Screen DIFF 2017 Day 1

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7 2017

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Front Row adds Shock And Awe to busy slate

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NEWS Reality play

REVIEW Beauty And The Dogs Mariam Alferjani is “utterly compelling” in her lead role » Page 6

FEATURE Eclectic selection Festival line-up ranges from Hollywood westerns to Arab docs » Page 10

FORUM EVENTS

(Standing) Marwan Abdullah Saleh, Ahmed Malek, Ayman Al-Shatri. (Seated) Maria Zreik, Manon Nammour

Arab Stars of Tomorrow take centre stage at DIFF

BY LIZ SHACKLETON

Screen International has unveiled the five promising actors and directors that have been selected for the second edition of its talentspotting initiative Arab Stars of Tomorrow. Launched in partnership with DIFF, the showcase provides a global platform for the selected talents, who are handpicked following exhaustive research across the region.

This year’s talents include Egyptian actor Ahmed Malek, known in his home country for TV dramas such as Story Of Hayah. More recently he has moved into film with roles in Mohamed Diab’s Clash and Amr Salama’s Sheikh Jackson.

Palestinian actress Maria Zreik got her first break in BBC series The Promise and has since starred in Villa Touma and Oscar-nominated short Ave Maria. She also appears in two films screening at this year’s DIFF: Annemarie Jacir’s Wajib and short film Detained.

Marwan Abdullah Saleh, a TV and social-media star in the UAE, will soon make his feature debut in Mohammed Saeed Harib’s Rashid & Rajab.

Iraqi producer-director Ayman Al-Shatri has been drawing attention for short films including Five O’Clock, which was recently feted at Malmo Arab Film Festival.

Completing the selection is Leba-

nese writer-director Manon Nammour, whose debut short On The Ropes screened at Locarno and DIFF. She is working on a new short Barakat and developing her debut feature (for more details see page 8).

“Selecting the Arab Stars of Tomorrow for a second year running has been a joy. There’s so much talent and potential in this year’s selection,” said Melanie Goodfellow, Arab Stars curator and Screen’s France & Middle East correspondent. The five talents will be profiled in Screen’s DIFF dailies, starting tomorrow, and festival guests will be able to meet them at a DIFF Happy Hour in Folly, Souk Madinat Jumeirah, this evening.

A vibrant celebration of film and culture

Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum

Beauty And The Dogs, page 6

Dubai Film Market increases its focus on VR and other new tech » Page 5

Neilson Barnard/Getty

BY MELANIE GOODFELLOW

Pan-Arab distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment has unveiled a slew of additions to its 2018-19 slate as DIFF kicks off, including Iraqi War drama Shock And Awe, which plays here on Saturday in a gala screening as part of the Cinema of the World section.

It is among some 30 new titles acquired by the Dubai-based company at the American Film Market in November. Other fresh acquisitions include Robert Redford’s thriller Old Man And The Gun, in which he plays an ageing gangster; Harmony Korine’s The Beach Bum, starring Matthew McConaughey and Snoop Dogg; and Julian Schnabel’s Vincent van Gogh biopic At Eternity’s Gate, starring Willem Dafoe. Front Row has also acquired several titles aimed at a family audience including upcoming animations Big Trip 3D, about a baby panda who is delivered to the wrong address, and Sgt Stubby: An American Hero, inspired by the true story of a rescued dog that became a First World War hero.

More high-brow purchases include Richard Eyre’s upcoming TV adaptation of King Lear, starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, jointly produced by the BBC and Amazon.

The acquisitions also include biopics Judy, starring Renée Zellweger as Hollywood star Judy Garland; Red Joan, inspired by real-life British KGB spy Melita Norwood; and Colette, starring Keira Knightley as the renowned French novelist.

TODAY

I am delighted to welcome our guests to the UAE and Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF).

Dubai is a vibrant, optimistic city of diverse textures and stories, and DIFF perfectly reflects this rich tapestry of people, tolerance, cultures and ideas.

We look forward to another year

of celebrating cinema, showcasing a diverse selection of the best titles from around the globe to UAE audiences, alongside an insightful programme of events to share knowledge and showcase Arab talent.

On the occasion of the 14th DIFF, I wish it another successful edition.

Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum President, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority Chairman, Dubai Airports Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Group Honorary Chairman, Dubai International Film Festival

10:30-12:00 Welcome to the third dimension: innovations in VR, AR and mixed reality Panellists John Attard, co-founder and chief technology officer, Playing Forward (introductory keynote on ‘mixed reality’, live from Los Angeles, arranged by Blink Studios); Peter Martin, CEO, VALIS Studios; Alexey Morozov, CMO, VR Tech Group; Hani Kichi, director, Blink Studios; Antoine Cardon, partner and innovation director, DV Group (Alice, The Virtual Reality Play) Moderator Lauren Selig, co-founder and producer, Shake & Bake Productions

14:00-15:00 Masterclass: immersive documentary and the future of factual storytelling Presenters Daniel Wan, lead digital creative (VR/AR), Alchemy VR; David Lee, executive producer, Atlantic Productions

15:30-16:30 Masterclass: cinematic VR best practices Presenter Grant Anderson, entertainment executive

17:00-18:15 Networking session: meet the producers 20:30-21:30 Great adaptations: On Chesil Beach Guest Dominic Cooke, director, On Chesil Beach Interviewer Paul Blezard, author and broadcaster

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NEWS

Arab ‘Oscars’ unveil debut nominations The fledgling Dubai-based Arab Film Institute (AFI) has unveiled the nominations for the first edition of its Oscars-style Arab Film Awards. A number of past and present DIFF titles are among the 45 fiction and non-fiction feature nominees including Emirati director Abdulla Al Kaabi’s Only Men Go To The Grave, which won the best Emirati feature prize at DIFF in 2016.

