers in their twenties, supremely stupid and never bored. When they lose their mother’s beloved dog, they have 24 hours to find it — or she will kick them out. The film’s cast features French star Mathieu Amalric, along with a string of newcomers such as Maxi Delmelle, Harpo Guit and Claire Bodson (“Young Ahmed”).
“We hadn’t laughed that much since ages. The film’s creativity is so refreshing; it’s full of ideas and boasts obvious cult potential,” said Martin Gondre and Charles Bin, Best Friend Forever’s co-founders. “It reminded us of John Waters in a way,...
- 12/15/2020
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Egyptian drama follows two teenage sisters who escape conversative reality via the social networks.
Brussels-based Best Friend Forever has acquired world sales rights to Ayten Amin’s second feature Souad, a Cannes 2020 selection.
The Alexandria-set drama revolves follows two teenage sisters growing up within a conservative family, the older of whom escapes into a secret life via the virtual world of social networks. When real-life catches up with her, tragedy strikes and her younger sister embarks on a journey looking for answers.
The cast features non-professional newcomers Bassant Ahmed, Basmala El Ghaiesh and Hussein Ghanem.
Amin’s debut feature...
Brussels-based Best Friend Forever has acquired world sales rights to Ayten Amin’s second feature Souad, a Cannes 2020 selection.
The Alexandria-set drama revolves follows two teenage sisters growing up within a conservative family, the older of whom escapes into a secret life via the virtual world of social networks. When real-life catches up with her, tragedy strikes and her younger sister embarks on a journey looking for answers.
The cast features non-professional newcomers Bassant Ahmed, Basmala El Ghaiesh and Hussein Ghanem.
Amin’s debut feature...
- 9/9/2020
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
A total of €395,000 awarded to projects from Argentina, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Egypt, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines, Senegal, Turkey and Venezuela.
Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund (Wcf) has awarded a combined €395,000 ($455,000) to 14 projects in its latest funding round.
The recipients hail from Argentina, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Egypt, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines, Senegal, Turkey and Venezuela.
Selected directors that previously participated in Berlinale Talents include Amanda Nell EU (Tiger Stripes), Laura Citarella (Trenque Lauquen), Khavn de la Cruz (Love Is A Dog From Hell) and Katy Léna Ndiaye (Une Histoire Du Franc Cfa).
The latest funding round includes...
Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund (Wcf) has awarded a combined €395,000 ($455,000) to 14 projects in its latest funding round.
The recipients hail from Argentina, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Egypt, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines, Senegal, Turkey and Venezuela.
Selected directors that previously participated in Berlinale Talents include Amanda Nell EU (Tiger Stripes), Laura Citarella (Trenque Lauquen), Khavn de la Cruz (Love Is A Dog From Hell) and Katy Léna Ndiaye (Une Histoire Du Franc Cfa).
The latest funding round includes...
- 7/22/2020
- by 1101184¦Orlando Parfitt¦38¦
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Film Independent has unveiled their keynotes, conversations and panelists for the 15th annual Film Independent Forum. The Forum, which is traditionally a weekend event, will now be a week-long virtual event that will reach all corners of the globe from July 31 to August 7.
The event has set a roster of banner names in the industry, featuring a U.S. Filmmaker Keynote with Lulu Wang (The Farewell); a U.S. Executive Keynote with Elissa Federoff, President of Distribution at Neon; a Documentary Keynote with Dawn Porter; and a Global Executive Keynote with Ashok Amritraj, Chairman and CEO of Hyde Park Entertainment Group. Traditionally a weekend event, the Forum has expanded to a full week-long event accessible online to global audiences the week of July 31 to August 7.
In addition, panels will cover financing, production and distribution of films to digital content across diverse platforms...
The event has set a roster of banner names in the industry, featuring a U.S. Filmmaker Keynote with Lulu Wang (The Farewell); a U.S. Executive Keynote with Elissa Federoff, President of Distribution at Neon; a Documentary Keynote with Dawn Porter; and a Global Executive Keynote with Ashok Amritraj, Chairman and CEO of Hyde Park Entertainment Group. Traditionally a weekend event, the Forum has expanded to a full week-long event accessible online to global audiences the week of July 31 to August 7.
