Qatar’s Doha Film Institute (Dfi) kicks off the 10th edition of its Qumra project and talent incubator event meeting this Friday.
Running from March 1 to 6 in downtown Doha and the lofty surroundings of the city’s I. M. Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art, the event will welcome the filmmakers and producers of 40 projects across all formats for six days of masterclasses, workshops and one-on-one mentoring sessions.
Participants include UK director Ana Naomi de Sousa with Naseem, Fight With Grace about boxing star Naseem Hamed; Moroccan filmmaker Alaa Eddine Aljem with Eldorado, The Taste of the South, his second feature after Cannes Critics’ Week title The Unknown Saint; Tunisian director Mehdi Barsaoui with Aïcha, which follows 2019 drama A Son for which Sami Bouajila won Best Actor in the Venice’s Horizons sidebar, and Palestinian director Saleh Saadi with TV series Dyouf, about a young man who returns to his...
Running from March 1 to 6 in downtown Doha and the lofty surroundings of the city’s I. M. Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art, the event will welcome the filmmakers and producers of 40 projects across all formats for six days of masterclasses, workshops and one-on-one mentoring sessions.
Participants include UK director Ana Naomi de Sousa with Naseem, Fight With Grace about boxing star Naseem Hamed; Moroccan filmmaker Alaa Eddine Aljem with Eldorado, The Taste of the South, his second feature after Cannes Critics’ Week title The Unknown Saint; Tunisian director Mehdi Barsaoui with Aïcha, which follows 2019 drama A Son for which Sami Bouajila won Best Actor in the Venice’s Horizons sidebar, and Palestinian director Saleh Saadi with TV series Dyouf, about a young man who returns to his...
- 2/28/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Toni Collette will attend Doha Film Institute (Dfi)’s Qumra project development incubator in Qatar in March.
The Australian actress and producer joins the Qumra Masters programme, through which she will take part in a conversation about her career for the audience of 200 Qumra attendees.
Scroll down for the full list of Qumra feature-length projects
Collette will also mentor the creators of the projects in the Qumra lab, most of whom are first- or second-time filmmakers.
She joins previously announced masters Leos Carax, Claire Denis, Atom Egoyan, Martin Hernandez and Jim Sheridan for Qumra’s 10th edition, running from March...
The Australian actress and producer joins the Qumra Masters programme, through which she will take part in a conversation about her career for the audience of 200 Qumra attendees.
Scroll down for the full list of Qumra feature-length projects
Collette will also mentor the creators of the projects in the Qumra lab, most of whom are first- or second-time filmmakers.
She joins previously announced masters Leos Carax, Claire Denis, Atom Egoyan, Martin Hernandez and Jim Sheridan for Qumra’s 10th edition, running from March...
- 2/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
Sales banner Best Friend Forever has unveiled the teaser for Ramata Toulaye-Sy’s buzzed-about Senegalese drama “Banel & Adama,” which is the sole feature debut slated for the competition at the Cannes Film Festival.
The lushly lensed female emancipation drama, set to bow on May 20, takes place in a remote village of Northern Senegal where Banel and Adama are fiercely in love. Longing for a home of their own, they have decided to live apart from their families. When Adama refuses his blood duty as future chief and informs the village council of his intentions, the whole community is disrupted and chaos ensues.
The film was shot in Pulaar language with a cast of local non-professional actors, including Khady Mane, Mamadou Diallo, Binta Racine Sy and Moussa Sow.
Toulaye-Sy said she wanted the film to tell a tragic love story that would be relatable to everyone. The helmer, who studied...
The lushly lensed female emancipation drama, set to bow on May 20, takes place in a remote village of Northern Senegal where Banel and Adama are fiercely in love. Longing for a home of their own, they have decided to live apart from their families. When Adama refuses his blood duty as future chief and informs the village council of his intentions, the whole community is disrupted and chaos ensues.
The film was shot in Pulaar language with a cast of local non-professional actors, including Khady Mane, Mamadou Diallo, Binta Racine Sy and Moussa Sow.
Toulaye-Sy said she wanted the film to tell a tragic love story that would be relatable to everyone. The helmer, who studied...
- 5/11/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Best Friend Forever has boarded Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s debut feature “Banel & Adama,” a lushly lensed Senegalese female emancipation drama. Now in post, the movie is expected to have its world premiere later this year.