The nominations hail from 13 Arab countries. Lebanon leads the way with 13 titles, followed

by Egypt with 10 and Tunisia with seven. Algeria, Iraq, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and the UAE are in the running with two or three titles each. The other Emirati pictures up for consideration include Ali F Mostafa’s The Worthy and Nujoom Al Ghanem’s Honey, Rain & Dust.

A number of titles from this year’s DIFF line-up also feature, including Beauty And The Dogs and Until The Birds Return, which screen in Arabian Nights having both premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard.

The awards ceremony will take place in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of El Gouna on March 16, 2018.

Melanie Goodfellow

DFM explores changing face of VR

BY LIZ SHACKLETON

This year’s Dubai Film Market (DFM) has brought together 10 companies to demonstrate how quickly virtual-reality (VR) content is evolving, and the different ways in which the technology is being deployed.

Participating in the market are companies such as France’s DV Group with its VR experience, Alice, The Virtual Reality Play, which combines elements of both cinema and theatre and was a big hit at Venice Film Festival.

“People who produce VR often come from a video-games background, but we want to demonstrate how it can also be used to recreate the experiences you have when watching a film or a play,” said DV Group partner Julien Abbou. “We are different to cinema, but have the same objectives; we want people to feel emotions, discover characters and

David Attenborough’s Great Barrier Reef Dive VR

be involved in a story, albeit one that is constantly changing.”

Meanwhile, US and UAE-based Blink Studios will demonstrate how it is using ‘mixed reality’ (MR) to create children’s and family content. Unlike VR, which takes the user into a completely virtual environment, MR overlays holographic images on top of what the user can see in real life.

“Parents are uncomfortable with their children disappearing into a different reality, but with MR you won’t walk into a wall and you can share the experience with other people,” said Blink Studios executive producer Nathalie Habib. The company will be demonstrating Microsoft’s Hololens MR headset, along with Karim & Nour and other MR shows it has produced.

In addition, UK-based Alchemy VR will reveal how the technology is transforming factual filmmaking. The company, which won a Bafta for David Attenborough’s Great Barrier Reef Dive VR, is presenting a masterclass on immersive documentary in the DFM Forum today.

“In Great Barrier Reef Dive VR, the viewer is actually sitting next to David in the submersible as they dive into the reef. That’s an experience not possible in other forms of filmmaking,” said Alchemy VR lead digital creative Daniel Wan. Other VR companies attending DFM include Russia’s VR Tech, which has developed a VR experience that can be used in cinemas; Omnipresenz, an expert in ‘embodied virtual reality’, which puts users in the body of another person, animal or object; and Dark Corner Studios, which produces VR horror films.

Abdalla’s Night/Ext among WiP quartet

BY LIZ SHACKLETON

Ahmad Abdalla’s upcoming drama Night/Ext is among four titles that will be screened at rough-cut stage as part of DIFF’s expanded worksin-progress initiative.

The other projects include documentary Beirut Terminus from

Lebanese filmmaker Elie Kamal; Moroccan director Mohcine Besri’s Urgent; and Siren’s Call from Turkish filmmaker Ramin Matin.

DFM launched a works-in-progress lab last year, showing clips of selected titles rather than full films. This year, rough cuts will be

screened for more than 20 sales agents and distributors, including France’s Bac Films, UK distributor Curzon Artificial Eye and streaming giant Netflix. “The idea is to match films with the right sales agents and distributors. It’s a way to start the conversation in the

early stages,” said Sebastien Chesneau, founder of Dubaibased sales agent Cercamon, who oversees the initiative.

Produced by Hala Lotfy, Night/ Ext follows a filmmaker, a taxi driver and a prostitute. Film Clinic will distribute in the MENA region.

ONE ON ONE AHMED AMER, DIRECTOR, KISS ME NOT

The Egyptian filmmaker talks to Kaleem Aftab about the cinematic history behind his mockumentary Kiss Me Not, which receives a red-carpet screening here at DIFF tonight

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t was an incident that took place on the set of a short film that provided the inspiration for Egyptian filmmaker Ahmed Amer’s directorial debut Kiss Me Not. “An actress agreed to be in the short, but a couple of weeks before production started she said she had reservations about different scenes, one of which was a kissing scene. The scene was never shot,” Amer explains.

Yasmin Raeis plays the actress who decides that she no longer wants to take part in a kissing scene in this mockumentary inspired

by Amer’s love of Christopher Guest and Francois Truffaut films. “I love This Is Spinal Tap and the mockumentary genre and I wanted to explore that in an Egyptian context,” says Amer.