In addition, panels will cover financing, production and distribution of films to digital content across diverse platforms...
- 6/30/2020
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
2020 has seen the cancellation of many film festivals around the world due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Even though Cannes, one of the most prestigious festivals, won’t be going ahead they have compiled 2020’s Official Selection.
Comprising of 56 films that would have been selected to play at this year’s festival, the selection is made up of features from filmmakers that have been selected at least before, newcomers, documentary’s and animations.
Amongst the line-up is Steve McQueen’s ‘Lovers Rock’ and ‘Mangrove’ which McQueen has dedicated to George Floyd.
“I dedicate these films to George Floyd and all the other black people that have been murdered, seen or unseen, because of who they are, in the U.S., U.K. and elsewhere,” said McQueen. “‘If you are the big tree, we are the small axe.’ Black Lives Matter.”
Others amongst the line-up include Wes Anderson’s highly anticipated ‘The French Dispatch,...
Comprising of 56 films that would have been selected to play at this year’s festival, the selection is made up of features from filmmakers that have been selected at least before, newcomers, documentary’s and animations.
Amongst the line-up is Steve McQueen’s ‘Lovers Rock’ and ‘Mangrove’ which McQueen has dedicated to George Floyd.
“I dedicate these films to George Floyd and all the other black people that have been murdered, seen or unseen, because of who they are, in the U.S., U.K. and elsewhere,” said McQueen. “‘If you are the big tree, we are the small axe.’ Black Lives Matter.”
Others amongst the line-up include Wes Anderson’s highly anticipated ‘The French Dispatch,...
- 6/4/2020
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The selection includes films from Wes Anderson, Naomi Kawase and two Steve McQueen projects.
The Cannes Film Festival has announced its special 2020 Official Selection.
Festival President Pierre Lescure and General Delegate Thierry Frémaux revealed the line-up at a press conference in Paris, held without journalists this year.
With the 2020 physical festival cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, Official Selection titles will be “supported” by Cannes as they screen in autumn festivals and beyond.
The 56-strong line-up includes Wes Anderson’s French Dispatch; two Steve McQueen projects - Mangrove and Lovers Rock; Maïwenn’s DNA; Naomi Kawase’s True Mothers; Thomas Vinterberg...
The Cannes Film Festival has announced its special 2020 Official Selection.
Festival President Pierre Lescure and General Delegate Thierry Frémaux revealed the line-up at a press conference in Paris, held without journalists this year.
With the 2020 physical festival cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, Official Selection titles will be “supported” by Cannes as they screen in autumn festivals and beyond.
The 56-strong line-up includes Wes Anderson’s French Dispatch; two Steve McQueen projects - Mangrove and Lovers Rock; Maïwenn’s DNA; Naomi Kawase’s True Mothers; Thomas Vinterberg...
- 6/3/2020
- by 1101184¦Orlando Parfitt¦38¦
- ScreenDaily
A bit earlier today, in lieu of the actual fest, the Cannes Film Festival announced what their Official Selections would have been. Of course, these movies won’t actually be playing at Cannes, but they will be showing at other festivals around the world over the next handful of months. It would have been an interesting crop of titles, all lumped together in the south of France, and this afternoon, we’re going to take a look at a few of them, as the lineup is being rolled out. Some of the highlights here seem to include Ammonite (starring Saoirse Ronan and Kate Winslet), Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, Pixar’s Soul, and a pair of new works from Steve McQueen (Lover’s Rock as well as Mangrove). There’s also films like Viggo Mortensen’s directorial debut Falling, which played at the Sundance Film Festival, plus much more.
- 6/3/2020
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
Updated With Lineup: The Cannes Film Festival has revealed its 2020 lineup, which includes new movies from Wes Anderson, Steve McQueen, Pixar, Francois Ozon, Naomi Kawase, Thomas Vinterberg and Maiwenn. Scroll down for lineup.
