The Doha Film Institute (Dfi) has selected 44 projects for its 2024 spring grants cycle, including Mahdi Fleifel’s To A Land Unknown, which has its world premiere in Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes next Wednesday, May 22.
Fleifel’s fiction feature debut is a crime thriller about a Palestinian refugee living on the fringes of Athens society, who seeks revenge on the smuggler who ripped him off.
Scroll down for the full list of grants
Palestinian-Danish filmmaker Fleifel studied at the UK’s National Film and Television School, and previously made 2012 feature-length documentary A World Not Ours, which played at the Berlinale and Cph:dox.
Fleifel’s fiction feature debut is a crime thriller about a Palestinian refugee living on the fringes of Athens society, who seeks revenge on the smuggler who ripped him off.
Scroll down for the full list of grants
Palestinian-Danish filmmaker Fleifel studied at the UK’s National Film and Television School, and previously made 2012 feature-length documentary A World Not Ours, which played at the Berlinale and Cph:dox.
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
2024 Hubert Bals Fund’s Hbf+Europe: Erige Sehiri, Danielle Arbid & Ala Eddine Slim Projects Get Coin
Ten projects are the latest to be awarded by the Hubert Bals Fund’s Hbf+Europe support schemes. Ten projects in all are receiving coin and among them we have an Anonymous project, plus the latest from Erige Sehiri, Danielle Arbid and Ala Eddine Slim. Several of these will be considered for the upcoming Locarno and Venice Film Festivals. Under the Fig Trees‘ Erige Sehiri looks at a community in Tunisia and the dilemmas that arise from welcoming a refugee child in Marie & Jolie. Danielle Arbid’s love story titled Love Conquers All is set in Beirut and tells thee tale of a young undocumented Sudanese migrant and an older local woman (Hiam Abbas).…...
- 5/7/2024
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Erige Sehiri, Danielle Arbid and Francisco Márquez’s latest projects are among the 10 co-productions receiving €60,000 each through the Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf) of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).
The projects, eight supported for co-production and two for post-production, are helmed by mostly first- or second-time filmmakers from Singapore, Turkey, Lebanon, Chile, Tunisia, Mexico and Argentina. The European co-producers, through which the projects are awarded, hail from the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, France and Spain.
Tunisian director Sehiri, whose debut Under The Fig Tree debuted in Directors’ Fortnight 2022, is supported for Marie & Jolie. The film centres around a pastor, a trafficker...
The projects, eight supported for co-production and two for post-production, are helmed by mostly first- or second-time filmmakers from Singapore, Turkey, Lebanon, Chile, Tunisia, Mexico and Argentina. The European co-producers, through which the projects are awarded, hail from the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, France and Spain.
Tunisian director Sehiri, whose debut Under The Fig Tree debuted in Directors’ Fortnight 2022, is supported for Marie & Jolie. The film centres around a pastor, a trafficker...
- 5/7/2024
- ScreenDaily
Yesterday we tossed filmmaker names like Ala Eddine Slim, Alexandre Koberidze, Marco Dutra and the tandem of Fabio Grassadonia & Antonio Piazza into the prognostication Un Certain Regard mix. Today we present another ten options and make sure to tune in on Monday for 25 firm Palme d’Or competition guesses. The official line-up will be revealed on April 11th.
Maria –...
Maria –...
- 3/29/2024
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Tunisian filmmaker Ala Eddine Slim attended this week’s Atlas Workshops at Marrakech Film Festival with the rough cut of his third feature film, “Agora.”
The film revolves around three missing people who return to a remote town in Tunisia, where the local police inspector, Fathi, tries to unravel the mystery with the help of her friend Amine. Then a second inspector arrives from the capital. The events of the film develop as if they were taking place in the dreams of two animals – a blue dog and a black crow.
Slim’s previous two films, with minimal dialogue and powerful atmospheric images, have garnered significant critical acclaim: “The Last of Us” (2016), which won the Lion of the Future Prize at Venice, and “Tlamess” (2019), which was selected for the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes.
“Agora” is a French-Tunisian coproduction between Julie Viez’s Cinenovo and Slim’s Exit Productions. It has secured 80% of its €623,593 budget.
The film revolves around three missing people who return to a remote town in Tunisia, where the local police inspector, Fathi, tries to unravel the mystery with the help of her friend Amine. Then a second inspector arrives from the capital. The events of the film develop as if they were taking place in the dreams of two animals – a blue dog and a black crow.
Slim’s previous two films, with minimal dialogue and powerful atmospheric images, have garnered significant critical acclaim: “The Last of Us” (2016), which won the Lion of the Future Prize at Venice, and “Tlamess” (2019), which was selected for the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes.
“Agora” is a French-Tunisian coproduction between Julie Viez’s Cinenovo and Slim’s Exit Productions. It has secured 80% of its €623,593 budget.
- 12/3/2023
- by Martin Dale
- Variety Film + TV
Tunisian Youssef Chebbi’s “Plague,” Moroccan Adnane Baraka’s “We Don’t Forget” and Meryam Joobeur’s “Motherhood” feature among buzz titles at this year’s Marrakech Festival Atlas Workshops, which will have Martin Scorsese as their official patron.
Consolidated as a key platform for Moroccan, Arab and African projects and pix in production made by a new generation of filmmakers and created by Marrakech Festival artistic director Remi Bonhomme, the Atlas Workshops unspool Nov. 27-30. They take place alongside the 20th edition of the Marrakech International Film Festival, which runs from Nov. 24-Dec. 2.
In a definite potential highlight of the Atlas Workshops, Meryjam Joubeur, whose “Brotherhood” was Oscar nominated for best live action short, will present 10 minutes of “Motherhood,” one of the awaited feature debuts of 2023. It is sure to spark major festival interest.
“Plague” marks Chebbi’s second feature after acclaimed Cannes Directors’ Fortnight genre blender “Ashkal: The Tunisian Investigation,...
Consolidated as a key platform for Moroccan, Arab and African projects and pix in production made by a new generation of filmmakers and created by Marrakech Festival artistic director Remi Bonhomme, the Atlas Workshops unspool Nov. 27-30. They take place alongside the 20th edition of the Marrakech International Film Festival, which runs from Nov. 24-Dec. 2.
In a definite potential highlight of the Atlas Workshops, Meryjam Joubeur, whose “Brotherhood” was Oscar nominated for best live action short, will present 10 minutes of “Motherhood,” one of the awaited feature debuts of 2023. It is sure to spark major festival interest.
“Plague” marks Chebbi’s second feature after acclaimed Cannes Directors’ Fortnight genre blender “Ashkal: The Tunisian Investigation,...
- 11/3/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Projects come from 11 different countries across the Arab world and African continent.
The Atlas Workshops, the industry platform of the Marrakech International Film Festival, has unveiled 25 projects for its sixth edition, which runs from November 27-30.
Atlas Workshops has lined up 16 projects in development and nine films in production or post-production from 11 countries across the Arab world and African continent.
The line-up includes projects from Tunisian directors Youssef Chebbi and Erige Sehiri. Chebbi’s feature Ashkal played in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes last year, as did Sehiri’s Under The Fig Trees.
Also coming to The Atlas Workshops is Somalia...
The Atlas Workshops, the industry platform of the Marrakech International Film Festival, has unveiled 25 projects for its sixth edition, which runs from November 27-30.
Atlas Workshops has lined up 16 projects in development and nine films in production or post-production from 11 countries across the Arab world and African continent.
The line-up includes projects from Tunisian directors Youssef Chebbi and Erige Sehiri. Chebbi’s feature Ashkal played in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes last year, as did Sehiri’s Under The Fig Trees.
Also coming to The Atlas Workshops is Somalia...
- 11/3/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
The Marrakech International Film Festival has unveiled the 25 projects selected for the sixth edition of its industry-focused Atlas Workshops, aimed at nurturing emerging Moroccan, Arab and African talent.
Running from November 27 to 30, the event will present 16 projects in development and nine films in production or post-production from 11 countries, selected from among the 320 applications received from the Arab world and African continent.
In a reflection of the growing diversity of the stories being told by Arab and African independent filmmakers, the selection spans a diverse range of film genres, from Lebanese director Sandra Tabet’s horror picture Rabies to Moroccan filmmaker Hind Bensari’s humanist documentary Out of School and Adnane Baraka’s poetic work We Don’t Forget.
Moroccan filmmaker Baraka made waves with his documentary Fragments from Heaven, about a nomad living in a tent in a remote part of Morocco who goes in search of meteorite fragments to boost the family fortunes.
Running from November 27 to 30, the event will present 16 projects in development and nine films in production or post-production from 11 countries, selected from among the 320 applications received from the Arab world and African continent.
In a reflection of the growing diversity of the stories being told by Arab and African independent filmmakers, the selection spans a diverse range of film genres, from Lebanese director Sandra Tabet’s horror picture Rabies to Moroccan filmmaker Hind Bensari’s humanist documentary Out of School and Adnane Baraka’s poetic work We Don’t Forget.
Moroccan filmmaker Baraka made waves with his documentary Fragments from Heaven, about a nomad living in a tent in a remote part of Morocco who goes in search of meteorite fragments to boost the family fortunes.
- 11/3/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Venice Critics’ Week has announced the line-up for its 38th edition, running August 30 to September 9 alongside the Venice Film Festival.
The seven competition titles include UK director Moin Hussain’s debut feature Sky Peals about a lonely man working the night shifts at a motorway service station with little human contact or connection. Upon hearing that his estranged father has died, Adam finds himself piecing together a complicated image of a man that he never really knew and uncovers details of his life that he struggles to comprehend.
Taiwanese actor Lee Hong-Chi’s will also unveil his directorial debut Love Is A Gun about a petty criminal whose attempts to build a quiet life following his release from prison are upended by the reappearance of his former boss, his debt-ridden mother and an old friend.
The competition titles will compete for the €5,000 Grand Prize and the €3,000 Audience Award. The selection...
The seven competition titles include UK director Moin Hussain’s debut feature Sky Peals about a lonely man working the night shifts at a motorway service station with little human contact or connection. Upon hearing that his estranged father has died, Adam finds himself piecing together a complicated image of a man that he never really knew and uncovers details of his life that he struggles to comprehend.