“It is also a film about filmmaking like [Truffaut’s] Day For Night. I see Kiss Me Not as

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being somewhere between these two films.”

Amer is best known for his work on screenplays Winter Of Discontent and Ali, The Goat And Ibrahim, for director Ibrahim El Batout. Both of these films also have a political subtext, but Amer wants to downplay the significance of Egypt’s recent political turmoil and the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood as bearing any significance on the plot or debates that take place in Kiss Me Not. “I just wanted to make a funny film that was interesting and would make people think a bit.

I hope people will watch the film and laugh, and if after leaving the cinema they want to think about certain issues, then they can,” Amer says.

More pertinent to Kiss Me Not, which is produced by Middlewest Films, WIKA For Film Production and Mad Solutions, is the notion of

Ahmed Amer

‘Clean Cinema’. Egypt has a long history of kissing in films, but in 1986, a group of young lawyers requested that Raafat El-Mihi’s film Lil Hob Qissa Akhira be banned due to a love

scene between the protagonists playing a married couple. Similar incidents took place in the 1990s as demands were made for films to be more moralistic as audiences began to desert Egyptian cinemas. “There were a couple of years without much production taking place and when cinema became popular again most of the producers decided to go for ‘clean cinema’ to get families to return to the theatres,” Amer says.

“So while Egyptian cinema from the 1940s to the 1980s was quite open about social issues and featured kissing, all of a sudden actors who were okay with certain scenes in the 1980s would then say no to them.”

Kiss Me Not, which plays in DIFF’s Arabian Nights section, will receive a red-carpet screening at the Souk Madinat Theatre tonight.

December 7, 2017 Screen International at Dubai 5

REVIEWS Reviews edited by Mark Adams madams9660@gmail.com

Beauty And The Dogs Reviewed by Wendy Ide

Hostiles Reviewed by Allan Hunter Hostiles acknowledges that American history is steeped in blood and hatred but still searches for signs of hope arising from the ashes of countless atrocities. Scott Cooper’s brooding western invests the genre with the psychological insights and guilty conscience of the 21st century.

Death stalks every frame of Hostiles. Pioneer Rosalie Quaid (Rosamund Pike) watches in horror as her husband and three children are slain by Comanche raiders.

She has every reason to hate the Native Americans.

Cavalry captain Joseph Blocker (Christian Bale) has spent his career killing “wretched savages” and regards himself as a pest controller, merely following orders as he pulls another trigger.

Times are changing; it is 1892 and there are those willing to speak up for the oppressed. Tormented souls are filled with remorse for their part in the taming of the wild frontier.

With rich and dark irony, Blocker is ordered to accompany his old adversary Chief Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi) and his family to their tribal lands in Montana. Yellow Hawk is terminally ill and his last request has become a presidential order that the reluctant Blocker must obey.

The widowed Rosalie becomes part of the company as they travel onwards. The journey is fraught with danger but filled with chances for sworn enemies to see the humanity in each other.

Blocker is a gruff, taciturn figure more likely to grunt or nod his head than utter a sentence. Hardened by all the killing, Blocker becomes a changed man over the course of the film. It is a transformation marked by pensive moments, dawning realisation, lost friendships and anguish that all too rarely finds an expression. A fastidiously understated Bale is highly effective at conveying the deep waters running beneath his stern features.

Rosalie also finds her heart won over by the generous acts of Yellow Hawk and his family. It does disappoint that the film cannot find the space to make the Native American characters more substantial. Studi brings a warm resignation to the dying Yellow Hawk and Adam Beach is a lively presence as his son Black Hawk, but there is a lingering sense that their purpose is to engineer the redemption of the white characters.

6 Screen International at Dubai December 7, 2017

OPENING NIGHT, CINEMA OF THE WORLD US. 2017. 133mins Director Scott Cooper Production companies Le Grisbi Productions, Waypoint Entertainment International sales Creative Artists Agency, filmsales@caa.com Producers Scott Cooper, John Lesher, Ken Kao Executive producers Will Weiske, Donald Stewart Screenplay Scott Cooper, based on the manuscript

by Donald Stewart Cinematography Masanobu Takayanagi Editor Tom Cross Production designer Donald Graham Burt Music Max Richter Main cast Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike, Wes Studi, Adam Beach

An evening that starts with a carefree student party and selfies with friends descends into a Kafkaesque waking nightmare for 21-year-old Mariam (Mariam Alferjani).

Loosely based on a real event, Kaouther Ben Hania’s gruelling drama collates vividly immediate fragments of the aftermath of Mariam’s rape by two policemen. It is not an easy watch. But, with its feminist spin on the continued battle for basic legal rights following the 2011 ousting of Tunisia’s Ben Ali regime, it feels like an important one.

Tautly plotted, Beauty And The Dogs has a pace and tension that mitigate the exhausting spectacle of watching a vulnerable young woman being bullied and browbeaten by a selection of utterly horrible men. The audience is so invested in justice for Mariam, the sheer relief when she finally stands up to those who would see her silenced should result in positive word of mouth. Anyone looking for strong female filmmaking voices from North Africa would do well to take note of this picture and of its very promising director.