Despite its cancellation due to the coronavirus, Cannes has revealed the 56 movies chosen for its Official Selection as a badge of honor for the movies and in a bid to boost their distribution credentials. Details about the makeup of the lineup, including a record number of women directors and debuts, were revealed yesterday.
The festival didn’t differentiate movies by section this year, instead announcing all 56 movies in one list, only demarcating some by thematic category.
Artistic director Thierry Frémaux had previously said that Spike Lee’s Netflix film Da 5 Bloods would have played Out of Competition. Lee was set to chair the jury. The movie would have marked Netflix’s return to the festival after a three year absence,...
Despite its cancellation due to the coronavirus, Cannes has revealed the 56 movies chosen for its Official Selection as a badge of honor for the movies and in a bid to boost their distribution credentials. Details about the makeup of the lineup, including a record number of women directors and debuts, were revealed yesterday.
The festival didn’t differentiate movies by section this year, instead announcing all 56 movies in one list, only demarcating some by thematic category.
Artistic director Thierry Frémaux had previously said that Spike Lee’s Netflix film Da 5 Bloods would have played Out of Competition. Lee was set to chair the jury. The movie would have marked Netflix’s return to the festival after a three year absence,...
- 6/3/2020
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
The show is going on for the 2020 Cannes Film Festival, even though by now in a normal year we would have known which film would succeed Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite” as the new Palme d’Or winner. The original 2020 festival was scheduled to run May 12-23 but was canceled in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Cannes is living on this year as festival president Pierre Lescure and general delegate Thierry Frémaux are announcing the 56 films that made the cut for the 2020 Official Selection. Selected films will be branded with an official Cannes 2020 label that they can take to additional festivals later this year and use when they open in theaters.
The Official Selection at Cannes usually includes the following sections: Competition, Un Certain Regard, Out of Competition, Special Screenings, and Midnight Screenings. The Palme d’Or contenders premiere in the Competition category. Last year’s Cannes Competition section...
The Official Selection at Cannes usually includes the following sections: Competition, Un Certain Regard, Out of Competition, Special Screenings, and Midnight Screenings. The Palme d’Or contenders premiere in the Competition category. Last year’s Cannes Competition section...
- 6/3/2020
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Pixar’s “Soul,” Wes Anderson’s star-packed “The French Dispatch” and Steve McQueen’s “Mangrove” and Lover’s Rock” are among the 56 movies which will receive a Cannes 2020 label as part of the festival’s eclectic Official Selection.
Also included in this year’s lineup, are Cannes regulars such as Francois Ozon’s anticipated “Summer 85,” Naomi Kawase’s “True Mothers” and Maiwenn’s “DNA.”
The other celebrated filmmakers who will receive the Cannes 2020 label are Jonathan Nossiter with “Last Words,” Im Sang-soo with “Event” and Thomas Vinterberg with “Another Round.” As many other titles on this year’s lineup, these films were initially tipped for the festival before it canceled its physical edition in April and sticked with the French Riviera-set fest for various reasons, ranging from loyalty to distribution/marketing strategy. For instance, “Summer 85,” which marks Ozon’s follow up to his Berlin Golden Bear winning “By The Grace of God,...
Also included in this year’s lineup, are Cannes regulars such as Francois Ozon’s anticipated “Summer 85,” Naomi Kawase’s “True Mothers” and Maiwenn’s “DNA.”
The other celebrated filmmakers who will receive the Cannes 2020 label are Jonathan Nossiter with “Last Words,” Im Sang-soo with “Event” and Thomas Vinterberg with “Another Round.” As many other titles on this year’s lineup, these films were initially tipped for the festival before it canceled its physical edition in April and sticked with the French Riviera-set fest for various reasons, ranging from loyalty to distribution/marketing strategy. For instance, “Summer 85,” which marks Ozon’s follow up to his Berlin Golden Bear winning “By The Grace of God,...
- 6/3/2020
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Egypt’s Ismailia International Film Festival has announced plans for the second edition of projects market, Ismailia Co-production Platform, to take place from June 3-8.