Taiwanese actor Lee Hong-Chi’s will also unveil his directorial debut Love Is A Gun about a petty criminal whose attempts to build a quiet life following his release from prison are upended by the reappearance of his former boss, his debt-ridden mother and an old friend.
The competition titles will compete for the €5,000 Grand Prize and the €3,000 Audience Award. The selection...
- 7/24/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Locarno Film Festival artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro has come to Saudi Arabia for the first time to serve on the jury panel for the works-in-progress showcase at the Red Sea Film Festival’s industry section, the Red Sea Souk. A former head of the Venice Critics’ Week, Nazzaro has been tracking Arabic cinema for a while and programming pics that are breaking its mold. He spoke to Variety about the challenges directors from the region face as they try to do new things.
My impression is that Arab directors these days are less beholden to an auteur vision of cinema. Do you agree?
This is something that has been going on for quite some time. The fact is there has been a great change of paradigm within cinema from the Arab world and from the Mena region at large. This is largely because institutions such as the Doha Film Institute...
My impression is that Arab directors these days are less beholden to an auteur vision of cinema. Do you agree?
This is something that has been going on for quite some time. The fact is there has been a great change of paradigm within cinema from the Arab world and from the Mena region at large. This is largely because institutions such as the Doha Film Institute...
- 12/3/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Giona Nazzaro signals determination to hold a physical edition of the festival next August.
Respected programmer and selector Giona Nazzaro was announced as the new artistic director of the Locarno Film Festival on Thursday (November 5).
He arrives at the 73-year-old lakeside festival from the International Film Critics’ Week at the Venice Film Festival. He put his stamp on the parallel selection as delegate general from 2016, showcasing an eclectic selection of films ranging from UK actress-director Alice Lowe’s dark comedy Prevenge to Tunisian filmmaker Alaeddine Slim’s The Last Of Us, which won the Lion of the Future for best debut film,...
Respected programmer and selector Giona Nazzaro was announced as the new artistic director of the Locarno Film Festival on Thursday (November 5).
He arrives at the 73-year-old lakeside festival from the International Film Critics’ Week at the Venice Film Festival. He put his stamp on the parallel selection as delegate general from 2016, showcasing an eclectic selection of films ranging from UK actress-director Alice Lowe’s dark comedy Prevenge to Tunisian filmmaker Alaeddine Slim’s The Last Of Us, which won the Lion of the Future for best debut film,...
- 11/6/2020
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Giona A. Nazzaro was today appointed as the new Artistic Director of Switzerland’s historic Locarno Film Festival. He will be tasked with trying to bounce back the event, one of the key European summer film fests, from a pandemic-disrupted year in 2020.
Deadline got on the phone with Nazzaro, who joins from his role at the Venice Film Festival sidebar Critics’ Week, to hear about his plans for Locarno’s 74th edition in August 2021. He says re-opening the iconic Piazza Grande – said to be the largest open-air screening room in the world – will be a top priority after it was closed this year, but notes the team are game-planning for potential further disruption. Nazzaro also tells us about his love for American movies such as The Fast And The Furious franchise, and why he thinks the streaming services are “integral” to the international industry.
Deadline: Let me start by saying congratulations on the new gig.
Deadline got on the phone with Nazzaro, who joins from his role at the Venice Film Festival sidebar Critics’ Week, to hear about his plans for Locarno’s 74th edition in August 2021. He says re-opening the iconic Piazza Grande – said to be the largest open-air screening room in the world – will be a top priority after it was closed this year, but notes the team are game-planning for potential further disruption. Nazzaro also tells us about his love for American movies such as The Fast And The Furious franchise, and why he thinks the streaming services are “integral” to the international industry.
Deadline: Let me start by saying congratulations on the new gig.
- 11/5/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Votes were cast by 141 Arab and international critics from 57 territories.
Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman’s It Must Be Heaven has scooped best film and director in the fourth edition of the Critics Awards for Arab Films.
The comedy originally premiered in Cannes Competition in 2019, garnering a special mention, and was Palestine’s submission for the 2020 Academy Awards.
In other awards, Egyptian-Tunisian actress Hend Sabry was feted with best actress for her performance in Tunisian director Hinde Boujemaa’s Noura’s Dream as a woman trying to escape the clutches of a violent husband.
French-Tunisian actor Sami Bouajila was named best actor...
Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman’s It Must Be Heaven has scooped best film and director in the fourth edition of the Critics Awards for Arab Films.
The comedy originally premiered in Cannes Competition in 2019, garnering a special mention, and was Palestine’s submission for the 2020 Academy Awards.
In other awards, Egyptian-Tunisian actress Hend Sabry was feted with best actress for her performance in Tunisian director Hinde Boujemaa’s Noura’s Dream as a woman trying to escape the clutches of a violent husband.
French-Tunisian actor Sami Bouajila was named best actor...
- 6/26/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦69¦
- ScreenDaily
Fourth edition is based on votes of 142 Arab and international critics hailing from 57 countries.
Elia Suleiman’s It Must Be Heaven and Maryam Touzani’s Adam received four nominations each in the first round of voting in this year’s Critics Awards for Arab Films.
A total of 142 Arab and international film critics from 57 countries are participating in the fourth edition of the awards, organised by the Arab Cinema Centre (Acc).
Suleiman’s comedy-drama It Must Be Heaven, which premiered in Cannes Competition in 2019, has been nominated for best film, director, actor (Suleiman) and screenplay.
Moroccan filmmaker Touzani’s feature directorial debut Adam,...
Elia Suleiman’s It Must Be Heaven and Maryam Touzani’s Adam received four nominations each in the first round of voting in this year’s Critics Awards for Arab Films.
A total of 142 Arab and international film critics from 57 countries are participating in the fourth edition of the awards, organised by the Arab Cinema Centre (Acc).
Suleiman’s comedy-drama It Must Be Heaven, which premiered in Cannes Competition in 2019, has been nominated for best film, director, actor (Suleiman) and screenplay.
Moroccan filmmaker Touzani’s feature directorial debut Adam,...
- 6/17/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦69¦
- ScreenDaily
Alexander Rodnyansky, the producer of Cloud Atlas and Cannes-honored and Oscars-shortlisted Beanpole, is launching a new Russian festival focused on foreign films. The first edition will feature, among others, Sam Mendes' 1917 and Terrence Malick's A Hidden Life.
Titled Kinotavr. Special Edition as a reference to the Russian national festival Kinotavr, of which Rodnyansky is president, the festival will run for the first time in Moscow from late January through early February.
Among other titles that will be screened are Hirokazu Kore-eda's La verité (The Truth), Roy Andersson's Om det oändliga (About Endlessness), Ala Eddine Slim's Tlamess, Amjad Abu Alala's You ...
Titled Kinotavr. Special Edition as a reference to the Russian national festival Kinotavr, of which Rodnyansky is president, the festival will run for the first time in Moscow from late January through early February.
Among other titles that will be screened are Hirokazu Kore-eda's La verité (The Truth), Roy Andersson's Om det oändliga (About Endlessness), Ala Eddine Slim's Tlamess, Amjad Abu Alala's You ...
- 12/30/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Alexander Rodnyansky, the producer of Cloud Atlas and Cannes-honored and Oscars-shortlisted Beanpole, is launching a new Russian festival focused on foreign films. The first edition will feature, among others, Sam Mendes' 1917 and Terrence Malick's A Hidden Life.
Enitled Kinotavr. Special Edition as a reference to the Russian national festival Kinotavr, of which Rodnyansky is president, the festival will run for the first time in Moscow from late January through early February.
Among other titles that will be screened are Hirokazu Koreeda's La verité (The Truth), Roy Andersson's Om det oändliga (About Endlessness), Ala Eddine Slim's Tlamess, Amjad Abu Alala's You ...
Enitled Kinotavr. Special Edition as a reference to the Russian national festival Kinotavr, of which Rodnyansky is president, the festival will run for the first time in Moscow from late January through early February.
Among other titles that will be screened are Hirokazu Koreeda's La verité (The Truth), Roy Andersson's Om det oändliga (About Endlessness), Ala Eddine Slim's Tlamess, Amjad Abu Alala's You ...
- 12/30/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Looking back at the lineups of key festivals such as Cannes and Venice this year, 2019 stands out as a banner year for movies from the African continent and the Arab world.
During a panel hosted at the Netflix-sponsored industry event Atlas Workshops during the Marrakech Film Festival, Rémi Bonhomme, who works at Cannes’ Critics’ Week and heads up the conference, pointed out the vital role of festivals in showcasing films from the Mena region.
“There were even films from the region playing in the official selection at Cannes, most of which were debut films, apart from Elia Suleiman’s “It Must Be Heaven.” He cited Mati Diop’s “Atlantics,” which competed at Cannes and won the Grand Prize, and “Papicha” and “Adam,” which played in Un Certain Regard. These three films are representing Senegal, Algeria and Morocco, respectively, in the international feature film section of the Oscars.
In Venice,...
During a panel hosted at the Netflix-sponsored industry event Atlas Workshops during the Marrakech Film Festival, Rémi Bonhomme, who works at Cannes’ Critics’ Week and heads up the conference, pointed out the vital role of festivals in showcasing films from the Mena region.
“There were even films from the region playing in the official selection at Cannes, most of which were debut films, apart from Elia Suleiman’s “It Must Be Heaven.” He cited Mati Diop’s “Atlantics,” which competed at Cannes and won the Grand Prize, and “Papicha” and “Adam,” which played in Un Certain Regard. These three films are representing Senegal, Algeria and Morocco, respectively, in the international feature film section of the Oscars.
In Venice,...
- 12/8/2019
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
The 18th edition of the Marrakech Intl. Film Festival awarded the Etoile d’Or for best film to Colombia’s “Valley of Souls,” directed by Nicolás Rincón Gille. In his acceptance speech the director said: “Colombia is a country that people know very little about. But in this film I try to offer a glimpse of the country and make us realize how we are connected at the deepest human level.”