‘Banel & Adama’ is set a remote village of Northern Senegal where Banel and Adama are fiercely in love. Longing for a home of their own, they have decided to live apart from their families. When Adama refuses his blood duty as future chief and informs the village council of his intentions, the whole community is disrupted and chaos ensues.
Sy studied at France’s prestigious film school La Femis and previously directed the short film “Astel” which played at Toronto, New Directors/New Films and Clermont, where it won the Special Jury award, among 80 festivals to date. Ramata, meanwhile, previously co-wrote “Our Lady of the Nil” which played at Toronto, and “Sibel” which played at Locarno and Toronto.
‘Banel & Adama’ is set a remote village of Northern Senegal where Banel and Adama are fiercely in love. Longing for a home of their own, they have decided to live apart from their families. When Adama refuses his blood duty as future chief and informs the village council of his intentions, the whole community is disrupted and chaos ensues.
Sy studied at France’s prestigious film school La Femis and previously directed the short film “Astel” which played at Toronto, New Directors/New Films and Clermont, where it won the Special Jury award, among 80 festivals to date. Ramata, meanwhile, previously co-wrote “Our Lady of the Nil” which played at Toronto, and “Sibel” which played at Locarno and Toronto.
- 2/17/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Awards handed out to projects in 40th anniversary edition of CineMart.
Italy-France co-production Heads Or Tails (Testa o Croce)? and Ukrainian title Consider Vera were the major winners at Rotterdam’s IFFR Pro industry awards recognising projects from International Film Festival Rotterdam’s co-production market, CineMart.
The co-production market marks its 40th anniversary this year and hosted 20 features and five immersive projects. Itd ran from January 29 to February 1.
Heads Or Tails? from Italian-American directors Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis took home the Eurimages Co-production Development Award of €20,000. It is produced by Ring Film and Shellac Sud and follows...
Italy-France co-production Heads Or Tails (Testa o Croce)? and Ukrainian title Consider Vera were the major winners at Rotterdam’s IFFR Pro industry awards recognising projects from International Film Festival Rotterdam’s co-production market, CineMart.
The co-production market marks its 40th anniversary this year and hosted 20 features and five immersive projects. Itd ran from January 29 to February 1.
Heads Or Tails? from Italian-American directors Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis took home the Eurimages Co-production Development Award of €20,000. It is produced by Ring Film and Shellac Sud and follows...
- 1/31/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
The pop-up initiative showcases independent cinema within the framework of the Diriyah Biennale.
Burgeoning Saudi exhibitor Muvi Cinemas and content production and distribution company Telfaz11 have launched joint pop-up venture Wadi Cinema aimed at fostering arthouse cinema-going in the country.
Unfolding within Saudi Arabia’s first-ever art biennale, running in the historic city of Diriyah on the outskirts of Riyadh from December 16 to March 11, the initiative consists of a temporary cinema and a programme of recent arthouse titles.
It opens on Thursday (December 23) with a screening of Oscar-nominated The Man Who Sold His Skin by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania,...
Burgeoning Saudi exhibitor Muvi Cinemas and content production and distribution company Telfaz11 have launched joint pop-up venture Wadi Cinema aimed at fostering arthouse cinema-going in the country.
Unfolding within Saudi Arabia’s first-ever art biennale, running in the historic city of Diriyah on the outskirts of Riyadh from December 16 to March 11, the initiative consists of a temporary cinema and a programme of recent arthouse titles.
It opens on Thursday (December 23) with a screening of Oscar-nominated The Man Who Sold His Skin by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania,...
- 12/23/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Following the Sundance premiering “Odessa, Odessa” and Venice title “Land of Oblivion,” French-Israeli filmmaker Michale Boganim is back on the Lido with “The Forgotten Ones”.
The film, represented in international markers by Reservoir Docs, is a heartfelt documentary exploring the systemic discrimination against Oriental Jews in Israel through the story of Boganim’s late father, who emigrated from Morocco and was part of Israel’s lesser-known Black Panthers movement in the 1970s. “The Forgotten Ones,” which world premieres in the Venice Days section Sept. 6, was just acquired by Sophie Dulac Distribution and will be released in France in early 2022.
Boganim, who started developing the film years ago, embarked on a road trip across Israel’s impoverished suburbs along with her young daughter and met Sephardi Jews from different generations whose lives have been shaped in some ways by this discrimination. Many of them are children or grandchildren of people who...