The festival, which focuses on documentaries and short films, launched the first edition of the projects market last year. Filmmakers from all over the world with feature-length documentary projects with an Arab connection (director, producer, co-producer, main talent, location or subject matter) are encouraged to apply.
Headed by festival director Mohamed Hefzy, with the director of Egypt’s National Cinema Centre (Ncc) Kamal Abdel Aziz as president, the Ismailia fest is being repositioned as a key incubator for new Arab filmmaking talent.
Hefzy is a producer and scriptwriter whose Cairo-based production company Film Clinic has credits including Ayten Amin’s Villa 69 and Ahmed Abdallah’s Rags And Tatters.
The Ismailia fest was launched by the Ncc in 1988 and is currently one of three film festivals coordinated by Egypt’s Ministry of Culture...
The festival, which focuses on documentaries and short films, launched the first edition of the projects market last year. Filmmakers from all over the world with feature-length documentary projects with an Arab connection (director, producer, co-producer, main talent, location or subject matter) are encouraged to apply.
Headed by festival director Mohamed Hefzy, with the director of Egypt’s National Cinema Centre (Ncc) Kamal Abdel Aziz as president, the Ismailia fest is being repositioned as a key incubator for new Arab filmmaking talent.
Hefzy is a producer and scriptwriter whose Cairo-based production company Film Clinic has credits including Ayten Amin’s Villa 69 and Ahmed Abdallah’s Rags And Tatters.
The Ismailia fest was launched by the Ncc in 1988 and is currently one of three film festivals coordinated by Egypt’s Ministry of Culture...
- 2/3/2014
- by lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
- ScreenDaily
Cairo-based Mad Solutions is presenting a slate of ten high-profile Arabic-language pictures at this year’s Dubai Film Market (Dfm).
Mad will handle regional and international distribution, as well as serve as marketing consultant, on the ten-picture slate, which includes Diff Muhr Arab feature competition titles Factory Girl, directed by Mohamed Khan, and The Mice Room, a feature directed by six Egyptian directors.
The slate also includes three other Diff Muhr Arab competition titles: Mais Darwazah’s creative doc My Love Awaits Me By The Sea; Emirati filmmaker Ali Mostafa’s short film Don’t Judge A Subject By Its Photograph, and Lebanese filmmaker Tobufic Khreish’s short Troubled Waters.
Mad is also handling Ayten Amin’s Villa 69, which recently won a special jury prize at Abu Dhabi Film Festival; Hany Fawzy’s gay-themed drama Family Secrets; and Hala Lotfy’s award-winning narrative feature Coming Forth By Day.
Rounding out the slate are documentary In Search Of Oil And Sand, co-directed...
Mad will handle regional and international distribution, as well as serve as marketing consultant, on the ten-picture slate, which includes Diff Muhr Arab feature competition titles Factory Girl, directed by Mohamed Khan, and The Mice Room, a feature directed by six Egyptian directors.
The slate also includes three other Diff Muhr Arab competition titles: Mais Darwazah’s creative doc My Love Awaits Me By The Sea; Emirati filmmaker Ali Mostafa’s short film Don’t Judge A Subject By Its Photograph, and Lebanese filmmaker Tobufic Khreish’s short Troubled Waters.
Mad is also handling Ayten Amin’s Villa 69, which recently won a special jury prize at Abu Dhabi Film Festival; Hany Fawzy’s gay-themed drama Family Secrets; and Hala Lotfy’s award-winning narrative feature Coming Forth By Day.
Rounding out the slate are documentary In Search Of Oil And Sand, co-directed...
- 12/8/2013
- by lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Mahmoud Abdel Aziz, the legendary Egyptian actor who was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement award at last year’s Diff, will headline an adaptation of Two Rooms And A Parlour, a new high-profile addition to the production slate of Arab talent hothouse Film Clinic.
Based on Hugratan wa Salah, the 2010 novel by revered Egyptian writer Ibrahim Aslan, the project is one of nine being presented here at Interchange, the development and co-production workshop that unites Diff with Eave and Torino FilmLab.