Ben Hania divides the film into nine sections, each captured in a single shot, as Mariam attempts to negotiate the obstructions and hostility she meets when attempting to file an official report. The first introduces her at the party; giggly, curvaceous and wearing a daring blue satin dress. She enjoys herself on the dancefloor, sneaking glances at handsome stranger Youssef (Ghanem Zrelli) who cannot tear his eyes away from her.

By the second segment, the dress has already become a source of misery. Battered and distraught, Mariam flees an unseen terror. Youssef follows close behind, attempting to comfort her. They seek help at a private clinic in order to get medical confirmation of her assault. But the dress leaves her exposed; every knowing smirk from the staff feels like a fresh assault to Mariam.

Accompanied by Youssef, Mariam is sent to a public hospital and from there to one police station and then another. Ben Hania employs long, sinuous single shots to give the sense of Mariam’s crisis unfolding in real time. In the central role, Alferjani is utterly compelling.

When Mariam finally leaves the police station, unbowed, wearing her veil slung over her shoulders like a superhero’s cloak, you want to punch the air in triumph.

ARABIAN NIGHTS Tun-Fr-Swe-Nor-LebQat-Swi. 2017. 100mins Director/screenplay Kaouther Ben Hania Production companies Cinetelefilms, Tanit Films, Laika Films, Film i Vast, Shortcut Films, Integral Films & Literature, Chimney International sales Jour2Fete, sales@ jour2fete.com Producers Habib Attia, Nadim Cheikhrouha Cinematography Johan Holmquist Editor Nadia Ben Rachid Music Amine Bouhafa Main cast Mariam Alferjani, Ghanem Zrelli, Noomen Hamda, Mohamed Akkari, Chedly Arfaoui, Anissa Daoud, Mourad Gharsalli

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SCREENINGS, PAGE 14

The Song Of Scorpions Reviewed by Allan Hunter

Orchestra Class Reviewed by Mark Adams While Algeria-born director Rachid Hami’s Orchestra Class (La Mélodie) may tread familiar territory, it refreshingly eschews the simplistic sentimental cinematic notion of ‘musical misfits make good’ and strikes an engaging harder-edged chord with its story of a dour French-Algerian classical violinist who attempts to encourage, tame and ultimately inspire a raucous Parisian music class.

Welcome To The Sticks comedian/actor Kad Merad — in a far more serious role that barely allows a smile to pass over his face — is sullenly charismatic as would-be teacher Simon Daoud, whose introduction to a rowdy class of immigrant and second-generation immigrant children — who have no idea how to hold a violin let alone play it — is less than warm and welcoming.

These 12-year-old wannabe classical violinists swear and fight like troopers, and this is where actor-turneddirector Hami is at his best as he films the brawling youngsters in gritty fashion, and does not try to offer easy clichés as to why they are in the class or what they seek out of it. But while refreshingly gritty at first, the film also cannot resist heading in a relatively warmhearted direction, as Simon has to change his attitude and inspire the youngsters.

Naturally a few rise to the challenge — especially good is Renely Alfred as the shy but warm-hearted Arnold, a plump youngster of African heritage who is picked on by the others. He takes a shine to the violin and truly bonds with Simon as the film heads towards its stirring finale of the youngsters’ performance in a formal concert, shot at the Philharmonie de Paris.

The film’s real energy comes from the rougher hewed scenes of the tough-talking class bickering and fighting, with a sense of documentary-realism sitting nicely with the more genial story of a glum violin teacher explaining the joys of classical music. Their musical journey might feel familiar, but they are not won over easily, while at the same time Simon is no genial convert to the joys inner-city teaching.

The raucous energy of the youngsters gives Orchestra Class a gritty sense of momentum, and while the musical finale might feel familiar, there is a sense that both students and teacher have really had to work to get to their happy-ish ending.

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ARABIAN NIGHTS Fr. 2017. 101mins Director Rachid Hami Production companies Mizar Films, UGC, France 2 Cinema, Cité de la musique — Philharmonie de Paris International sales Gaumont, manuel.pereira@ gaumont.com Producer Nicolas Mauvernay Screenplay Guy Laurent, Valérie Zenatti, Rachid Hami Cinematography Jérome Alméras Editor Joelle Hache Production designer Sébastien Gondek Music Bruno Coulais Main cast Kad Merad, Samir Guesmi, Renely Alfred, Slimane Dazi, Mathieu Spinosi, Constance Dollé, Sofiene Mamdi, Tatiana Rojo

Love moves in the most twisted, mysterious ways in The Song Of Scorpions, a film whose gentle manner belies its darker themes.

Anup Singh’s ambitious third feature, following Qissa: The Tale Of A Lonely Ghost (2013) and Ekti Nodir Naam (2002), grows more compelling as it unfolds, following an independent woman as she struggles against hardship and treachery to remain true to her own instincts. This emotional journey allied to a handsome production and the international allure of stars Golshifteh Farahani and Irrfan Khan should be enough to ensure a solid commercial future for the film.