The film, represented in international markers by Reservoir Docs, is a heartfelt documentary exploring the systemic discrimination against Oriental Jews in Israel through the story of Boganim’s late father, who emigrated from Morocco and was part of Israel’s lesser-known Black Panthers movement in the 1970s. “The Forgotten Ones,” which world premieres in the Venice Days section Sept. 6, was just acquired by Sophie Dulac Distribution and will be released in France in early 2022.
Boganim, who started developing the film years ago, embarked on a road trip across Israel’s impoverished suburbs along with her young daughter and met Sephardi Jews from different generations whose lives have been shaped in some ways by this discrimination. Many of them are children or grandchildren of people who...
- 9/6/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Director Michale Boganim explores her father’s role in Israel’s own Black Panther movement in her new Venice documentary: “The Forgotten Ones”.
The 1950s movement sprang from the Mizrahim community – Jews who were ethnically cleansed from North Africa and the Middle East – who sought refuge in Israel. Battling discrimination, Mizrahi Jews looked to the U.S. Black Panther movement for inspiration, Boganim’s father and his friends fought back, politically and otherwise.
In the documentary, Boganim embarks on a road trip to search for some of her father’s colleagues, taking a tour of Israel’s history and meeting with three generations of Mizrahim in the process.
Boganim, who was born in Israel and later studied in France, won the Gras Savoye award for her student film “Dim Memories,” which was selected for Director’s Fortnight in Cannes. Her first fiction feature, “Land of Oblivion,” which starred “Bond” actor Olga Kurylenko,...
The 1950s movement sprang from the Mizrahim community – Jews who were ethnically cleansed from North Africa and the Middle East – who sought refuge in Israel. Battling discrimination, Mizrahi Jews looked to the U.S. Black Panther movement for inspiration, Boganim’s father and his friends fought back, politically and otherwise.
In the documentary, Boganim embarks on a road trip to search for some of her father’s colleagues, taking a tour of Israel’s history and meeting with three generations of Mizrahim in the process.
Boganim, who was born in Israel and later studied in France, won the Gras Savoye award for her student film “Dim Memories,” which was selected for Director’s Fortnight in Cannes. Her first fiction feature, “Land of Oblivion,” which starred “Bond” actor Olga Kurylenko,...
- 9/2/2021
- by K.J. Yossman
- Variety Film + TV
Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has acquired Bolivian director Kiro Russo’s “El Gran Movimiento” which will world premiere at Venice in the Horizons section.
“El Gran Movimiento” marks Russo’s follow up to his 2016 feature debut “Dark Skull” which won a prize at Locarno and played at San Sebastian, among other festivals. “Dark Skull” went on to represent Bolivia in the Oscar race.
Set in contemporary Bolivia, the movie follows Elder and his companions who arrive in La Paz after a seven-day walk and seeks to be reinstated in his work at the mine. Once in the city, Elder gets a job but his health starts to deteriorate. An elderly woman known as Mama Pancha connects him to Max, a witch doctor, hermit, and clown, who will try to bring the young man back to life.
The movie is produced by Russo and Pablo Paniagua at Socavón and Alexa Rivero...
“El Gran Movimiento” marks Russo’s follow up to his 2016 feature debut “Dark Skull” which won a prize at Locarno and played at San Sebastian, among other festivals. “Dark Skull” went on to represent Bolivia in the Oscar race.
Set in contemporary Bolivia, the movie follows Elder and his companions who arrive in La Paz after a seven-day walk and seeks to be reinstated in his work at the mine. Once in the city, Elder gets a job but his health starts to deteriorate. An elderly woman known as Mama Pancha connects him to Max, a witch doctor, hermit, and clown, who will try to bring the young man back to life.
The movie is produced by Russo and Pablo Paniagua at Socavón and Alexa Rivero...
- 7/27/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
The seventh edition will nurture 48 projects by first and second-time directors hailing mainly from the Arab world.
The Doha Film Institute (Dfi) kicked off the online edition of its seventh annual talent and project development meeting Qumra on Friday.
Unfolding from March 12-17, the event will nurture 48 short and feature-length films at different stages of their creation from 41 countries, that have previously received the support of the Dfi grants programme.