Abdel Aziz will play the central character of Khalil, a reclusive retiree who is forced to confront his life choices after the death of his wife. Realising that he has never left Cairo, Khalil makes it his mission to see another country before he dies, and in the process begins to interact with neighbours he has spent his life trying to avoid.
Scheduled to start shooting in the second half of 2014, Two Rooms And A Parlour...
Based on Hugratan wa Salah, the 2010 novel by revered Egyptian writer Ibrahim Aslan, the project is one of nine being presented here at Interchange, the development and co-production workshop that unites Diff with Eave and Torino FilmLab.
Abdel Aziz will play the central character of Khalil, a reclusive retiree who is forced to confront his life choices after the death of his wife. Realising that he has never left Cairo, Khalil makes it his mission to see another country before he dies, and in the process begins to interact with neighbours he has spent his life trying to avoid.
Scheduled to start shooting in the second half of 2014, Two Rooms And A Parlour...
- 12/7/2013
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Mahmoud Abdel Aziz, the legendary Egyptian actor who was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement award at last year’s Diff, will headline an adaptation of Two Rooms And A Parlour, a new high-profile addition to the production slate of Arab talent hothouse Film Clinic.
Based on Hugratan wa Salah, the 2010 novel by revered Egyptian writer Ibrahim Aslan, the project is one of nine being presented here at Interchange, the development and co-production workshop that unites Diff with Eave and Torino FilmLab.
Abdel Aziz will play the central character of Khalil, a reclusive retiree who is forced to confront his life choices after the death of his wife. Realising that he has never left Cairo, Khalil makes it his mission to see another country before he dies, and in the process begins to interact with neighbours he has spent his life trying to avoid.
Scheduled to start shooting in the second half of 2014, Two Rooms And A Parlour...
Based on Hugratan wa Salah, the 2010 novel by revered Egyptian writer Ibrahim Aslan, the project is one of nine being presented here at Interchange, the development and co-production workshop that unites Diff with Eave and Torino FilmLab.
Abdel Aziz will play the central character of Khalil, a reclusive retiree who is forced to confront his life choices after the death of his wife. Realising that he has never left Cairo, Khalil makes it his mission to see another country before he dies, and in the process begins to interact with neighbours he has spent his life trying to avoid.
Scheduled to start shooting in the second half of 2014, Two Rooms And A Parlour...
- 12/7/2013
- ScreenDaily
Actor prizes go to Dame Judi Dench and Jesse Eisenberg; Enough Said, starring the late James Gandolfini, wins audience award.Scroll down for full list of winners
The 7th Abu Dhabi Film Festival handed out its Black Pearl awards at a closing ceremony tonight (Oct 31), including cash prizes amounting to around $700,000.
The Black Pearl for Narrative Feature, worth $100,000, went to A Touch of Sin (Tian zhu ding) directed by Jia Zhangke.
The film, which played in competition at Cannes where it won the best screenplay award, revolves around four threads set in vastly different geographical and social milieus across modern-day China and features random acts of violence.
The Narrative jury, presided over by two-time Oscar nominated actress Jacki Weaver, gave the special jury award ($50,000) to Hiner Saleem’s My Sweet Pepper Land, centred on a law man in a small town on the border of Iran, Iraq and Turkey.
In addition, Dame Judi Dench won best...
The 7th Abu Dhabi Film Festival handed out its Black Pearl awards at a closing ceremony tonight (Oct 31), including cash prizes amounting to around $700,000.
The Black Pearl for Narrative Feature, worth $100,000, went to A Touch of Sin (Tian zhu ding) directed by Jia Zhangke.
The film, which played in competition at Cannes where it won the best screenplay award, revolves around four threads set in vastly different geographical and social milieus across modern-day China and features random acts of violence.
The Narrative jury, presided over by two-time Oscar nominated actress Jacki Weaver, gave the special jury award ($50,000) to Hiner Saleem’s My Sweet Pepper Land, centred on a law man in a small town on the border of Iran, Iraq and Turkey.
In addition, Dame Judi Dench won best...