The Jury Prize was awarded, ex aequo, to Saudi Arabian pic “Last Visit” by Abdulmohsen Aldhabaan, who expressed his thanks to his cast and crew, and Chinese film “Mosaic Portrait” by Zhai Yixiang, who said: “I saw a lot of mosaics here in Marrakech, so I think I came to the right place.”
Best directing prize was awarded to the Tunisian director Ala Eddine Slim for his visually striking “Tlamess.” He dedicated the award to “all people who have...
The Jury Prize was awarded, ex aequo, to Saudi Arabian pic “Last Visit” by Abdulmohsen Aldhabaan, who expressed his thanks to his cast and crew, and Chinese film “Mosaic Portrait” by Zhai Yixiang, who said: “I saw a lot of mosaics here in Marrakech, so I think I came to the right place.”
Best directing prize was awarded to the Tunisian director Ala Eddine Slim for his visually striking “Tlamess.” He dedicated the award to “all people who have...
- 12/8/2019
- by Martin Dale
- Variety Film + TV
An experimental anomaly on the Tunisian film front, writer-director Ala Eddine Slim has won a following with two films that leave logic and realism behind to chart a muddy course through the minefield of experimental-apocalyptic narrative. Although their meaning is hard to grasp (perhaps on purpose?), they have attracted attention. After Eddine Slim’s first feature The Last of Us was shown in New Directors, New Films in New York, his new but cut-from-the-same-cloth Tlamess turned up in Cannes’ Directors' Fortnight. Wherever these enigmatic, schematic and often pretentious works are shown, their basic lack of dramatic truth haunts them and they ...
An experimental anomaly on the Tunisian film front, writer-director Ala Eddine Slim has won a following with two films that leave logic and realism behind to chart a muddy course through the minefield of experimental-apocalyptic narrative. Although their meaning is hard to grasp (perhaps on purpose?), they have attracted attention. After Eddine Slim’s first feature The Last of Us was shown in New Directors, New Films in New York, his new but cut-from-the-same-cloth Tlamess turned up in Cannes’ Directors' Fortnight. Wherever these enigmatic, schematic and often pretentious works are shown, their basic lack of dramatic truth haunts them and they ...
Tunisian director Ala Eddine Slim’s 2016 debut “The Last of Us” garnered a certain cult following after its Venice premiere thanks to the film’s intriguing, at times mesmeric images in which the lead literally fades into his environment. With his followup “Tlamess,” the filmmaker initially appears to be charting new paths until about one-quarter in, when he returns to the idea of a loner becoming one with his surroundings. The concern isn’t the sense of déjà vu — viewers enthralled by the first might be just as happy to re-engage with Slim’s singular vision — so much as his problematic approach to the female character, relegated to being merely a vessel made superfluous once her biological function is over. The conceit is troubling no matter how the opaque scenes are read, making “Tlamess” (the word means an enchantress’ spell as well as something inexplicable) a difficult sell outside avant-garde-leaning festivals.
- 6/2/2019
- by Jay Weissberg
- Variety Film + TV
Following the first batches of Cannes Film Festival lineup announcements, the slate has now been unveiled for the sidebar Directors’ Fortnight. Once again a stellar-looking lineup, it includes Robert Eggers’ The Witch follow-up The Lighthouse, starring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson, Bertrand Bonello’s Zombi Child, plus new films from Takashi Miike, Lav Diaz, Bas Devo, and Rebecca Zlotowski (pictured above).
There’s also two Sundance films we’ve already reviewed: Wounds and Give Me Liberty. Premiering as a Special Screening is Luca Guadagnino’s new short The Staggering Girl starring Julianne Moore, Mia Goth, KiKi Layne, Alba Rohrwacher, Marthe Keller, and Kyle MacLachlan. See the lineup below, along with the Acid slate.
Directors’ Fortnight Lineup
Feature Films
Deerskin (Quentin Dupieux) – Opening Film
Yves (Benoît Forgeard) – Closing
Alice and the Mayor (Nicolas Pariser)
And Then We Danced (Levan Akin)
The Halt (Lav Diaz)
Dogs Don’t Wear Pants (Jukka-Pekka Valkeapää...
There’s also two Sundance films we’ve already reviewed: Wounds and Give Me Liberty. Premiering as a Special Screening is Luca Guadagnino’s new short The Staggering Girl starring Julianne Moore, Mia Goth, KiKi Layne, Alba Rohrwacher, Marthe Keller, and Kyle MacLachlan. See the lineup below, along with the Acid slate.
Directors’ Fortnight Lineup
Feature Films
Deerskin (Quentin Dupieux) – Opening Film
Yves (Benoît Forgeard) – Closing
Alice and the Mayor (Nicolas Pariser)
And Then We Danced (Levan Akin)
The Halt (Lav Diaz)
Dogs Don’t Wear Pants (Jukka-Pekka Valkeapää...
- 4/23/2019
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The 2019 Driectors’ Fortnight lineup has been revealed, bringing with it new works from “The Witch” director Robert Eggers, Bertrand Bonello, Rebecca Zlotowski, and Takashi Miike. Fortnight is closely associated with the Cannes Film Festival although it is technically its own event that runs parallel to Cannes. Fortnight is celebrating its 51st year in 2019. The festival sidebar has been a launching pad for directors such as Spike Lee, Jim Jarmsuch, and more over the years.
One of the biggest titles set to world premiere is “The Lighthouse,” writer-director Eggers’ first feature since his Sundance horror breakout “The Witch.” For his latest directorial effort, Eggers has cast Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe for a fantasy horror based on old seafarer myths. The movie was shot in black and white and is backed by A24, who picked up last year’s Directors’ Fortnight favorite “Climax.” Another high profile premiere is “The Staggering Girl,...
One of the biggest titles set to world premiere is “The Lighthouse,” writer-director Eggers’ first feature since his Sundance horror breakout “The Witch.” For his latest directorial effort, Eggers has cast Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe for a fantasy horror based on old seafarer myths. The movie was shot in black and white and is backed by A24, who picked up last year’s Directors’ Fortnight favorite “Climax.” Another high profile premiere is “The Staggering Girl,...
- 4/23/2019
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Robert Eggers’ anticipated “The Lighthouse” with Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe, Luca Guadagnino’s medium-length film “The Staggering Girl” and Japanese helmer Takashi Miike’s “First Love” are set to unspool at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight under the new leadership of Paolo Moretti.
Described by Moretti as a “hypnotic two-hander” powered by Pattinson and Dafoe, “The Lighthouse” is a fantasy horror film set in a mysterious island in New England at the end of the 19th century. Eggers previously directed “The Witch.”
As with Cannes’ official selection, Directors’ Fortnight will showcase a wide range of genre movies. Besides “The Lighthouse,” the other anticipated genre films set for Directors’ Fortnight include Bertrand Bonello’s “Zombi Child,” about the Haitian Clairvius Narcisse, victim of a voodoo; Miike’s “First Love”; Babak Anvari’s “Wounds,” with Armie Hammer and Dakota Johnson; and Tunisian helmer Ala Eddine Slim’s “Tlamess.”
Moretti, who took over from...
Described by Moretti as a “hypnotic two-hander” powered by Pattinson and Dafoe, “The Lighthouse” is a fantasy horror film set in a mysterious island in New England at the end of the 19th century. Eggers previously directed “The Witch.”
As with Cannes’ official selection, Directors’ Fortnight will showcase a wide range of genre movies. Besides “The Lighthouse,” the other anticipated genre films set for Directors’ Fortnight include Bertrand Bonello’s “Zombi Child,” about the Haitian Clairvius Narcisse, victim of a voodoo; Miike’s “First Love”; Babak Anvari’s “Wounds,” with Armie Hammer and Dakota Johnson; and Tunisian helmer Ala Eddine Slim’s “Tlamess.”
Moretti, who took over from...
- 4/23/2019
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
New films from Lav Diaz, Bertrand Bonello, Johnny Ma, Takashi Miike, Rebecca Zlotowski and nearly two dozen other directors have been chosen for the 2019 lineup of Directors’ Fortnight, an independent section that runs concurrently with the Cannes Film Festival.
The lineup brings 16 directors to Cannes for the first time, according to Directors’ Fortnight organizers.
Seven of the films are from France and three from the United States. Those three are Babak Anvari’s “Wounds,” Robert Egger’s “The Lighthouse” and Kirill Mikhanovsky’s “Give Me Liberty.”
Also Read: Cannes Debuts Childcare and Breastfeeding Stations for Working Parents
Additional countries represented in the selection include Belgium, Finland, Switzerland, Denmark, China, Japan, the Philippines, Tunisia, Brazil, Argentina and Peru.
“The Staggering Girl,” a short film from “Call Me by Your Name” director Luca Guadagnino, will also screen as part of the sidebar.
Additional short films are listed on the Directors’ Fortnight website.
The lineup brings 16 directors to Cannes for the first time, according to Directors’ Fortnight organizers.
Seven of the films are from France and three from the United States. Those three are Babak Anvari’s “Wounds,” Robert Egger’s “The Lighthouse” and Kirill Mikhanovsky’s “Give Me Liberty.”
Also Read: Cannes Debuts Childcare and Breastfeeding Stations for Working Parents
Additional countries represented in the selection include Belgium, Finland, Switzerland, Denmark, China, Japan, the Philippines, Tunisia, Brazil, Argentina and Peru.
“The Staggering Girl,” a short film from “Call Me by Your Name” director Luca Guadagnino, will also screen as part of the sidebar.
Additional short films are listed on the Directors’ Fortnight website.
- 4/23/2019
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The prestigious Directors’ Fortnight, which runs parallel to the Cannes Film Festival, has revealed an intriguing lineup which includes Robert Eggers’ (The Witch) Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe drama The Lighthouse, Takashi Miike’s latest feature and Netflix film Wounds, whose inclusion is sure to raise eyebrows due to the ongoing dispute between the streamer and the Cannes Film Festival proper. Scroll down for the lineup in full.