They range from in-development projects such as Moroccan director Kamal Lazraq’s Casablanca-set kidnap caper Hounds to projects in post-production including Lebanese filmmaker Mounia Akl’s Costa Brava Lebanon,...
The Doha Film Institute (Dfi) kicked off the online edition of its seventh annual talent and project development meeting Qumra on Friday.
Unfolding from March 12-17, the event will nurture 48 short and feature-length films at different stages of their creation from 41 countries, that have previously received the support of the Dfi grants programme.
They range from in-development projects such as Moroccan director Kamal Lazraq’s Casablanca-set kidnap caper Hounds to projects in post-production including Lebanese filmmaker Mounia Akl’s Costa Brava Lebanon,...
- 3/12/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Shortlists to be announced on February 9.
The Academy on Thursday (January 28) published a list of 93 films eligible for international feature film Oscar category.
Algeria’s Heliopolis, about the brutal suppression by French colonial authorities of an uprising in 1945, is omitted from the list. Screen understands the national selection committee withdrew the submission.
There were also a record number of documentary submissions – 238 compared to the previous high of 170 – in light of amended eligibility rules this season due to the pandemic, and a reduced field of 27 animation contenders.
The shortlists will be announced on February 9. The 93rd annual Academy Awards are scheduled...
The Academy on Thursday (January 28) published a list of 93 films eligible for international feature film Oscar category.
Algeria’s Heliopolis, about the brutal suppression by French colonial authorities of an uprising in 1945, is omitted from the list. Screen understands the national selection committee withdrew the submission.
There were also a record number of documentary submissions – 238 compared to the previous high of 170 – in light of amended eligibility rules this season due to the pandemic, and a reduced field of 27 animation contenders.
The shortlists will be announced on February 9. The 93rd annual Academy Awards are scheduled...
- 1/28/2021
- ScreenDaily
Although this year’s Middle Eastern/North African Oscar submissions have yet to generate a strong buzz, there are titles among the 10 films that could be contenders for the international feature short list.
Chief among them is “Sun Children” from veteran Iranian helmer Majid Majidi, whose 1997 “Children of Heaven” landed a foreign-language film nomination. This gripping drama about exploited urban street kids is cast with charismatic, non-pro performers and earned an acting award at the Venice fest for its resilient young protagonist. Strand Films will release.
A possible dark horse is “Broken Keys,” the feature debut of Lebanese multi-hyphenate Jimmy Keyrouz. It marks an expansion of his 2016 Student Academy Award-winner “Nocturne in Black” about a musician in a Syrian town controlled by Isis. Sporting the Cannes Label, this tense drama, with a score by Keyrouz’s famous compatriot Gabriel Yared, shares the combination of real-life crisis and sweeping emotion that characterizes some past nominees.
Chief among them is “Sun Children” from veteran Iranian helmer Majid Majidi, whose 1997 “Children of Heaven” landed a foreign-language film nomination. This gripping drama about exploited urban street kids is cast with charismatic, non-pro performers and earned an acting award at the Venice fest for its resilient young protagonist. Strand Films will release.
A possible dark horse is “Broken Keys,” the feature debut of Lebanese multi-hyphenate Jimmy Keyrouz. It marks an expansion of his 2016 Student Academy Award-winner “Nocturne in Black” about a musician in a Syrian town controlled by Isis. Sporting the Cannes Label, this tense drama, with a score by Keyrouz’s famous compatriot Gabriel Yared, shares the combination of real-life crisis and sweeping emotion that characterizes some past nominees.
- 1/27/2021
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
After its world premiere in Cannes 2019’s Critics Week, ‘The Unknown Saint’ went on to play London Film Festival and Busan Film Festival…
Continue reading on SydneysBuzz The Blog »...
Continue reading on SydneysBuzz The Blog »...
- 1/12/2021
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Arab Stars of Tomorrow spotlights six talents from the Middle East and North Africa who are making their mark on the global stage.
In our fourth edition of Arab Stars of Tomorrow, Screen International celebrates six of the most exciting talents to emerge this year from the Middle East and North Africa. Egyptian director Sameh Alaa, Palestinian-Jordanian actress Tara Abboud, Saudi director Hana Al Omair, Lebanese actress Stephanie Atala, Moroccan actor Brice Bexter El Glaoui and Algerian actor Mehdi Ramdani are the breakout names of 2020.