- 10/31/2013
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Festival kicks off Thursday with gala screening of Daniel Schechter’s Life of Crime.
Forest Whitaker will be among the guests when the Abu Dhabi Film Festival kicks off Thursday evening. Whitaker will receive the festival’s Black Pearl Career Achievement award.
The festival will open with a gala screening of the Middle East premiere of Life of Crime with director Daniel Schechter and actor Mark Boone Junior both in attendance and participating in an audience Q&A.
Another career achievement award winner will be actress and director Hiam Abbass, who stars in festival world premiere Peace After Marriage.
International guests will include Danis Tanovic, Amma Asante, Jia Zhangke, Beeban Kidron, Emir Baigazin, Agnes B, Cedomir Kolar, Uberto Pasolini, Tao Zhao, Eugene Domingo, Louis Garrel, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Catherine Dussart.
Arab stars set to attend Adff include Mervat Amin, Hend Sabri, Ahmad Ezz, Basel Khayat, Eyad Nassar, Kinda Aloush, Abed Fahad, Manal Khader, Nesrine...
Forest Whitaker will be among the guests when the Abu Dhabi Film Festival kicks off Thursday evening. Whitaker will receive the festival’s Black Pearl Career Achievement award.
The festival will open with a gala screening of the Middle East premiere of Life of Crime with director Daniel Schechter and actor Mark Boone Junior both in attendance and participating in an audience Q&A.
Another career achievement award winner will be actress and director Hiam Abbass, who stars in festival world premiere Peace After Marriage.
International guests will include Danis Tanovic, Amma Asante, Jia Zhangke, Beeban Kidron, Emir Baigazin, Agnes B, Cedomir Kolar, Uberto Pasolini, Tao Zhao, Eugene Domingo, Louis Garrel, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Catherine Dussart.
Arab stars set to attend Adff include Mervat Amin, Hend Sabri, Ahmad Ezz, Basel Khayat, Eyad Nassar, Kinda Aloush, Abed Fahad, Manal Khader, Nesrine...
- 10/23/2013
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
Festival kicks off Thursday with gala screening of Daniel Schechter’s Life of Crime.
Forest Whitaker will be among the guests when the Abu Dhabi Film Festival kicks off Thursday evening. Whitaker will receive the festival’s Black Pearl Career Achievement award.
The festival will open with a gala screening of the Middle East premiere of Life of Crime with director Daniel Schechter and actor Mark Boone Junior both in attendance and participating in an audience Q&A.
Another career achievement award winner will be actress and director Hiam Abbass, who stars in festival world premiere Peace After Marriage.
International guests will include Danis Tanovic, Amma Asante, Jia Zhangke, Beeban Kidron, Emir Baigazin, Agnes B, Cedomir Kolar, Uberto Pasolini, Tao Zhao, Eugene Domingo, Louis Garrel, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Catherine Dussart.
Arab stars set to attend Adff include Mervat Amin, Hend Sabri, Ahmad Ezz, Basel Khayat, Eyad Nassar, Kinda Aloush, Abed Fahad, Manal Khader, Nesrine...
Forest Whitaker will be among the guests when the Abu Dhabi Film Festival kicks off Thursday evening. Whitaker will receive the festival’s Black Pearl Career Achievement award.
The festival will open with a gala screening of the Middle East premiere of Life of Crime with director Daniel Schechter and actor Mark Boone Junior both in attendance and participating in an audience Q&A.
Another career achievement award winner will be actress and director Hiam Abbass, who stars in festival world premiere Peace After Marriage.
International guests will include Danis Tanovic, Amma Asante, Jia Zhangke, Beeban Kidron, Emir Baigazin, Agnes B, Cedomir Kolar, Uberto Pasolini, Tao Zhao, Eugene Domingo, Louis Garrel, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Catherine Dussart.
Arab stars set to attend Adff include Mervat Amin, Hend Sabri, Ahmad Ezz, Basel Khayat, Eyad Nassar, Kinda Aloush, Abed Fahad, Manal Khader, Nesrine...
- 10/23/2013
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
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