Filmed in the Thar desert of Rajasthan, The Song Of Scorpions is undeniably eye-catching. Cinematographer Pietro Zuercher makes the most of the contrast between the bright sunlight during the day, and the nights illuminated by stars in the clear sky or the comforting glow of a campfire. It is a film full of contrasts between ancient and modern. Bustling cities nestle alongside vast deserts, and camels and motorbikes are equally valid modes of transport. Traditional values, though, still hold sway over a population that has embraced the technological advances of the 21st century.

Nooran (Farahani) is equally torn between the past and the present. Stubbornly independent, she is learning to be a healer from her grandmother (Rehman), a celebrated singer renowned for her ability to save anyone poisoned by the sting of a scorpion. Nooran attracts the devotion of camel peddler Aadam (Khan), who will do anything to prove his love for her. When she is attacked and raped in the desert, Nooran is treated as an outcast by her own community and Aadam is given the chance to prove he will love her regardless of what tragedies befall them.

The material could easily have lent itself to melodrama or sentimentality but Singh’s understated direction lends it a steely conviction, which is further underpinned by some deft casting. Farahani retains a sense of the fire in her character even as events conspire to crush her spirit.

A soulful Khan makes Aadam such a charming, sensitive figure that it is hard to think ill of him even when we start to discover he is not quite the saintly figure that we had first imagined.

CINEMA OF THE WORLD Swi-Fr-Sing. 2017.

119mins Director/screenplay Anup Singh Production company Feather Light Films, KNM, Ciné Sud Promotion International sales The Match Factory, info@matchfactory.de Producers Saskia Vischer, Shahaf Peled, Michel Merkt Executive producers Justin Deimen, Gin Kai Chan, Shiladitya Bora Cinematography Pietro Zuercher Editor Marie-Pierre Frappier Music Béatrice Thiriet Production designer Rakesh Yadav Main cast Golshifteh Farahani, Irrfan Khan, Waheeda Rehman

December 7, 2017 Screen International at Dubai 7

SPOTLIGHT NEW TALENT

Arab Stars of Tomorrow 2017 Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty

As Screen International and DIFF unveil this year’s Arab Stars of Tomorrow, Melanie Goodfellow outlines how the five actors and filmmakers were selected ARAB STARS OF TOMORROW

One year on…

We check in on the progress made by the class of 2016

Manon Nammour

Maria Zreik

Marwan Abdullah Saleh

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he second edition of Screen International’s Arab Stars of Tomorrow, put together in association with Dubai International Film Festival, showcases five rising filmmakers from the Middle East and North Africa.

The 2017 selection features two actors, the UAE’s Marwan Abdullah Saleh and Egypt’s Ahmed Malek, who already have a following at home and are on the cusp of international recognition.

Meanwhile Palestinian actress Maria Zreik has starred in festival favourites Villa Touma and Ave Maria, and is now seeking an agent. She is in two films screening at DIFF: Wajib and Detained.

The two directors selected this year are Iraq’s Ayman Al-Shatri and Lebanon’s Manon Nammour.

They are both making short films exploring contemporary life in their complex countries. AlShatri’s award-winning work includes Warm Night and Five O’Clock, while Nammour’s On The Ropes premiered at Locarno Festival last year.

Arab Stars of Tomorrow is a spin-off from ’s highly respected UK & Screen International’s Ireland Stars of Tomorrow. Over the past 14 years, the showcase has become a point of reference for talent agents, casting directors, producers, filmmakers and festival programmers all over the world.

Launched in 2004, it has highlighted talents such as Benedict Cumberbatch, Emily Blunt, John Boyega, Hope Dickson Leach, Andrew Haigh and writer Jack Thorne when they were right at the beginning of their careers.

(Right) Maria Zreik in Wajib

8 Screen International at Dubai December 7, 2017

Ayman Al-Shatri

The five exciting talents presented here are poised for recognition beyond their home territories Arab Stars of Tomorrow is a response to the independent filmmaking scene that has sprung up across the Middle East and North Africa in recent years, thanks to new funding initiatives, the rise of affordable digital technology and in some territories, such as Tunisia, greater freedom of expression since the Arab Spring. The selection of just five people from a talent pool spanning 22 territories with a population of more than 300 million has been no easy feat, and the talents showcased here are just the tip of the iceberg. Screen International canvassed producers, sales agents, festival programmers, film development experts and filmmakers across the Arab world, as well as in Europe and the US, to compile this year’s list. There are no cash prizes or physical awards. The aim is to promote the actors and filmmakers to a global audience through networking events and a special editorial showcase in Screen International and on ScreenDaily.com. This year’s selected talents will be profiled each day in our DIFF dailies, starting tomorrow.

We believe the five exciting talents from the Arab world presented here are poised for recognition beyond their home territories, and are placed to make an impact on s the international film industry. ■

ebanese filmmaker Mounia Akl returns to DIFF to present her debut feature project Costa Brava at Dubai Film Connection. She is developing the script at Cannes’ Résidence du Festival in Paris. It caps a busy year for Akl, who premiered her short El Gran Libano in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes and then shot an episode of the upcoming TV series Do Not Disturb created by Michael Haussman and Larry Volpi for French short-content production house BlackPills.