Click on the links below to read the profiles of this year’s stars, and...
In our fourth edition of Arab Stars of Tomorrow, Screen International celebrates six of the most exciting talents to emerge this year from the Middle East and North Africa. Egyptian director Sameh Alaa, Palestinian-Jordanian actress Tara Abboud, Saudi director Hana Al Omair, Lebanese actress Stephanie Atala, Moroccan actor Brice Bexter El Glaoui and Algerian actor Mehdi Ramdani are the breakout names of 2020.
Click on the links below to read the profiles of this year’s stars, and...
- 12/8/2020
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
The event is Jordan’s first international film festival.
The Amman International Film Festival has selected the juries and set up the awards for its inaugural edition, set to run in Jordan from August 23-31.
The Arab feature-length narrative film jury is headed by Serbian director Srdan Golubović, who will be joined by Jordanian actor-producer Saba Mubarak; and Sarim Fassi-Fihri, executive vice president of the Marrakech International Film Festival and CEO of the Moroccan Cinema Centre.
The three-person Arab feature-length documentary film jury consists of Jordanian filmmaker Mahmoud Al-Massad; Egyptian writer-producer Nadia Kamel; and German filmmaker and artist Andrea Luka Zimmerman,...
The Amman International Film Festival has selected the juries and set up the awards for its inaugural edition, set to run in Jordan from August 23-31.
The Arab feature-length narrative film jury is headed by Serbian director Srdan Golubović, who will be joined by Jordanian actor-producer Saba Mubarak; and Sarim Fassi-Fihri, executive vice president of the Marrakech International Film Festival and CEO of the Moroccan Cinema Centre.
The three-person Arab feature-length documentary film jury consists of Jordanian filmmaker Mahmoud Al-Massad; Egyptian writer-producer Nadia Kamel; and German filmmaker and artist Andrea Luka Zimmerman,...
- 8/18/2020
- by 1101321¦Ben Dalton¦26¦
- ScreenDaily
Parallel section unveils slimmed down, France-focused 2020 selection.
Cannes Critics’ Week has unveiled the five features and ten shorts selected for its special 2020 Semaine de la Critique label, created in response to the fact that its 59th edition could not take place this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Four of the five features hail from France with UK-Pakistani filmmaker Aleem Khan’s After Love the only non-French title in the selection.
Three of the French selections are first films: Anna Cazenave Cambet’s Gold For Dogs, Chloé Mazlo’s Skies Of Lebanon and Just Philippot’s The Swarm. They are...
Cannes Critics’ Week has unveiled the five features and ten shorts selected for its special 2020 Semaine de la Critique label, created in response to the fact that its 59th edition could not take place this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Four of the five features hail from France with UK-Pakistani filmmaker Aleem Khan’s After Love the only non-French title in the selection.
Three of the French selections are first films: Anna Cazenave Cambet’s Gold For Dogs, Chloé Mazlo’s Skies Of Lebanon and Just Philippot’s The Swarm. They are...
- 6/4/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Parallel sections issue joint statement on the decision to abandon 2020 editions due to Covid-19.
Cannes parallel sections Critics’ Week, Directors’ Fortnight and Acid announced on Wednesday (April 15) that they were cancelling their 2020 editions due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The respected sidebars had originally been due to take place alongside the Cannes Film Festival during its cancelled dates of May 12-23, and had then been holding out to run during a potential end-June, start-July slot, which has now also been abandoned after the French government extended a ban on large gatherings to mid-July.
”Following the French president’s April 13 announcement banning...
Cannes parallel sections Critics’ Week, Directors’ Fortnight and Acid announced on Wednesday (April 15) that they were cancelling their 2020 editions due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The respected sidebars had originally been due to take place alongside the Cannes Film Festival during its cancelled dates of May 12-23, and had then been holding out to run during a potential end-June, start-July slot, which has now also been abandoned after the French government extended a ban on large gatherings to mid-July.
”Following the French president’s April 13 announcement banning...
- 4/15/2020
- by 1100380¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
“We finished the shoot for Ely Dagher’s Harvest just as the first case of Covid-19 was reported in Lebanon.”
Beirut-based producer Georges Schoucair is the founder and CEO of top Middle East independent film production house Abbout Productions and its more recently created sister company Schortcut Films.