This is the first year at the helm for the section’s new artistic director Paolo Moretti and in keeping with the strand’s history his first lineup is largely made up of emerging directors. The strand will open with French comedy Deerskin, starring Jean Dujardin (The Artist) and Adèle Haenel (Bpm), and it will award its Carrosse d’Or career award to U.S. filmmaker John Carpenter.
There will be special screenings of Robert Rodriguez’s Red 11 and Luca Guadagnino’s starry 35-minute short,...
This is the first year at the helm for the section’s new artistic director Paolo Moretti and in keeping with the strand’s history his first lineup is largely made up of emerging directors. The strand will open with French comedy Deerskin, starring Jean Dujardin (The Artist) and Adèle Haenel (Bpm), and it will award its Carrosse d’Or career award to U.S. filmmaker John Carpenter.
There will be special screenings of Robert Rodriguez’s Red 11 and Luca Guadagnino’s starry 35-minute short,...
- 4/23/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
The Doha Film Institute, a key source of funding and an incubator for Middle East filmmakers, is opening its grants program to TV and web series in an effort to foster more serialized Arabic content from the Middle East.
CEO Fatma Al Remaihi said the institute would be offering development funding for TV series and production funding for web series starting with the next round of grants. Submissions can be made from July. The institute will be the first entity in the region to provide seed money for Arab series.
“We want to follow talents on their journey of creative possibilities and offer them these [serialized content] options as well,” said Hanaa Issa, the Dfi’s director of film funding. The idea is to give producer-director teams the possibility to develop a project they can bring to a broadcaster.
The Dfi, which is a backer of six films at Cannes this year,...
CEO Fatma Al Remaihi said the institute would be offering development funding for TV series and production funding for web series starting with the next round of grants. Submissions can be made from July. The institute will be the first entity in the region to provide seed money for Arab series.
“We want to follow talents on their journey of creative possibilities and offer them these [serialized content] options as well,” said Hanaa Issa, the Dfi’s director of film funding. The idea is to give producer-director teams the possibility to develop a project they can bring to a broadcaster.
The Dfi, which is a backer of six films at Cannes this year,...
- 5/11/2018
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The final deadline for submitting each country’s film for consideration for the foreign-language Oscar was October 2. Last year 85 were finally deemed eligible by the Academy; this year the number is a record 92. Haiti, Honduras, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mozambique, Senegal and Syria are first-time entrants. These films are vying for the initial shortlist of 9, and final five nominations to be announced on January 23. See the final list below.
Read More:Oscar Announces Changes for Foreign-Film Voting: Now Simpler! (Sort Of.)
The frontrunners include Sweden selected Ruben Östlund’s hilarious Palme d’Or-winner “The Square” (October 27, Magnolia Pictures), an art-world satire shot in majority Swedish with some English from stars Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, and Dominic West, thus giving Östlund another shot after “Force Majeure” was a surprise 2015 Oscar omission.
Germany’s choice, Fatih Akin’s “In the Fade” (December 27, Magnolia Pictures), won Best Actress for Diane Kruger at Cannes.
Read More:Oscar Announces Changes for Foreign-Film Voting: Now Simpler! (Sort Of.)
The frontrunners include Sweden selected Ruben Östlund’s hilarious Palme d’Or-winner “The Square” (October 27, Magnolia Pictures), an art-world satire shot in majority Swedish with some English from stars Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, and Dominic West, thus giving Östlund another shot after “Force Majeure” was a surprise 2015 Oscar omission.
Germany’s choice, Fatih Akin’s “In the Fade” (December 27, Magnolia Pictures), won Best Actress for Diane Kruger at Cannes.
- 10/5/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
The final deadline for submitting each country’s film for consideration for the foreign-language Oscar was October 2. Last year 85 were finally deemed eligible by the Academy; this year the number is a record 92. Haiti, Honduras, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mozambique, Senegal and Syria are first-time entrants. These films are vying for the initial shortlist of 9, and final five nominations to be announced on January 23. See the final list below.
Read More:Oscar Announces Changes for Foreign-Film Voting: Now Simpler! (Sort Of.)
The frontrunners include Sweden selected Ruben Östlund’s hilarious Palme d’Or-winner “The Square” (October 27, Magnolia Pictures), an art-world satire shot in majority Swedish with some English from stars Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, and Dominic West, thus giving Östlund another shot after “Force Majeure” was a surprise 2015 Oscar omission.
Germany’s choice, Fatih Akin’s “In the Fade” (December 27, Magnolia Pictures), won Best Actress for Diane Kruger at Cannes.
Read More:Oscar Announces Changes for Foreign-Film Voting: Now Simpler! (Sort Of.)
The frontrunners include Sweden selected Ruben Östlund’s hilarious Palme d’Or-winner “The Square” (October 27, Magnolia Pictures), an art-world satire shot in majority Swedish with some English from stars Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, and Dominic West, thus giving Östlund another shot after “Force Majeure” was a surprise 2015 Oscar omission.
Germany’s choice, Fatih Akin’s “In the Fade” (December 27, Magnolia Pictures), won Best Actress for Diane Kruger at Cannes.
- 10/5/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
The Arab Cinema Center is launching the Critics Awards to promote and support Arab cinema internationally. The winners will be for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Actor.
The 26 member jury includes prominent Arab and foreign critics from 15 countries from around the world. Egyptian film critic Ahmed Shawky is serving as manager of the Critics Awards.
Film analyst Alaa Karkouti, CEO of Mad Solutions, the company in charge of organizing the Arab Cinema Center’s events and also the first Pan Arab independent distributor and PR company of Arabic content to and from the Arab world, said: “The Critics Awards marks a first-time initiative that encompasses film critics from all over the world dedicated to Arab films within the strategy of Arab Cinema Center to add initiatives and events to every large-scale international film festival around the world.”
He added: “This is the first new addition...
The 26 member jury includes prominent Arab and foreign critics from 15 countries from around the world. Egyptian film critic Ahmed Shawky is serving as manager of the Critics Awards.
Film analyst Alaa Karkouti, CEO of Mad Solutions, the company in charge of organizing the Arab Cinema Center’s events and also the first Pan Arab independent distributor and PR company of Arabic content to and from the Arab world, said: “The Critics Awards marks a first-time initiative that encompasses film critics from all over the world dedicated to Arab films within the strategy of Arab Cinema Center to add initiatives and events to every large-scale international film festival around the world.”
He added: “This is the first new addition...
- 4/16/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Meaning proves elusive in Ala Eddine Slim’s oblique narrative feature debut that serves as a timely commentary on the current immigration crisis. Depicting the travails of a young man attempting to emigrate from Tunisia, The Last of Us eschews dialogue and narration, instead relying on stunning visuals to compensate for its skimpy narrative. Recently showcased at New Directors/New Films, this feature will likely be too esoteric even for adventurous art house audiences, but it definitely signals the director as a talent to watch.
The central character, dubbed “N” (Jawhar Doudani) in the credits, is first seen walking through the...
The central character, dubbed “N” (Jawhar Doudani) in the credits, is first seen walking through the...
- 4/13/2017
- by Frank Scheck
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Wordless and spiritual, the survival genre and the title are the only things that Ala Eddine Slim’s narrative feature debut shares with the other upcoming movie that people will probably get this confused with. An entry in the Venice International Film Critic’s Week and the winner of the Lion of the Future award for a debut film, “The Last of Us” is a spartan work of art with a strong political sentiment that falters the watchability front.
Continue reading ‘The Last of Us’ Is A Barebones Immigration Fable [Nd/Nf Review] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘The Last of Us’ Is A Barebones Immigration Fable [Nd/Nf Review] at The Playlist.
- 3/24/2017
- by Jason Ooi
- The Playlist
Set to make its North American Premiere at the 2017 New Directors/New Films festival (in NYC) which kicks off next week, is Tunisian filmmaker Ala Eddine Slim’s feature film debut, “The Last of Us,” which follows a Sub-Saharan (a country… Continue Reading →...
- 3/11/2017
- by shadowandact
- ShadowAndAct
One of the best festivals during the first half of the year is The Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s New Directors/New Films, which kicks off its 46th year this March, running from the 15th to the 26th. With last year’s line-up including some of the year’s best films, including Cameraperson, The Fits, Kaili Blues, Neon Bull, Weiner, and more, we can expect many more discoveries this year.
Opening with Patti Cake$ and closing with Person to Person, in between will be one of our favorite films from Sundance as the centerpiece, Beach Rats. Also among the line-up is a handful of other festival favorites, including The Dreamed Path, The Giant, Menashe, and Lady Macbeth.
“Authenticity is an elusive thing these days, and without it we risk ruin. This is particularly true in cinema,” says Rajendra Roy, the Celeste Bartos Chief...
Opening with Patti Cake$ and closing with Person to Person, in between will be one of our favorite films from Sundance as the centerpiece, Beach Rats. Also among the line-up is a handful of other festival favorites, including The Dreamed Path, The Giant, Menashe, and Lady Macbeth.
“Authenticity is an elusive thing these days, and without it we risk ruin. This is particularly true in cinema,” says Rajendra Roy, the Celeste Bartos Chief...
- 2/15/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center has today announces their complete lineup for the 46th annual New Directors/New Films (Nd/Nf), running March 15 – 26. Dedicated to the discovery of new works by emerging and dynamic filmmaking talent, this year’s festival will screen 29 features and nine short films. This year’s lineup boasts nine North American premieres, seven U.S. premieres, and two world premieres, with features and shorts from 32 countries across five continents.
The opening, centerpiece, and closing night selections showcase three exciting new voices in American independent cinema that all recently debuted at Sundance: Geremy Jasper’s “Patti Cake$” is the opening night pick, while Eliza Hittman’s “Beach Rats” is the centerpiece selection and Dustin Guy Defa will close the festival with “Person to Person.” Other standouts include “Menashe,” “My Happy Family,” “Quest” and “The Wound.”
Read More: The Sundance Rebel:...
The opening, centerpiece, and closing night selections showcase three exciting new voices in American independent cinema that all recently debuted at Sundance: Geremy Jasper’s “Patti Cake$” is the opening night pick, while Eliza Hittman’s “Beach Rats” is the centerpiece selection and Dustin Guy Defa will close the festival with “Person to Person.” Other standouts include “Menashe,” “My Happy Family,” “Quest” and “The Wound.”
