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- In January 2009, while Israel is bombarding Gaza, Rashid Masharawi is in Baghdad making a film on young children forced to work in post-war Iraq. Contrasting their lives with those of similarly burdened Gazan children, the film presents a world in which everyone, no matter how young, has to struggle to survive. As a Palestinian and Gazan, with extensive personal experience of life in refugee camps, Masharawi's deep sense of identification with the children's traumas makes for a deeply affecting and authoritative document of local situation.
- As era of Saddam ends in Iraq, far away in Germany, Azad, a Kurdish exile is glued to TV screen.
- Keltoum and her husband, Omar, live in a village in the heart of the Moroccan mountains. They are both actors, but do not have much work and have been dreaming of staging a play for years. Keltoum is sick and Omar takes her regularly to Tangiers to be treated. While there, he searches for a theatre for their play and also visits his daughter. Starting at dawn, 'At Dawn' portrays one of these trips, in which we meet the characters in the morning and meet up with them again in the afternoon on their way back home.
- One minute in the life of a man can change the way his life shapes up. In one minute, one can take a decision, which can alter his or her life forever. This film is about a decision taken by the hero in the spur of the moment, the consequences on his life and the life of his dependents and how he goes about resurrecting the life, which he has lost due to that split-second decision.
- A tribute to Indonesian legend Haji Misbach Yusa Biran, BEHIND THE FLICKERING LIGHT (THE ARCHIVE) traces the personal life of the famous archivist, who founded Southeast Asia's first film archive - Sinematik Indonesia. The film looks at how the former film director dedicated most of his life to preserving crucial aspects of Indonesian cinema.
- In the Bhojpuri language, 'bidesia' is the one who leaves home. One in four migrants in Mumbai is Bhojpuri, and they call India's financial capital, 'Bambai'. BIDESIA IN BAMBAI attempts to make the migrants visible in a city that renders them illegal, unwanted and invisible. Along with his meager belongings, the migrant also brings with him a vibrant musical culture and the film is a celebration of that culture.
- A glass van roams the streets of Beirut. The van houses a camera that explores the city from behind the glass. Through its journey, it becomes a mobile confessional, capturing moments from peoples' lives, all the while searching for something or someone. The confessions are candid, blunt and intimate.
- Three stories take place over the course of a single day in Cairo. Lila, a retired actress, is looking for Sameh, her last co-star. Salma, is dating Wael and is in Wael's friend's apartment, after their marriage breaks down. Hazem is a young drug dealer on the run from Alexandria to Cairo and picks up an old man with Alzheimer's disease. The six characters find themselves at decisive points of their lives, which although disparate, are brought together by destiny, and are brought out through pitch-perfect performances by Egyptian cinema's legends.
- Léo, an alcoholic French ex-boxer in Cartagena, Colombia, takes a job looking after a bedridden, pretty Frenchwoman - quadriplegic after an injury 3 years ago.
- Come on an incredible journey through Palestine, guided by some of its best-known, most inspiring musicians! From singers Habib Al Deek and Muthana Sha'baan, to rappers DAM and Safaa Arapiyat, celebrated Le Trio Joubran and soul singer Amal Murkus, the richness and diversity of the local music scene is explored in this joyous documentary. The journey starts with footage of Marcel Khalife reading at Mahmoud Darwish's funeral, and the spirit of the late, great poet pervades the film. The screening will be followed by a live jam, featuring director Fermin Muguruza alongside some of the key artistes from the film.
- On December 9, 1980, De Gaulle Eid's parents, youngest sister and eleven other members of his family were gunned down in Edbel, Northern Lebanon. After quitting Lebanon for France 18 years ago, Eid now lives with his own family in Corsica. Since leaving Lebanon, Eid has remained traumatized by the massacre. Finally, he travels back to his homeland, where a 1993 amnesty agreement means that perpetrators of civil war-era atrocities are immune from retribution. Discovering his former neighbors, who participated in his family's slaying are still living in the area, Eid is faced with a hideous reality.
- Dalila is a young woman from Algeria, who lives in the suburbs of Paris. She needs money to help her mother cover the expenses of repatriating the body of her dead father. The film explores her realisation that she is a powerless victim of a system that she cannot escape unless she places herself in danger.
- Amidst the plains of the Kazakhstan steppes lives a mother and Eldon, the youngest of her five grown-up children. Whilst his four siblings have all married and left home, he and his mother live a simple, traditional existence. However when Eldon announces he has met the love of his life, his mother embarks on a tour of her four other children's homes in search of money for the wedding. As we follow the lovable but demanding mum through the four very different lives, we get a heartwarming family comedy that brilliantly contrasts modern-day and traditional life in Kazakhstan with humor and insight.
- Inspired by his own psychological excavations, Andoni develops the concept to apply to modern-day Palestine, a project that inspires this witty, personal and compelling film. Featuring a colorful array of characters, including members of the director's own family, Andoni explores the individual memories of Palestinians, whose life experiences have been shaped by military occupation, oppression of the people and continuous erosion of citizens' rights. In a place so dominated by collective consciousness and identity, finding individuality becomes the focus of this fascinating - and moving - study.