The recent credits of Abbout Productions include Oualid Mouaness’s coming-of-age drama 1982, which was Lebanon’s submission to the Academy Awards’ best international film category this year; Ahmad Ghossein’s All This Victory, which premiered in Venice Critics’ Week; and Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed Siam’s feature-length documentary Amal.
Schortcut Films, which he...
Beirut-based producer Georges Schoucair is the founder and CEO of top Middle East independent film production house Abbout Productions and its more recently created sister company Schortcut Films.
The recent credits of Abbout Productions include Oualid Mouaness’s coming-of-age drama 1982, which was Lebanon’s submission to the Academy Awards’ best international film category this year; Ahmad Ghossein’s All This Victory, which premiered in Venice Critics’ Week; and Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed Siam’s feature-length documentary Amal.
Schortcut Films, which he...
- 4/15/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
“We finished the shoot for Ely Dagher’s film Harvest just as the first case of Covid-19 was reported in Lebanon.”
Beirut-based producer Georges Schoucair is the founder and CEO of top Middle East independent film production house Abbout Productions and its more recently created sister company Schortcut Films.
The recent credits of Abbout Productions include Oualid Mouaness’s bittersweet coming-of-age drama 1982, which premiered at Toronto and was Lebanon’s submission to the Academy Awards’ best international film category this year; Ahmad Ghossein’s All This Victory, which premiered in Venice Critics’ Week, winning three awards, and Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed Siam’s feature-length documentary Amal.
Beirut-based producer Georges Schoucair is the founder and CEO of top Middle East independent film production house Abbout Productions and its more recently created sister company Schortcut Films.
The recent credits of Abbout Productions include Oualid Mouaness’s bittersweet coming-of-age drama 1982, which premiered at Toronto and was Lebanon’s submission to the Academy Awards’ best international film category this year; Ahmad Ghossein’s All This Victory, which premiered in Venice Critics’ Week, winning three awards, and Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed Siam’s feature-length documentary Amal.
- 4/15/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Announcement follows the postponement of Cannes Film Festival due to Covid-19 pandemic.
Cannes Critics’ Week announced on Friday that its 59th edition would not be taking place on its original scheduled May 13-23 dates but that it was continuing its selection process nonetheless.
The announcement by the Cannes parallel section, devoted to first and second time features and shorts by emerging filmmakers, was not unexpected.
It follows the postponement of the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday (March 19) from its planned May 12-23 dates to a potential unconfirmed slot in end-June, early July due to the worsening coronavirus situation in France and internationally.
Cannes Critics’ Week announced on Friday that its 59th edition would not be taking place on its original scheduled May 13-23 dates but that it was continuing its selection process nonetheless.
The announcement by the Cannes parallel section, devoted to first and second time features and shorts by emerging filmmakers, was not unexpected.
It follows the postponement of the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday (March 19) from its planned May 12-23 dates to a potential unconfirmed slot in end-June, early July due to the worsening coronavirus situation in France and internationally.
- 3/20/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Rithy Panh, Karim Ainouz, Annemarie Jacir, Tala Hadid, Ghassan Salhab join efforts to continue key project development activities.
The Doha Film Institute (Dfi) has set up an online mentorship programme to replace its Qumra talent and project development event which was cancelled earlier this month due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A total of 46 projects were to have received support and advice from some 100 industry professionals at the sixth edition of the meeting, originally scheduled to run March 20-25 in Doha.
French director Claire Denis, Greek cinematographer Phedon Papamichael, Us director James Gray, Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner and Oscar-winning sound editor...
The Doha Film Institute (Dfi) has set up an online mentorship programme to replace its Qumra talent and project development event which was cancelled earlier this month due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A total of 46 projects were to have received support and advice from some 100 industry professionals at the sixth edition of the meeting, originally scheduled to run March 20-25 in Doha.
French director Claire Denis, Greek cinematographer Phedon Papamichael, Us director James Gray, Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner and Oscar-winning sound editor...