Read More: The Sundance Rebel:...
- 2/15/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Iffr reveals lineup and jury for programme focused on emerging filmmakers.
International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) (25 Jan – 5 Feb) has announced the full line-up of its Bright Future programme, including the titles that will compete for the Bright Future Award.
Scroll down for the full lineup
The competition for the Bright Future Award 2017 consists of sixteen debut films, including Chinese documentary Children Are Not Afraid of Death, Children Are Afraid of Ghosts by Rong Guang Rong and Caroline Leone’s melancholy Brazilian road movie Pela Janela. Also competing are Belgian title Inside the Distance and German feature Self-Criticism Of A Bourgeois Dog.
The jury for the award will be made up of Italian film producer Marta Donzelli (Le Quattro Volte); Marleen Slot, Netherlands producer for Viking Film (Neon Bull) and chair of Film Producers Netherlands (Fpn); and Jean-Pierre Rehm, director of the French film festival Fid Marseille.
Outside of this competition, Bright Future also presents...
International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) (25 Jan – 5 Feb) has announced the full line-up of its Bright Future programme, including the titles that will compete for the Bright Future Award.
Scroll down for the full lineup
The competition for the Bright Future Award 2017 consists of sixteen debut films, including Chinese documentary Children Are Not Afraid of Death, Children Are Afraid of Ghosts by Rong Guang Rong and Caroline Leone’s melancholy Brazilian road movie Pela Janela. Also competing are Belgian title Inside the Distance and German feature Self-Criticism Of A Bourgeois Dog.
The jury for the award will be made up of Italian film producer Marta Donzelli (Le Quattro Volte); Marleen Slot, Netherlands producer for Viking Film (Neon Bull) and chair of Film Producers Netherlands (Fpn); and Jean-Pierre Rehm, director of the French film festival Fid Marseille.
Outside of this competition, Bright Future also presents...
- 1/4/2017
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
With the jury winners announced this past weekend (see at the bottom), the 73rd Venice International Film Festival has now come to an end. As always, it was a strong kick-off to the fall festivals, with some premieres of dramas that we’ll see over the next few months, as well as a great many that won’t arrive until next year (or perhaps later, pending distribution). We’ve wrapped up the festival by selecting our 9 favorite films, followed by our complete coverage. Check out everything below and let us know what you’re most looking forward to.
Austerlitz (Sergei Loznitsa)
Having experimented with feature-length fiction films, shorts, and archival-footage documentaries in the course of his career, Sergei Loznitsa’s output since his 2014 Ukrainian crisis documentary Maidan has both garnered him greater acclaim than before and zeroed in on cinema as a collectively generated form. – Tommaso T. (full review)
Hacksaw Ridge...
Austerlitz (Sergei Loznitsa)
Having experimented with feature-length fiction films, shorts, and archival-footage documentaries in the course of his career, Sergei Loznitsa’s output since his 2014 Ukrainian crisis documentary Maidan has both garnered him greater acclaim than before and zeroed in on cinema as a collectively generated form. – Tommaso T. (full review)
Hacksaw Ridge...
- 9/12/2016
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Lav Diaz’s The Woman Who Left from the Philippines won the Golden Lion at the 73rd Venice Film festival on Saturday while Emma Stone claimed the Coppa Volpi best actress prize for La La Land and Oscar Martínez took actor honours for El Ciudadano Ilustre.
The Silver Lion – grand jury prize went to Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals and the Silver Lion award for best director was a tie between Andrei Konchalovsky for Paradise and Amat Escalante for The Untamed.
Noah Oppenheim prevailed in the screenplay category for Jackie, while Ana Lily Amirpour earned a special jury prize for The Bad Batch.
Venice Winners In Full
Golden Lion for best film
The Woman Who Left (Ang Babaeng Humayo; Philippines) by Lav Diaz
Silver Lion – grand jury prize
Nocturnal Animals (USA) by Tom Ford
Silver Lion award for best director (tie)
Andrei Konchalovsky, Paradise (Cis)
Amat Escalante, The Untamed (La Región Salvaje, Mexico-Denmark-France-Germany- Norway-Switzerland...
The Silver Lion – grand jury prize went to Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals and the Silver Lion award for best director was a tie between Andrei Konchalovsky for Paradise and Amat Escalante for The Untamed.
Noah Oppenheim prevailed in the screenplay category for Jackie, while Ana Lily Amirpour earned a special jury prize for The Bad Batch.
Venice Winners In Full
Golden Lion for best film
The Woman Who Left (Ang Babaeng Humayo; Philippines) by Lav Diaz
Silver Lion – grand jury prize
Nocturnal Animals (USA) by Tom Ford
Silver Lion award for best director (tie)
Andrei Konchalovsky, Paradise (Cis)
Amat Escalante, The Untamed (La Región Salvaje, Mexico-Denmark-France-Germany- Norway-Switzerland...
- 9/10/2016
- ScreenDaily
The 73rd Venice International Film Festival comes to a close this evening with their annual awards ceremony. The festival ran from August 31st through September 10th, with Sam Mendes as the President of the Jury for the main competition. You can watch the winners accept their awards live with the Venice Film Festival live stream. Follow the link to watch the ceremony and check in on the winners list below.
Read More: Venice Film Festival Reveals First Slate of 2016 Titles, Including ‘Voyage of Time,’ ‘The Bad Batch,’ ‘Jackie’ and ‘Nocturnal Animals’
This year, Viff screened many high-profile films, including such anticipated fall features like Damien Chazelle’s musical “La La Land,” Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi film “Arrival,” and Terrence Malick’s “Voyage of Time.” They also premiered more more mainstream fare outside of competition, like Mel Gibson’s latest “Hacksaw Ridge” and Antoine Fuqua’s “The Magnificent Seven.”
Read More:...
Read More: Venice Film Festival Reveals First Slate of 2016 Titles, Including ‘Voyage of Time,’ ‘The Bad Batch,’ ‘Jackie’ and ‘Nocturnal Animals’
This year, Viff screened many high-profile films, including such anticipated fall features like Damien Chazelle’s musical “La La Land,” Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi film “Arrival,” and Terrence Malick’s “Voyage of Time.” They also premiered more more mainstream fare outside of competition, like Mel Gibson’s latest “Hacksaw Ridge” and Antoine Fuqua’s “The Magnificent Seven.”
Read More:...
- 9/10/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
French sales company Still Moving has acquired world rights to Tunisian filmmaker Ala Eddine Slim’s feature film debut, “The Last of Us,” which follows a Sub-Saharan (a country name isn’t given) African man’s treacherous journey to reach Europe – one that… Continue Reading →...
- 8/30/2016
- by shadowandact
- ShadowAndAct
The strand will be bookended by Alice Lowe’s Prevenge and Xander Robin’s Are We Not Cats [pictured].Scroll down for line-up
The Venice International Film Festival’s (Aug 31 - Sept 10) 2016 Critics’ Week line-up has been revealed.
The independent section of the festival – dedicated to features from debut directors – includes seven titles from five continents.
Opening the strand with be UK director Alice Lowe’s Prevenge (out of competition), which stars Lowe as a pregnant woman on a killing spree and will have its world premiere at the festival.
Lowe was co-writer and co-star of Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers. The film is a Western Edge Pictures/Gennaker production and was shot in Wales last year.
Closing will be Xander Robin’s Are We Not Cats, which was one of three genre titles to screen as a work-in-progress at the Cannes Marche this year as part of an inaugural partnership between genre market Frontières and the Cannes Film Festival...
The Venice International Film Festival’s (Aug 31 - Sept 10) 2016 Critics’ Week line-up has been revealed.
The independent section of the festival – dedicated to features from debut directors – includes seven titles from five continents.
Opening the strand with be UK director Alice Lowe’s Prevenge (out of competition), which stars Lowe as a pregnant woman on a killing spree and will have its world premiere at the festival.
Lowe was co-writer and co-star of Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers. The film is a Western Edge Pictures/Gennaker production and was shot in Wales last year.
Closing will be Xander Robin’s Are We Not Cats, which was one of three genre titles to screen as a work-in-progress at the Cannes Marche this year as part of an inaugural partnership between genre market Frontières and the Cannes Film Festival...
- 7/25/2016
- ScreenDaily
The Doha Film Institute has announced the recipients of the Fall 2015 session of its grants program following the Dubai International Film Festival, where 15 of the Institute’s previous grantees, 4 of which are world premieres, were showcased. Thirty projects from 19 countries – comprising 16 feature-length narrative films, 10 feature documentaries and 4 short films – will receive funding for development, production or post-production.
The Fall session marks the 11th session of the grants program, which is dedicated to supporting new cinematic talent, with a focus on first- and second-time filmmakers.
Twenty-four of the projects are from the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, while 6 are from the rest of the world. For the first time, filmmakers from Chile, Peru and Spain will receive funding from the program.
Stories of displacement, physical or spiritual journeys, tales of family life, the power of nature and the importance of protecting the environment are highlighted in the selections this Fall.
Four projects from Qatar-based filmmakers were awarded grants – Hafiz Ali Abdullah’s "The Search for the Star Pearl," about a young pearl diver from Doha who discovers a map to the most valuable gem on Earth, and sets sail with three teenage friends in search of it; Hamida Al Kawari’s "To the Ends of the Earth" – the first Qatari feature documentary to receive a grant from the Institute – which follows a Qatari woman on an environmental expedition to Antarctica in search of hope; A.J. Al Thani’s "Kashta," a family drama about a father who takes his sons out into the desert to teach them about hunting and survival; and Hend Fakhroo’s "The Waiting Room," about an Arab and a Western family who find themselves sharing a hospital room.
Among the 30 projects selected for funding, 5 are from Morocco – Fyzal Boulifa’s "Pagan Magic," the story of a poor youngster working as a maid for a middle-class family; second-time grantee Uda Benyamina’s "Bastard," about a 15-year-old girl who lives with her mother in a rough Parisian suburb; Yakout Elhababi’s "Behind the Doors," which looks at family life and childhood set high in the Rif mountains of Morocco; Hind Bensari’s "Weight Throwers," a documentary look at the struggles of two young athletes as they train for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro; and "Behind The Wall," by Karima Zoubir, a short film set in a Casablanca slum.