- Slank is a legendary rock band on the Indonesian scene, known for their politicized lyrics and activism, and for its fanatical fan base - known as "Slankers" - who see the band as something to coalesce around to promote peace and unity in their country. 'The Blue Generation' uniquely combines dance sequences, footage of live performances, interviews, and animations about Indonesia's political history in a gloriously energetic and inspiring manner.
- Set in the northern Algerian port city of Mostaganem. The title refers to the hordes of refugees, the 'Harragas', who smuggle themselves out of the country via any means possible. Here we meet one such group, Rachid, Nasser and Imene who pay a smuggler, Hassan, to take them to Spain in his rickety boat. Along with a group of African and Arab migrants, they are risking all they have to cross the stormy Straits.
- When director Philippe Aractingi is forced to leave his motherland for the third time, the realisation dawns on him: his ancestors have been fleeing wars for five generations. Exploring his roots, Aractingi goes back to the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the creation of Israel and the Lebanese Civil War. Experimenting with a radical new film-making style, he interlaces directed scenes and archive images with video-filmed personal diaries, family photos and super 8 reels.
- In this intriguing and entertaining thriller, Khalid Youssef tells the story of a young, rich man (Hani Salama) who kills his wife and his brother when he finds them in bed together. After he evades prosecution we start to wonder whether the killings were really spontaneous or if perhaps he had plotted everything in advance to get rid of both of them. Told from shifting perspectives in the style of Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon, including those of the hero, his mistress and a police detective investigating the case, the film moves around the murders cleverly, in a manner as unconventional and exciting as the story itself. Very convincing characters are involved in a game that requires a hefty dose of imagination from the audience. The film contains violence.
- Adama Diop is a successful scientist, living in Paris. After 15 years away, he travels to his hometown in Senegal to visit his aged grandmother and his semi-deaf mute sister Aicha. Aicha is still traumatized about their mother's death, who died as she was giving birth to her. But the true extent of Aicha's mental state only becomes apparent when Adama discovers she is working as a prostitute, amidst a seedy underworld of gangsters, drugs and crime. Adama's discovery leads to a gripping thriller as he struggles to free Aicha from the sinister world into which she has descended.
- In Brussels, three friends lead a life of pleasant apathy. They spend their days loafing around in unhurried torpor, bantering between each other and adhering to the theory that the fewer steps one takes, the richer one's interior life.
- A moving documentary, chronicling the story of 28-year-old, Iraq-born Sinan, who was adopted at birth by his uncle Farouq and his German wife Brunhild. Following the couple's split a few years later, he was taken by his mother to Darmstadt, Germany, where he has lived ever since. In 'My Father, My Uncle', we watch as Sinan prepares to meet his original family, now exiled from Iraq and based in Sharjah, UAE. Knowing little about his Arabic origins or culture, Sinan views the impending meeting with trepidation. However, the reunion brings a complex tangle of emotions to the surface.
- Senegal's first female journalist, 82-year-old Annette Mbaye d'Erneville, has been an active pioneer and campaigner for gender equality since the earliest days of the Senegalese women's rights movement. Today, she's regarded as the figurehead of the movement and a modern-day icon and role model. In this entertaining and revealing overview of her long and extraordinary life, we encounter a vigorous lady of character and conviction, who sets a shining example for generations of Senegalese.
- Jobless, single and in her early thirties, Hee-soo is miserable. Desperate, she sets out to find her ex-boyfriend, Byoung-woon, who owes her $3,500. Rather inconveniently, it turns out that Byoung-woon is also penniless, but he cheerfully claims he can get the money from a series of girlfriends. Suspicious, Hee-soo decides to trail Byoung-woon as he makes the rounds of his varied lady chums, just in case he tries to deceive her. Thus the pair embark on a strange, nostalgic journey together.
- On July 23, three weeks after the 1952 revolution, workers in Kafr Al Dawar went on strike, demanding an increase in wages and more rights. The uprising was quashed and military courts convicted civilians for the first time in the history of Egypt. Mostafa Khamis and Hasan Albakary were among the workers who were executed. Sixty years later, MY NAME IS MOSTAFA KHAMIS explores the events of the 1952 uprisings, and how the Egyptian workers' movement was successfully quelled until February 1968, when their voices rose once again.
- A scientist looking for humans with extraordinary abilities, finds what he seeks in a motel with people of various characters each with their own story that relates to the out of the ordinary human he found.
- When she recognises the body of the woman who was her mother, a young woman is drawn violently back to her past. She lived in the 'Big House' with her mother, Zahia. It was a boarding house converted into a brothel, which Zahia ruled with an iron fist - just as she ruled the whole neighbourhood. The little girl was known locally as the daughter of Zahia the prostitute. She finally discovers who she really is - on the very day her mother chooses to tell her everything.
- It's January 6, 2009, the eleventh day of the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip and the district is barricaded, with no-one able to get in or out. 'Cast Lead is made up of footage shot by Italian film-maker Stefano Savona, who captured these poignant and tragic vignettes of daily life in Gaza, during the last tragic days of operation 'Cast Lead'. With raw honesty and brutal imagery, this is a harrowing document of citizens trying to live their lives under the most terrifying conditions.