Tunisian actress Mariam Alferjani returns to DIFF in Kaouther Ben Hania’s Beauty And The Dogs, which is screening in Arabian Nights. Alferjani plays a woman seeking justice after being raped by police officers. The actress and director has toured the international festival circuit with the film this year, beginning in Cannes where it premiered in Un Certain Regard.

Syrian actor Samer Ismail has been signed by Tom Drumm’s Los Angeles-based Think Tank Management & Production since being selected for Arab Stars of Tomorrow. He has appeared in compatriot director Soudade Kaadan’s Damascus siege tale The Day I Lost My Shadow, Image Nation’s upcoming comedy Shabab Sheyab and fantasy TV drama Orchidea, dubbed ‘the Arab Game Of Thrones’.

Moroccan director Alaa Eddine Aljem plans to shoot his debut feature, black comedy The Unknown Saint (Le Saint Inconnu) next September, having nearly fully financed the work as a three-territory co-production involving France and Belgium.

Jordanian filmmaker Amjad Al Rasheed has been on the festival circuit with his short The Parrot, which recently won the jury prize at Malmo Arab Film Festival in Sweden. He is continuing to develop his debut feature Inshallah It’s A Boy, set to star Saba Mubarak as a widow desperate to conceive a male heir. Rula Nasser recently boarded the project as lead producer.

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Melanie Goodfellow

(Clockwise from top left) Alaa Eddine Aljem, Samer Ismail, Amjad Al Rasheed, Mounia Akl and Mariam Alferjani

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Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

Ahmed Malek

IWC FILMMAKER AWARD SPOTLIGHT

Fantastic

Haifaa Al-Mansour Project Miss Camel

FOUR Four Gulf filmmakers have been shortlisted for this year’s prestigious IWC Filmmaker Award.

Louise Tutt profiles the talented quartet

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t is one of the most glamorous nights of a star-studded festival. This year’s IWC Filmmaker Award, presented by Dubai International Film Festival and Swiss watch manufacturer IWC Schaffhausen, showcases projects by four rising Gulf talents, three of whom, it must be noted, are women.

One will be awarded a cash prize of $100,000 at a gala ceremony at the One&Only Royal Mirage tonight.

The jury is headed by Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett and comprises IWC CEO Christoph Grainger-Herr, DIFF chairman Abdulhamid Juma, Tunisian actress and IWC brand ambassador Hend Sabry and DIFF artistic director Masoud Amralla Al Ali. Last year’s winner was Emirati filmmaker Abdullah Hassan Ahmed with his script Sunrise.

Al-Mansour made waves as the first female Saudi feature director with Wadjda in 2014. She is now developing Miss Camel as Saudi Arabia’s first animated feature with her partner Brad Niemann and is using the project to launch her own production company, Vendor House Productions.

Miss Camel is about a young woman determined to do anything she can to escape her arranged marriage and go to art school abroad. “I’ve always wanted to develop a project that celebrated the artistic legacy Haifaa Al-Mansour

Muzna Almusafer Project The Crown Of Olives

Omani filmmaker Almusafer is a familiar face at DIFF with her short films: Niqab in 2010 and the Enjaaz-backed Cholo in 2013.

The Crown Of Olives is her first feature script and is set in the sleepy Omani capital Muscat, centring on a young Moroccan woman who becomes a dancer in a brothel. It follows the tortured friendship that develops when she meets in a beauty salon a henna painter

of our region,” Al-Mansour explains.

“We are working to develop a visual style reminiscent of the illustrations from old Arabic manuscripts. It’s very important to me that Arab audiences identify the art as a part of them, of something that does not feel foreign.

“I want my children to see characters that look, feel and act the way we do, and to see them establishing positive trajectories,” she continues. “Reviving elements of these lost illustrations is meant to create a reverie, a sense of familiarity, in a story that seems new but is actually ingrained in who we are and the stories we once told each other.”

and her younger sister with whom she quickly becomes close.

“This project is the amalgamation of long days of psychological journeys that I went through to become acquainted with Moroccans living in Muscat, exploring their concept of magic, the tradition of coffee reading, understanding their position in a conservative society like Oman and their view of men here,” Almusafer explains.

The Crown Of Olives is at final draft stage and Almusafar is ready to go into production.

Sébastien Hussenot of France’s La Luna Productions is producing.

(Left) Muzna Almusafer

(Right) Jury head Cate Blanchett

Mohamed Rashed Buali Project Kombers

IWC FILMMAKER AWARD NOMINEES 2017

Nayla Al Khaja Project Animal

Through her company Nayla Al Khaja Films (formerly D-Seven Motion Pictures), Al Khaja is the first female Emirati film producer and has written, produced and directed short films including Malal, which won the Muhr Emirati award at DIFF in 2010.

Animal is her debut feature script. Based on a true story that took place in the 1980s, it is about two siblings who escape into a fantasy

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world to avoid their domineering father and the havoc he wreaks on their family and their upper-middle-class home in an old neighbourhood of Dubai.

France’s Jean-Charles Levy, whose credits include Race Race, is producing the project.

“I am simply fascinated

by Iranian filmmakers and by filmmakers from New Zealand,” Al Khaja says of her cinematic inspirations. “There is a rawness and a sense of purity in their work.”