Also featuring strongly are three animation projects – established filmmaker Haifaa Al Mansour’s "Miss Camel," the story of a teenage Saudi camel who challenges the deep-rooted restrictions of her culture by travelling across the kingdom to compete in the Miss Camel beauty pageant in Doha; Mortada Gzar’s "Language," about a blind man on the streets of Baghdad who wakes up as a giant and reads the devastation of the city by touch; and Hafiz Ali Abdullah’s "The Search for the Star Pearl."
As in several previous sessions of the grants program, powerful projects from Argentina have also secured funding. Milagros Mumenthaler’s Swiss/Argentinian film "The Idea of a Lake" is about a photographer who undergoes a personal exploration of her past and the absence of her father while creating a book of her work, while Maximiliano Schonfeld’s "The Black Frost" is a drama set on a plantation where a pernicious black frost threatens to devastate the countryside until a mysterious woman arrives.
Continuing the environmental theme, Heidi Brandenburg and Mathew Orzel’s "When Two Worlds Collide" is the story of an indigenous Peruvian man and his people, and of the fate of one of our planet’s most valuable natural resources – the Amazon rainforest. The film, which has its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January, is the first-ever Peruvian recipient of a grant from the Institute.
Fatma Al Remaihi, CEO of the Doha Film Institute, said: “Our Fall grantees cover a broad range of subjects and represent some powerful new voices in cinema, especially from Qatar and North Africa with several projects supported from Morocco and Algeria.”
“Animated films are very popular in our region so it is very encouraging to see an acclaimed filmmaker like Haifaa Al Mansour turn her skills to this important genre; we support two other animated projects in this grants cycle as well.”
“Our grantees represent the core of the Doha Film Institute’s mandate to support emerging filmmakers and contribute to the development of the regional film industry. We have supported more than 255 films since the inception of the grants program and we continue to seek out projects with a strong directorial vision that are challenging, creative and thought-provoking. Our new round of grantees is no exception and I am delighted to welcome this outstanding crop of projects to our growing community of grantee alumni.”
Submissions for the next funding round open January 6 and close January 19, 2016. Funding is available to projects by filmmakers from around the world, with an emphasis on support for filmmakers from the Mena region. Certain categories of funding reserved for Mena and Qatari filmmakers.
The fund is primarily for first and second-time filmmakers. Post-production funding is available to established filmmakers from the Mena region.
For more information about eligibility and submissions, please visit
http://www.dohafilminstitute.com/financing/grants/guidelines
A full directory of past grant recipients is available to view at
http://www.dohafilminstitute.com/financing/projects/grants
The Doha Film Institute Grants Program funding recipients for the Fall 2015 session are:
Feature Narrative / Development
"Death Street" by Mohanad Hayal (Iraq)
Tariq, the sniper of Haifa Street in Baghdad, kills Ahmed on his wedding day. While Tariq prevents anyone from approaching the corpse in the street, an intimate and telling drama unfolds.
"Miss Camel" by Haifaa Al Mansour (Saudia Arabia)
A teenage Saudi camel challenges the deep-rooted restrictions of her culture by traveling across the kingdom to compete in the Miss Camel beauty pageant in Doha.
"Pagan Magic" by Fyzal Boulifa (Morocco, France)
A young, poor and uneducated girl works as a maid for a middle-class family in contemporary Morocco. Her use of pagan rites to confront her entrapment and make sense of her world ultimately corrupt her.
"The Search for the Star Pearl" by Hafiz Ali Abdullah (Qatar)
Ali, a 17-year-old pearl diver from Doha, discovers a map to the Star Pearl of Abu Derya, the most valuable gem on Earth, and sets sail with three teenaged friends in search of the pearl. Along the way, they face mythological beasts that challenge their skills and friendship.
Feature Narrative / Production
"Cactus Flower" by Hala Elkoussy (Egypt)
A flood leaves three Cairenes homeless. As they journey across the city in search of shelter, they depend upon one another to survive and keep their dreams alive.
"Poisonous Roses" by Fawzi Saleh (Egypt)
The world has left nothing to Taheya apart from her brother Saqr. When he disappears, Taheya pursues him in desperation.
"The Return" by Meyar Al-Roumi (Syria, France)
A love story blossoms between Taysir and Lina, exiles from Syria, while they drive across their homeland to bury Taysir’s brother, a victim of the armed conflict.
"Till the Swallows Return" by Karim Moussaoui (Algeria, France)
This is the story of three characters who are a product of the conflicted Algeria of the 2000s. Their ideals shattered and their moral strength drained, each now faces a difficult life choice.
Feature Narrative / Post-production
"Bastard" by Uda Benyamina (Morocco, France)
Fifteen-year-old Dounia lives with her mother in a rough Parisian suburb, where she has been saddled with the nickname “bastard”.
"The Black Frost" by Maximiliano Schonfeld (Argentina)
Soon after a mysterious woman arrives on a plantation, a pernicious black frost ceases to devastate the countryside. Hope emerges. Might she might be a saviour?
"Blue Bicycle" by Ümit Köreken (Turkey)
Young Ali saves up all the money he can working at a tyre repair shop to buy a coveted blue bicycle. Meanwhile, at school, his love for his schoolmate Elif leads him to defend her dismissal as school president. A story of childish love, dreams and resistance.
"The Dark Wind" by Hussein Hassan (Iraq)
Radical Islamists attack a village in Iraq where two young Yazidis are preparing for their marriage. At that moment, their lives become a nightmare.
"The Idea of a Lake" (note: previously titled Air Pocket) by Milagros Mumenthaler (Switzerland, Argentina)
Inés, a photographer, is creating a book of her work. Gradually, the process becomes a personal exploration of her past and the absence of her father, who was disappeared during the military dictatorship in Argentina.
"The Mimosas" by Oliver Laxe (Spain, Morocco, France)
In the Atlas Mountains in the past, a caravan searches for the path to take a Sufi master home to die. Among the party is Ahmed, a rascal who eventually becomes inspired to lead the caravan to its destination. Along the way, he is assisted by Shakib, a man sent from contemporary Morocco to guide Ahmed on his journey.
"Rey" (King) by Niles Atallah (Chile)
In 1860, a French lawyer dreamed of becoming the King of Patagonia – and he did just that. Or so it seemed.
"Suspension" by Ala Eddine Slim (Tunisia)
N is a candidate for an illegal crossing of the Mediterranean from Tunisia. A supernatural voyage, during which N will confront Nature and himself, begins.
Feature Documentary / Development
"Agnus Dei" by Karim Sayad (Algeria, Switzerland)
In Algeria, Ali and his sheep, bought for slaughter on Eid Al-Adha, are getting ready for the fight. Once the bets are in, the referee invites the owners into the ring…
"Behind the Doors" by Yakout Elhababi (Morocco)
High in the Rif mountains of Morocco, the people survive by growing kif. Beneath the shadow of the ambiguous legality of the crop, ‘Behind the Doors’ tells the story of a family through its children and their mirroring games.
"The Great Family" by Eliane Raheb (Lebanon)
In 1976, at the age of four, Marlene was put up for adoption in Lebanon and raised in France. In delving into her past, she discovers she is a survivor of the massacre at the Tal Al-Zaatar Palestinian refugee camp, and a family of survivors grows around her.
Feature Documentary / Production
"The Colonel’s Stray Dogs" by Khalid Shamis (Libya, South Africa)
While director Khalid Shamis watched television in his suburban London home, his father was plotting the overthrow of Muammar Gadaffi in his study. When the regime fell, Shamis sought answers about Libya under Gadaffi and his father’s role in its failed liberation.
"Ibrahim" by Lina Alabed (Jordan)
‘Ibrahim’ uncovers the long journey of the director’s father as a young man, when he was a secret member of Abu Nidal, a militant Palestinian revolutionary organisation.
"Searching for Janitou" by Mohamed El Amine hattou (Algeria)
A journey to unravel love in past and contemporary Algeria by exploring the unique phenomenon of a Bollywood film that swept the country in the 1980s.
"To the Ends of the Earth" by Hamida Al Kawari ( Qatar)
A Qatari woman travels on an environmental expedition to Antarctica in search of hope, before returning to the Gulf and finding unity and inspiration for positive change.
"Weight Throwers" by Hind Bensari (Morocco)
‘Weight Thowers’ follows the struggles of Azzedine and Youssef, disabled members of Morocco’s unemployed and disillusioned young generation, as they struggle to train for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Feature Documentary / Post-production
"Tadmor" by Lokman Slim, Monika Borgmann (Lebanon)
A group of Lebanese men re-enact the ordeals they experienced as detainees in Syria’s notorious Tadmor prison. An ode to the human will to survive.
"When Two Worlds Collide" by Heidi Brandenburg, Mathew Orzel (Peru)
A story of a man and a people, and of the fate of one of our planet’s most valuable natural resources – the Amazon rainforest.
Short Narrative / Production
"Behind the Wall" by Karima Zoubir (Morocco)
Nadia, a little girl, lives in a Casablanca slum that is surrounded by a wall. One day, the municipality begins to paint the wall – but why this sudden interest?
"Kashta" by A.J. Al Thani (Qatar)
A father takes his two sons out to the desert to learn about hunting and survival, but the results are not quite what he was expecting.
"Language" by Mortada Gzar (Iraq)
An old blind man walks throught the streets of Baghdad, then falls asleep while reading a book in Braille. When he wakes up, he finds he has become a giant and reads the devastation of the city by touch.
"The Waiting Room" by Hind Fakhroo (Qatar)
An Arab family and a Western family find themselves sharing a hospital room; the only thing that separates them is a curtain.
The Fall session marks the 11th session of the grants program, which is dedicated to supporting new cinematic talent, with a focus on first- and second-time filmmakers.
Twenty-four of the projects are from the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, while 6 are from the rest of the world. For the first time, filmmakers from Chile, Peru and Spain will receive funding from the program.