- A man blackmails a female celebrity Actress to fulfill his greed and makes her fall into a trap .
- Najat Makki is a pioneering Emirati female artist, recognised not only for her talent but also for the role she plays in society. Makki has become a legacy and her life is a rich journey that is as colourful as her paintings. Yet, there are countless stories of hers that are just waiting to be told...
- SANDA chronicles the daily lives of a group of middle-aged workers in Korea Telecom, revealing that sometimes living can be reduced to scraping by - especially in the current economic climate. This timely documentary also serves as a window into the labour movement in contemporary Korea.
- During the Algerian war, the road to Beni Boussaid on the Morocco-Algeria border is obstructed by the Morice line, a 430-mile long belt that is electrified and heavily mined. Moussa, a Moroccan friend of the revolution, helps refugees across the mountains. However, he must go through Beni Boussaid when he finds out that the path he usually takes is no longer safe. Hans, a Communist militant of the GDR, loses a leg on the way, while trying to remove a mine from a passageway. Normally, the wounded and sick are put to rest, but Hans is not a Muslim and cannot be a martyr.
- A psychiatrist loses his wife and daughter in a tragic incident and plunges into depression. He then meets a patient, who claims to be a time traveller. The doctor is left with two options: believe in his patient's power and try and save his family or declare him insane and lock him up.
- Sepideh Farsi left Tehran in her teens, yet has always remained under the spell of Iran's lively capital. In 'Tehran Without Permission', Farsi creates a collage-style portrait of a city in flux. Via a mixture of characters and cityscapes, Farsi's covert filming reveals a city beset with social and political tensions, yet held aloft by the indomitable spirit and character of its population. Featuring a mixture of footage around the capital with more in-depth essays dealing with diverse aspects of life in contemporary Iran, this is a compelling account of a city in transition
- The life of a determined young girl is changed when she befriends her building's concierge, a solitary woman who is more than what she seems.
- An amazing story of love and family, celebrity and music. A portrait of Hedi Jouini, the godfather of Tunisian music.
- Ali, a taxi driver in Algeria, and his wife, Houria, are unable to have children. When he travels to another city to test his fertility, he is accused by Fatima, a pregnant woman, of being the father of her unborn child. When Houria leaves him, Ali can either reveal his infertility or live with his alleged infidelity.
- The Silver Fez is the much-revered prize for the Cape Malay choirs of Cape Town, South Africa. Each year, hundreds of choirs compete to be crowned the undisputed champions of Cape Malay music - a form of music that first arrived in the Cape on slave ships. In the film we see the wealthy, ultra-competitive Hadji Bucks face off against Kaatji Davids, a struggling house painter. The two choirmasters assemble their troops and prepare for a musical war in which treachery and pain are endured in the hope of glory.
- As a stranger in the small island village, it is just difficult to live through and mourn her own husband.
- UNIFIED HOME presents testimonials from residents, who express their love for the UAE. Under the righteous leadership of the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, people of diverse backgrounds were brought together to live in the modern, success story that the country has become.
- January 2011. Events in Tunisia triggered massive uprisings throughout the Arab world. It was a historical moment that could not be missed by the journalists on the ground. They were the soldiers in the shadows, constantly on a quest for information and the truth. They operated as our eyes and our ears, even in the midst of the most violent conflicts, sometimes at the expense of their own lives. Lucas, Nicolas, Rémi, Nassim, Eyad and Ahmad are the reporters in WAR REPORTER, as the film follows them on their perilous journey starting from Tunisia through Egypt, Libya and Syria.
- An elderly radio-operator travels across Kurdestan in the war-torn 80s assuring communication between lost families.
- A criminal's life changes after he finds a baby inside the car he stole to escape from cops chasing after him.
- Zahara is a Palestinian woman, from the village of al-Bane in the Galilee. Beginning with her childhood before the 1948 war, this compelling documentary takes us through the country's turbulent history, as seen through the eponymous heroine's eyes, and the perspectives of those around her. As Zahara grows, we experience the violent establishment of Israel, subsequent life under martial law (1948-1966), and the radical transformation of Palestinian society from a majority to a disenfranchised minority in their own homeland.
- An invitation to explore a millenary Muslim culture, where traditions are transmitted through music, 'Zanzibar Musical Club' goes deep into a culture where music is inextricably woven into the social fabric. This superb documentary is alive and pulsing with a musical mix of Arabic tones, Latin rhythms, Indian melodies and African drums.
- Acclaimed director Michel Khleifi's story of a Palestinian film-maker 'M' living in Europe, who returns home to Ramallah to film witness accounts of the 1948 Nakba - not only explores the events of that tumultuous era, but places them in context with the uncertainty and tension of present-day Palestine. Over the course of a single day and night, M's solipsistic existence is shaken when his nephew kills a man in Nazareth, placing the entire family at risk of reprisals. This masterful feature - a quietly witty, complex and occasionally surreal depiction of an exile's relationship with Palestine - marks a new direction in Khleifi's work.