(Left) Nayla Al Khaja

This is the second time Bahraini filmmaker Buali has been shortlisted for the IWC Filmmaker Award, following his nomination for the Enjaaz-backed The Sleeping Tree in 2012. The finished film went on to be selected for the best fiction feature competition at DIFF in 2014. Kombers is about a widower in his 40s who lives with his father and is trying to make it as an actor. His life cranks up a gear when he discovers he has inherited a lingerie shop and made the list for a new flat.

“The story represents the struggles of the ‘Average Joe’ or ‘Plain Jane’ in our society,” Buali explains. “The strange encounters he faces are loosely based on true stories around us.”

Mohamed Rashed Buali

‘Kombars’ is a phonetic term used in Arabic for the Italian/French word ‘comparse’, meaning extra or background actor. “It has a dual meaning in the film’s context,” says Buali. “In addition to being a struggling actor, the main character is also trying to find his place in a society dominated by the s media’s classification of social status.” ■

December 7, 2017 Screen International at Dubai 9

FESTIVAL FOCUS DIFF 2017

he 14th edition of DIFF opened last night with a gala screening of Scott Cooper’s western Hostiles starring Christian Bale as an army captain tasked with accompanying a Native American chief back to his homeland. Unfolding in the dying days of the indigenous population’s struggle to hold onto their homelands, the feature — which captures the period in all its brutality and complexity — has a strange resonance in the Middle East.

“The story happened in 1872 but it really speaks to a contemporary audience and reflects what is happening in the world today in terms of From Hostiles to local Arab drama, violence and rejection of others,” says DIFF this year’s DIFF line-up is chairman Abdulhamid Juma. “It’s a dark, strong more eclectic than ever. film but it has a lot of hope in it. I like the message that there is always hope, regardless of what hapMelanie Goodfellow reports pens around you.”

Some 140 films from 51 countries will screen over the eight-day festival, which will conclude with a gala premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Spanning all genres and formats,

T

Diverse DUBAI

‘The festival is complete in a 360-degree way. We’ve got the glamour of the red carpet, and the market is an important business and networking event’ Abdulhamid Juma, DIFF chairman

from shorts to features to VR, there will be 50 world and international premieres and 81 MENA premieres. The emphasis is, as ever, on Arab cinema, with 59 films hailing from the Gulf, Middle East and North Africa being showcased in the line-up (see ‘Arab cinema platform’, right).

It has been a busy year on the Middle East film festival circuit, with the cancellation of Marrakech International Film Festival on the one hand, and the launch of El Gouna Film Festival in Egypt on the other. “We haven’t really been impacted by any of these developments,” insists DIFF managing director Shivani Pandya. “El Gouna’s timing in September works well with our schedule. We haven’t felt we’re competing for titles or not got what we wanted. Our attitude has always been that the more platforms for Arab cinema the better.”

DIFF closer Star Wars: The Last Jedi

10 Screen International at Dubai December 7, 2017

) INDUSTRY HUB DIFF has pulled together a busy industry programme under the banner of the Dubai Film Market (DFM), and film and media professionals from across the Arab world, Europe and North America are attending. “The industry side has come into its own,” says DIFF managing director Shivani Pandya. “People in the region are increasingly finding the value of attending both for the Arab industry convening at the festival as well as for the networking opportunities with other international players.

A lot of people have been coming for a while now. They feel this is a great place to network.”

One of the key draws for producers and sales agents is the Dubai Film Connection (DFC) cofinancing event, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. A total of 13 projects from across the Arab world will be presented this year, including Theeb writer and producer Bassel Ghandour’s The Alleys, Lebanese director Mounia Akl’s Costa Brava and UK-Moroccan director Anwar Boulifa’s The Unwanted Unwanted.

Other project-focused initiatives include the sixth annual $100,000 IWC Filmmaker Award for Gulf filmmak-

ers. This year’s contenders are Animal by Emirati writer-director Nayla Al Khaja; Kombars by Bahraini filmmaker Mohamed Rashed Buali; Miss Camel by Saudi director Haifaa Al-Mansour; and The Crown Of Olives from Omani filmmaker Muzna Almusafer. Cate Blanchett is returning to the festival to head up the IWC jury.

A third project development prize — the Ministry of Interior Cinema Award, worth $100,000 — is aimed only at Emirati filmmakers. Animal and Kombars are in the running for this prize, alongside five other local projects including Amal Al-Agroobi’s Disruptive Servant.