Stories of displacement, physical or spiritual journeys, tales of family life, the power of nature and the importance of protecting the environment are highlighted in the selections this Fall.
Four projects from Qatar-based filmmakers were awarded grants – Hafiz Ali Abdullah’s "The Search for the Star Pearl," about a young pearl diver from Doha who discovers a map to the most valuable gem on Earth, and sets sail with three teenage friends in search of it; Hamida Al Kawari’s "To the Ends of the Earth" – the first Qatari feature documentary to receive a grant from the Institute – which follows a Qatari woman on an environmental expedition to Antarctica in search of hope; A.J. Al Thani’s "Kashta," a family drama about a father who takes his sons out into the desert to teach them about hunting and survival; and Hend Fakhroo’s "The Waiting Room," about an Arab and a Western family who find themselves sharing a hospital room.
Among the 30 projects selected for funding, 5 are from Morocco – Fyzal Boulifa’s "Pagan Magic," the story of a poor youngster working as a maid for a middle-class family; second-time grantee Uda Benyamina’s "Bastard," about a 15-year-old girl who lives with her mother in a rough Parisian suburb; Yakout Elhababi’s "Behind the Doors," which looks at family life and childhood set high in the Rif mountains of Morocco; Hind Bensari’s "Weight Throwers," a documentary look at the struggles of two young athletes as they train for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro; and "Behind The Wall," by Karima Zoubir, a short film set in a Casablanca slum.
Also featuring strongly are three animation projects – established filmmaker Haifaa Al Mansour’s "Miss Camel," the story of a teenage Saudi camel who challenges the deep-rooted restrictions of her culture by travelling across the kingdom to compete in the Miss Camel beauty pageant in Doha; Mortada Gzar’s "Language," about a blind man on the streets of Baghdad who wakes up as a giant and reads the devastation of the city by touch; and Hafiz Ali Abdullah’s "The Search for the Star Pearl."
As in several previous sessions of the grants program, powerful projects from Argentina have also secured funding. Milagros Mumenthaler’s Swiss/Argentinian film "The Idea of a Lake" is about a photographer who undergoes a personal exploration of her past and the absence of her father while creating a book of her work, while Maximiliano Schonfeld’s "The Black Frost" is a drama set on a plantation where a pernicious black frost threatens to devastate the countryside until a mysterious woman arrives.
Continuing the environmental theme, Heidi Brandenburg and Mathew Orzel’s "When Two Worlds Collide" is the story of an indigenous Peruvian man and his people, and of the fate of one of our planet’s most valuable natural resources – the Amazon rainforest. The film, which has its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January, is the first-ever Peruvian recipient of a grant from the Institute.
Fatma Al Remaihi, CEO of the Doha Film Institute, said: “Our Fall grantees cover a broad range of subjects and represent some powerful new voices in cinema, especially from Qatar and North Africa with several projects supported from Morocco and Algeria.”
“Animated films are very popular in our region so it is very encouraging to see an acclaimed filmmaker like Haifaa Al Mansour turn her skills to this important genre; we support two other animated projects in this grants cycle as well.”
“Our grantees represent the core of the Doha Film Institute’s mandate to support emerging filmmakers and contribute to the development of the regional film industry. We have supported more than 255 films since the inception of the grants program and we continue to seek out projects with a strong directorial vision that are challenging, creative and thought-provoking. Our new round of grantees is no exception and I am delighted to welcome this outstanding crop of projects to our growing community of grantee alumni.”
Submissions for the next funding round open January 6 and close January 19, 2016. Funding is available to projects by filmmakers from around the world, with an emphasis on support for filmmakers from the Mena region. Certain categories of funding reserved for Mena and Qatari filmmakers.
The fund is primarily for first and second-time filmmakers. Post-production funding is available to established filmmakers from the Mena region.
For more information about eligibility and submissions, please visit
http://www.dohafilminstitute.com/financing/grants/guidelines
A full directory of past grant recipients is available to view at
http://www.dohafilminstitute.com/financing/projects/grants
The Doha Film Institute Grants Program funding recipients for the Fall 2015 session are:
Feature Narrative / Development
"Death Street" by Mohanad Hayal (Iraq)
Tariq, the sniper of Haifa Street in Baghdad, kills Ahmed on his wedding day. While Tariq prevents anyone from approaching the corpse in the street, an intimate and telling drama unfolds.
"Miss Camel" by Haifaa Al Mansour (Saudia Arabia)
A teenage Saudi camel challenges the deep-rooted restrictions of her culture by traveling across the kingdom to compete in the Miss Camel beauty pageant in Doha.
"Pagan Magic" by Fyzal Boulifa (Morocco, France)
A young, poor and uneducated girl works as a maid for a middle-class family in contemporary Morocco. Her use of pagan rites to confront her entrapment and make sense of her world ultimately corrupt her.
"The Search for the Star Pearl" by Hafiz Ali Abdullah (Qatar)
Ali, a 17-year-old pearl diver from Doha, discovers a map to the Star Pearl of Abu Derya, the most valuable gem on Earth, and sets sail with three teenaged friends in search of the pearl. Along the way, they face mythological beasts that challenge their skills and friendship.
Feature Narrative / Production
"Cactus Flower" by Hala Elkoussy (Egypt)
A flood leaves three Cairenes homeless. As they journey across the city in search of shelter, they depend upon one another to survive and keep their dreams alive.
"Poisonous Roses" by Fawzi Saleh (Egypt)
The world has left nothing to Taheya apart from her brother Saqr. When he disappears, Taheya pursues him in desperation.
"The Return" by Meyar Al-Roumi (Syria, France)
A love story blossoms between Taysir and Lina, exiles from Syria, while they drive across their homeland to bury Taysir’s brother, a victim of the armed conflict.
"Till the Swallows Return" by Karim Moussaoui (Algeria, France)
This is the story of three characters who are a product of the conflicted Algeria of the 2000s. Their ideals shattered and their moral strength drained, each now faces a difficult life choice.
Feature Narrative / Post-production
"Bastard" by Uda Benyamina (Morocco, France)
Fifteen-year-old Dounia lives with her mother in a rough Parisian suburb, where she has been saddled with the nickname “bastard”.
"The Black Frost" by Maximiliano Schonfeld (Argentina)
Soon after a mysterious woman arrives on a plantation, a pernicious black frost ceases to devastate the countryside. Hope emerges. Might she might be a saviour?
"Blue Bicycle" by Ümit Köreken (Turkey)
Young Ali saves up all the money he can working at a tyre repair shop to buy a coveted blue bicycle. Meanwhile, at school, his love for his schoolmate Elif leads him to defend her dismissal as school president. A story of childish love, dreams and resistance.
"The Dark Wind" by Hussein Hassan (Iraq)
Radical Islamists attack a village in Iraq where two young Yazidis are preparing for their marriage. At that moment, their lives become a nightmare.
"The Idea of a Lake" (note: previously titled Air Pocket) by Milagros Mumenthaler (Switzerland, Argentina)
Inés, a photographer, is creating a book of her work. Gradually, the process becomes a personal exploration of her past and the absence of her father, who was disappeared during the military dictatorship in Argentina.
"The Mimosas" by Oliver Laxe (Spain, Morocco, France)
In the Atlas Mountains in the past, a caravan searches for the path to take a Sufi master home to die. Among the party is Ahmed, a rascal who eventually becomes inspired to lead the caravan to its destination. Along the way, he is assisted by Shakib, a man sent from contemporary Morocco to guide Ahmed on his journey.
"Rey" (King) by Niles Atallah (Chile)
In 1860, a French lawyer dreamed of becoming the King of Patagonia – and he did just that. Or so it seemed.
"Suspension" by Ala Eddine Slim (Tunisia)
N is a candidate for an illegal crossing of the Mediterranean from Tunisia. A supernatural voyage, during which N will confront Nature and himself, begins.
Feature Documentary / Development
"Agnus Dei" by Karim Sayad (Algeria, Switzerland)
In Algeria, Ali and his sheep, bought for slaughter on Eid Al-Adha, are getting ready for the fight. Once the bets are in, the referee invites the owners into the ring…
"Behind the Doors" by Yakout Elhababi (Morocco)
High in the Rif mountains of Morocco, the people survive by growing kif. Beneath the shadow of the ambiguous legality of the crop, ‘Behind the Doors’ tells the story of a family through its children and their mirroring games.
"The Great Family" by Eliane Raheb (Lebanon)
In 1976, at the age of four, Marlene was put up for adoption in Lebanon and raised in France. In delving into her past, she discovers she is a survivor of the massacre at the Tal Al-Zaatar Palestinian refugee camp, and a family of survivors grows around her.
Feature Documentary / Production
"The Colonel’s Stray Dogs" by Khalid Shamis (Libya, South Africa)
While director Khalid Shamis watched television in his suburban London home, his father was plotting the overthrow of Muammar Gadaffi in his study. When the regime fell, Shamis sought answers about Libya under Gadaffi and his father’s role in its failed liberation.
"Ibrahim" by Lina Alabed (Jordan)
‘Ibrahim’ uncovers the long journey of the director’s father as a young man, when he was a secret member of Abu Nidal, a militant Palestinian revolutionary organisation.
"Searching for Janitou" by Mohamed El Amine hattou (Algeria)
A journey to unravel love in past and contemporary Algeria by exploring the unique phenomenon of a Bollywood film that swept the country in the 1980s.
"To the Ends of the Earth" by Hamida Al Kawari ( Qatar)
A Qatari woman travels on an environmental expedition to Antarctica in search of hope, before returning to the Gulf and finding unity and inspiration for positive change.
"Weight Throwers" by Hind Bensari (Morocco)
‘Weight Thowers’ follows the struggles of Azzedine and Youssef, disabled members of Morocco’s unemployed and disillusioned young generation, as they struggle to train for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Feature Documentary / Post-production
"Tadmor" by Lokman Slim, Monika Borgmann (Lebanon)
A group of Lebanese men re-enact the ordeals they experienced as detainees in Syria’s notorious Tadmor prison. An ode to the human will to survive.