- 3/19/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
"Stealing money is okay for me. But profaning a saint's tomb, is too much." The Match Factory released an official promo trailer for the indie comedy The Unknown Saint, from Moroccan filmmaker Alaa Eddine Aljem. This premiered in the Critics Week section at the Cannes Film Festival last year, and earned a few rave reviews from critics before stopping by a few other festivals. This Coen Brothers-esque dark comedy is about a thief who buries money on top of a hill fleeing the police. When he returns years later, he discovers a mausoleum built where it's buried and moves to the town nearby to try and figure out how to get his bounty back. Starring Younes Bouab, with Salah Ben Saleh, Bouchaib Semmak, Mohammed Nouaimane, Anas El Baz, Abdelghani Kitab, Hassan Ben Badida, and Ahmed Yarziz. This is an entirely original, very clever comedy from Morocco - not something we see that often.
- 2/4/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Young Moroccan writer-director Alaa Eddine Aljem chose to tackle a sensitive subject in his first feature, absurdist comedy “The Unknown Saint,” which is basically about “the relationship between faith and money,” he says. He spoke to Variety about using sophisticated humor to push boundaries in the Arab world and reflected on the journey of his debut, which after launching from the Cannes Critics’ Week is now premiering for his home crowd at the Marrekech Film Festival. Excerpts.
What drew you to making a movie about a robber who buries his loot in a spot that becomes a holy shrine while he is in jail?
I was traveling around the country doing some scouting, and I saw this small mausoleum with “Unknown” written on it. When I asked, I was told it was the grave of an unknown saint. He was this legendary figure and a whole village was built around...
What drew you to making a movie about a robber who buries his loot in a spot that becomes a holy shrine while he is in jail?
I was traveling around the country doing some scouting, and I saw this small mausoleum with “Unknown” written on it. When I asked, I was told it was the grave of an unknown saint. He was this legendary figure and a whole village was built around...
- 12/6/2019
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Screen has announced the five filmmakers and actors selected for the third edition at the Cairo International Film Festival.
Screen International has announced the five filmmakers and actors selected for the third edition of its initiative Arab Stars of Tomorrow at the 41st edition of the Cairo International Film Festival (Ciff).
This year’s edition is in partnership with Ciff as well as leading Middle East distribution company Front Row and its partner Kuwait National Cinema Company (Kncc), a major exhibition force in the Gulf.
The initiative, first launched in 2016, aims to support five emerging cinema talents from the Middle East and North Africa,...
Screen International has announced the five filmmakers and actors selected for the third edition of its initiative Arab Stars of Tomorrow at the 41st edition of the Cairo International Film Festival (Ciff).
This year’s edition is in partnership with Ciff as well as leading Middle East distribution company Front Row and its partner Kuwait National Cinema Company (Kncc), a major exhibition force in the Gulf.
The initiative, first launched in 2016, aims to support five emerging cinema talents from the Middle East and North Africa,...
- 11/24/2019
- by 1100380¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
The showcase celebrates Arab talent and highlights rising actors and filmmakers from the region.
The third edition of Screen International’s talent-spotting initiative Arab Stars of Tomorrow will launch at this year’s Cairo International Film Festival (Ciff) which takes place November 20-29.
Arab Stars of Tomorrow celebrates Arab talent and highlight the hottest up-and-coming actors, writers and directors who are primed to make their mark in the international industry.
The first two editions spotlighted 10 emerging talents from the Mena region including Moroccan director Alaa Eddine Aljem, whose debut feature The Unknown Saint premiered in this year’s Cannes Critics...
The third edition of Screen International’s talent-spotting initiative Arab Stars of Tomorrow will launch at this year’s Cairo International Film Festival (Ciff) which takes place November 20-29.
Arab Stars of Tomorrow celebrates Arab talent and highlight the hottest up-and-coming actors, writers and directors who are primed to make their mark in the international industry.
The first two editions spotlighted 10 emerging talents from the Mena region including Moroccan director Alaa Eddine Aljem, whose debut feature The Unknown Saint premiered in this year’s Cannes Critics...
- 5/19/2019
- by Louise Tutt
- ScreenDaily
Beautifully shot and ideally cast, debuting Moroccan writer-director Alaa Eddine Aliem’s “The Unknown Saint” is a droll, entertaining, absurdist fable about spirituality and greed that signals an important new talent. The events unfold near a derelict desert village, where, in a pre-title prologue, a thief buries a bag of loot on top of a hill, disguising the spot as a grave. Years later, when he returns to retrieve his booty, he is astonished and frustrated to find that a mausoleum honoring an “unknown saint” credited with performing healing miracles now covers the site. Moreover, a new village has sprung up nearby to service the pilgrims that the shrine attracts. Aliem manages to reap much fresh humor from this situation and a spritely cast of eccentric characters.