"When Two Worlds Collide" by Heidi Brandenburg, Mathew Orzel (Peru)
A story of a man and a people, and of the fate of one of our planet’s most valuable natural resources – the Amazon rainforest.
Short Narrative / Production
"Behind the Wall" by Karima Zoubir (Morocco)
Nadia, a little girl, lives in a Casablanca slum that is surrounded by a wall. One day, the municipality begins to paint the wall – but why this sudden interest?
"Kashta" by A.J. Al Thani (Qatar)
A father takes his two sons out to the desert to learn about hunting and survival, but the results are not quite what he was expecting.
"Language" by Mortada Gzar (Iraq)
An old blind man walks throught the streets of Baghdad, then falls asleep while reading a book in Braille. When he wakes up, he finds he has become a giant and reads the devastation of the city by touch.
"The Waiting Room" by Hind Fakhroo (Qatar)
An Arab family and a Western family find themselves sharing a hospital room; the only thing that separates them is a curtain.
- 1/5/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Wadjda director among 30 awarded grants in the Doha Film Institute’s latest round of funding.Scroll down for the full list of projects
Haifaa Al Mansour, the director of 2012 Bafta-nominated Wadjda, has received a grant for her first animated feature project Miss Camel (in development) as part of the Doha Film Institute’s Fall 2015 round of funding.
The film will follow a teenage camel in Saudi Arabia which travels across the country to compete in a beauty pageant.
In total, 30 projects have received grants, including 16 feature films, three of which are animations, and 10 documentaries.
Of the projects selected, 24 are from the Mena region, while for the first time filmmakers from Chile, Peru and Spain will all receive funding.
Fatma Al Remaihi, CEO of the Doha Film Institute, said: “Animated films are very popular in our region so it is very encouraging to see an acclaimed filmmaker like Haifaa Al Mansour turn her skills to this important genre; we...
Haifaa Al Mansour, the director of 2012 Bafta-nominated Wadjda, has received a grant for her first animated feature project Miss Camel (in development) as part of the Doha Film Institute’s Fall 2015 round of funding.
The film will follow a teenage camel in Saudi Arabia which travels across the country to compete in a beauty pageant.
In total, 30 projects have received grants, including 16 feature films, three of which are animations, and 10 documentaries.
Of the projects selected, 24 are from the Mena region, while for the first time filmmakers from Chile, Peru and Spain will all receive funding.
Fatma Al Remaihi, CEO of the Doha Film Institute, said: “Animated films are very popular in our region so it is very encouraging to see an acclaimed filmmaker like Haifaa Al Mansour turn her skills to this important genre; we...
- 12/21/2015
- ScreenDaily
The Hubert Bals Fund of the International Film Festival Rotterdam has selected fourteen film projects from countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East to receive grants in the categories Hbf Script & Project Development and Hbf Postproduction, totalling € 175,000. The selected films include the latest project by acclaimed Iranian auteur Mohammad Rasoulof
Two film projects from Argentina, produced by Viking Film and Topkapi Films, have been selected for the second round of the Netherlands Film Fund + Hubert Bals Fund (Nff+Hbf) Coproduction Scheme 2015.
Hbf Script & Project Development selection
In its Fall 2015 selection round, the Hbf supported eight projects with a Script and Project Development grant, selected from 259 applications. The selection includes four first or second projects by filmmakers Sorayos Prapapan, Gym Lumbera, Shahram Mokri and Liu Shu, and new projects by four award-winning filmmakers.
"Arnold Is a Model Student," Sorayos Prapapan, Thailand
"Kékszakállú," Gastón Solnicki, Argentina
"Lotus Position," Liu Shu, China
"The Mysteries of Taal: A Philippine Volcano and Lake, Her Sea Life and Lost Towns," Gym Lumbera, Philippines
"Over the City," Emir Baigazin, Kazakhstan
"Wine Sediment," Mohammad Rasoulof, Iran
"Yellow Apples," Shahram Mokri, Iran
"Antigone," Pedro González-Rubio, Mexico
Hbf Postproduction selection
The Hubert Bals Fund supported six films with a Postproduction grant, selected from 65 applications. Three filmmakers’ first fiction feature films were selected: "Hedi" by Mohamed Ben Attia, "Suspension" by Ala Eddine Slim and Alba by Ana Cristina Barragan. Also awarded with a Hbf Postproduction grant are: "La flor" by Mariano Llinás, "Era o Hotel Cambridge" by Eliane Caffé and "Burning Birds" by former Iffr Tiger Awards nominee Sanjeewa Pushkumara.
"Alba," Ana Cristina Barragan, Ecuador
"Burning Birds," Sanjeewa Pushpakumara, Sri Lanka
"Era o Hotel Cambridge," Eliane Caffé, Brazil
"Hedi," Mohamed Ben Attia, Tunisia
"La flor," Mariano Llinás, Argentina
"Suspension," Ala Eddine Slim, Tunisia
Nff+Hbf Coproduction Scheme 2015 selection
The Netherlands Film Fund and the Hubert Bals Fund have selected two Argentinian film projects in the Fall 2015 round of its joint Nff+Hbf Coproduction Scheme: "Rojo" by Benjamin Naishtat, coproduced by Dutch producer Viking Film and "La cama" by Mónica Lairana, coproduced by Dutch producer Topkapi Films. These two projects will receive a production contribution of €50,000 from the Netherlands Film Fund.
Viking Film will coproduce "Rojo," Benjamin Naishtat’s third feature film. Earlier films of this filmmaker include " Historia del miedo" (Competition Berlinale, 2014) and "El movimiento" (Competition Locarno, Filmmakers of the Present, 2015). "Rojo" is set in Argentina in the 1970s, a country suffering from an unprecedented wave of political violence. In these dark times, an ordinary man sees his chances to hide a very bad deed. The film will be produced by Pucará Cine (Argentina) and coproduced by Ecce Films (France), Sutor Kolonko Filmproduktion (Germany) , Desvia (Brazil) and Viking Film (The Netherlands).
Topkapi Films will coproduce Mónica Lairana’s first feature film "La cama." Laraina’s previous short films include "María" (2012), "Rosa" (2010), which both screened at Iffr. La cama tells the story of Jorge (58) and Mabel (56) in the final day of their relationship. We see them eat, make love, cry and laugh, while deconstructing their family home after 30 years of marriage. The film will be produced by Rio Abajo Producciones (Argentina) and coproduced by Gema Films (Argentina), Adriana Yurkovich (Argentina) , Mónica Lairana (Argentina) and Topkapi Films (The Netherlands).
Two film projects from Argentina, produced by Viking Film and Topkapi Films, have been selected for the second round of the Netherlands Film Fund + Hubert Bals Fund (Nff+Hbf) Coproduction Scheme 2015.
Hbf Script & Project Development selection
In its Fall 2015 selection round, the Hbf supported eight projects with a Script and Project Development grant, selected from 259 applications. The selection includes four first or second projects by filmmakers Sorayos Prapapan, Gym Lumbera, Shahram Mokri and Liu Shu, and new projects by four award-winning filmmakers.
"Arnold Is a Model Student," Sorayos Prapapan, Thailand
"Kékszakállú," Gastón Solnicki, Argentina
"Lotus Position," Liu Shu, China
"The Mysteries of Taal: A Philippine Volcano and Lake, Her Sea Life and Lost Towns," Gym Lumbera, Philippines
"Over the City," Emir Baigazin, Kazakhstan
"Wine Sediment," Mohammad Rasoulof, Iran
"Yellow Apples," Shahram Mokri, Iran
"Antigone," Pedro González-Rubio, Mexico
Hbf Postproduction selection
The Hubert Bals Fund supported six films with a Postproduction grant, selected from 65 applications. Three filmmakers’ first fiction feature films were selected: "Hedi" by Mohamed Ben Attia, "Suspension" by Ala Eddine Slim and Alba by Ana Cristina Barragan. Also awarded with a Hbf Postproduction grant are: "La flor" by Mariano Llinás, "Era o Hotel Cambridge" by Eliane Caffé and "Burning Birds" by former Iffr Tiger Awards nominee Sanjeewa Pushkumara.
"Alba," Ana Cristina Barragan, Ecuador
"Burning Birds," Sanjeewa Pushpakumara, Sri Lanka
"Era o Hotel Cambridge," Eliane Caffé, Brazil
"Hedi," Mohamed Ben Attia, Tunisia
"La flor," Mariano Llinás, Argentina
"Suspension," Ala Eddine Slim, Tunisia
Nff+Hbf Coproduction Scheme 2015 selection
The Netherlands Film Fund and the Hubert Bals Fund have selected two Argentinian film projects in the Fall 2015 round of its joint Nff+Hbf Coproduction Scheme: "Rojo" by Benjamin Naishtat, coproduced by Dutch producer Viking Film and "La cama" by Mónica Lairana, coproduced by Dutch producer Topkapi Films. These two projects will receive a production contribution of €50,000 from the Netherlands Film Fund.
Viking Film will coproduce "Rojo," Benjamin Naishtat’s third feature film. Earlier films of this filmmaker include " Historia del miedo" (Competition Berlinale, 2014) and "El movimiento" (Competition Locarno, Filmmakers of the Present, 2015). "Rojo" is set in Argentina in the 1970s, a country suffering from an unprecedented wave of political violence. In these dark times, an ordinary man sees his chances to hide a very bad deed. The film will be produced by Pucará Cine (Argentina) and coproduced by Ecce Films (France), Sutor Kolonko Filmproduktion (Germany) , Desvia (Brazil) and Viking Film (The Netherlands).
Topkapi Films will coproduce Mónica Lairana’s first feature film "La cama." Laraina’s previous short films include "María" (2012), "Rosa" (2010), which both screened at Iffr. La cama tells the story of Jorge (58) and Mabel (56) in the final day of their relationship. We see them eat, make love, cry and laugh, while deconstructing their family home after 30 years of marriage. The film will be produced by Rio Abajo Producciones (Argentina) and coproduced by Gema Films (Argentina), Adriana Yurkovich (Argentina) , Mónica Lairana (Argentina) and Topkapi Films (The Netherlands).
- 12/1/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
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