The story of the stymied thief (Younes Bouab) and his former accomplice, the sarcastically-styled Ahmed the Brain, plays out in parallel to, and overlaps with,...
The story of the stymied thief (Younes Bouab) and his former accomplice, the sarcastically-styled Ahmed the Brain, plays out in parallel to, and overlaps with,...
- 5/15/2019
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
Getting the tone right of a black comedy is excruciatingly hard. Go off too far in one direction and it becomes a maudlin mess, too far the other and it feels churlish or mean, making light of a serious situation rather than maintaining that delicate balance that’s satiric rather than scornful. Add religion and faith […]
The post ‘The Unknown Saint’ Review: A Searing Dark Comedy That Recalls the Best of the Coen Brothers [Cannes] appeared first on /Film.
The post ‘The Unknown Saint’ Review: A Searing Dark Comedy That Recalls the Best of the Coen Brothers [Cannes] appeared first on /Film.
- 5/15/2019
- by Jason Gorber
- Slash Film
Gimme the Loot: Money is the Root of Good and Evil in Aljem’s Debut
Love the sinner and not the sin seems to be the cosmic undertone of Alaa Eddine Aljem’s debut, The Unknown Saint, a black comedy juxtaposing religious beliefs and economic potential as ironic bedfellows. A fable steeped in incredulity with mordant streaks of the absurd, Aljem concocts an intersection of belief and spirituality serving as commentary on contemporary Morocco. As its frustrated protagonist is increasingly thwarted in his attempts to reclaim the booty he buried on a remote hilltop which has since been reconfigured as a community generating mausoleum, Aljem provides meaningful subtexts on the process of rumors reborn as fact, and the institutions which breed and keep them in place.…...
Love the sinner and not the sin seems to be the cosmic undertone of Alaa Eddine Aljem’s debut, The Unknown Saint, a black comedy juxtaposing religious beliefs and economic potential as ironic bedfellows. A fable steeped in incredulity with mordant streaks of the absurd, Aljem concocts an intersection of belief and spirituality serving as commentary on contemporary Morocco. As its frustrated protagonist is increasingly thwarted in his attempts to reclaim the booty he buried on a remote hilltop which has since been reconfigured as a community generating mausoleum, Aljem provides meaningful subtexts on the process of rumors reborn as fact, and the institutions which breed and keep them in place.…...
- 5/15/2019
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
A lonely, arid hill topped by a lonely, barren tree. It is easily recognizable and therefore the perfect place for a Moroccan thief to hurriedly bury his loot. He makes the spot look like a lone grave so he’ll be able to locate it with even more certainty later — a smart move, as police sirens can already be heard while he’s still shoveling dust and dirt.
This is the promising start of the diverting first feature The Unknown Saint (Le Miracle du Saint Inconnu/Sid El Majhoul) from writer-director Alaa Eddine Aljem. A combination of bone-dry ...
This is the promising start of the diverting first feature The Unknown Saint (Le Miracle du Saint Inconnu/Sid El Majhoul) from writer-director Alaa Eddine Aljem. A combination of bone-dry ...
- 5/15/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Litigante by Franco Lolli will open the parallel section.
Cannes Critics’ Week has unveiled the line-up for its 58th edition, running May 15-23.
Scroll down for full line-up
French-Colombian director Franco Lolli will open the parallel section, devoted to first and second films as well as shorts, with his contemporary drama Litigante.
The Bogotá-shot, character-driven tale revolves around a female lawyer facing a series of personal and professional challenges, including her mother’s cancer diagnosis. It is Lolli’s second feature after Gente De Bien, which premiered in Cannes Critics’ Week in 2014.
“It’s rare that we select a second...
Cannes Critics’ Week has unveiled the line-up for its 58th edition, running May 15-23.
Scroll down for full line-up
French-Colombian director Franco Lolli will open the parallel section, devoted to first and second films as well as shorts, with his contemporary drama Litigante.
The Bogotá-shot, character-driven tale revolves around a female lawyer facing a series of personal and professional challenges, including her mother’s cancer diagnosis. It is Lolli’s second feature after Gente De Bien, which premiered in Cannes Critics’ Week in 2014.
“It’s rare that we select a second...
- 4/22/2019
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
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