Alongside the projects-based meetings, there is also a classic exhibition hall featuring companies and bodies from across the region and beyond, including immersive technology outfit Blink Studios, Dubai Studio City and the Arab Cinema Centre, organised by Cairobased distribution and PR company MAD Solutions. Industry delegates can also tap into the Forum industry talks programme, divided thematically over six days to cover virtual reality; finance and production; a UK spotlight entitled Best of (Left) The Death Of Stalin plays as part of a UK spotlight

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Dubai

73 Degrees Celsius

) ARAB CINEMA PLATFORM DIFF has always prided itself on being a special platform for Arab films and this year is no exception. A total of 59 productions from the Arab world will play across four competitions, spanning Arab, Gulf and short and feature formats, and two non-competitive sidebars, The Beach and Arabian Nights. There are 18 contenders in the Muhr Feature Competition, including seven world premieres. These range from Emirati director Nujoom Alghanem’s Sharp Tools, about the late Gulf artist Hassan Sharif, to Iraqi-Canadian filmmaker Baz Shamoun’s 73 Degrees Celsius, which follows three Iraqi children

whose lives were changed forever by the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

Highlights outside of competition include UKTunisian director Claire Belhassine’s The Man Behind The Microphone, which revolves around the filmmaker’s discovery that her grandfather was the iconic singer Hedi Jouini, while the Arabian Nights programme features festival hits including Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s Beauty And The Dogs and Algerian filmmaker Karim Moussaoui’s Until The Birds Return, which both premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in May.

) OSCAR WATCH Attendees at DIFF 2016

British; marketing and distribution; art and craft; and ‘Future’, which will look at developments that could shape the film industry going forward.

“I think the festival is now complete in a 360-degree way,” says DIFF chairman Abdulhamid Juma. “On the one hand, we’ve got the glamour of the red carpet, on the other the market has also taken off and become an important business and networking event for the region.”

) UK IN THE SPOTLIGHT As the British Council’s UK/UAE 2017 Year of Creative Collaboration draws to a close, the UK will be in the spotlight under a joint initiative between DIFF and the British Film Institute. UK titles including The Death Of Stalin, You Were Never Really Here and I Am Not A Witch have been programmed, and a number of UK film professionals will participate in the Best of British industry talks sidebar, including Oscar-winning costume designer Alexandra Byrne. The focus will also see the launch of the Writers Room, in which six writers and film professionals from the UK and Arab world exchange ideas. Participants will include Egypt’s Hala Lotfy, Jordan’s Darin Sallam, and Joseph Bull and Luke Seomore, co-directors of 2014 UK feature Blood Cells.

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Lebanon On Wheels

) DIFFERENT REALITY Building on its inaugural VR showcase in 2016, DIFF is running an expanded immersive programme.

A 20-person VR theatre will showcase a dozen new immersive works including the world premiere of Lebanese artist Kamel Harb’s Lebanon On Wheels and The Last Chair, a Rutger Hauer-voiced, two-part work

by Dutch filmmakers Anke Teunissen and Jessie van Vreden, which premiered last month at International Documentary Festival Amsterdam. Leading experts in the field will also participate in the Forum industry talks including Daniel Wan, lead digital creative at London-based Alchemy VR, which worked on David Attenborough’s Great Barrier Reef Dive VR experience, winner of the first Bafta award for digital creativity in April.

(Left) Patrick Stewart will receive a lifetime achievement award

As awards season heats up, DIFF is a key end-ofyear platform for works being put forward for consideration. Oscar hopefuls in the line-up include Darkest Hour, Downsizing and The Shape Of Water, as well as foreign-language submissions The Square, Wajib and A Gentle Creature. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas) will also be out in force, with its new president John Bailey delivering a talk on the body’s activities.

Ampas is also presenting two female-focused events including a panel moderated by Wajib director Annemarie Jacir, in which filmmakers Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry), Haifaa Al-Mansour (Mary Shelley), Niki Caro (Whale Rider) and Dee Rees (Mudbound) will discuss their experiences in the industry. The directors will also participate in a closed-door masterclass aimed at female film students from across the UAE. “Roughly 40% of the filmmakers at DIFF are women and we thought this would make a good discussion,” says Pandya.

) HOT TICKETS UK actor Patrick Stewart, who receives a lifetime achievement award, will talk about his career in a special ‘In Conversation’ event. Other festival honorees will include Indian actor Irrfan Khan and Egyptian writer Wahid Hamed.

“Wahid is the king of scripts,” says Juma. “From the beginning we’ve always tried to honour people from our three key geographical areas of focus, the Arab world, the western world and the east. It has s come together well this year.” ■

December 7, 2017 Screen International at Dubai 11

SPOTLIGHT DIFF JURIES

The grand jury DIFF jury members, who have come to Dubai from all over the world, reveal what they are most looking forward to experiencing this year at the festival. Louise Tutt reports.

AHMAD ABDALLA MUHR FEATURE JURY

Ahmad Abdalla relishes the multiculturalism of Dubai and is here to sample more than the best new films and filmmakers Egyptian director Ahmad Abdalla remembers fondly the DIFF screening of his second feature, Microphone, in 2010: “The film was played on a huge screen by the sea and, for the first time, we presented the independent music bands featured in the film playing live after the credits,” he recalls.

“It was an amazing evening.”

For Abdalla, the festival reflects the diversity of Dubai. “For an Egyptian filmmaker, that means a lot,” he explains. “In DIFF, I can screen my film for the Arabic audience, and can sense how other cultures are accepting it.”

The filmmaker is now putting the finishing touches to his fifth feature, Night/Ext, about three people trapped together in a taxi one night in Cairo.

“It’s a small, fun project I made with the help of colleagues in Egypt,” Abdalla explains. “We expect the film to be ready by summer 2018.”

The feature is produced by Hala Lotfy’s Hassala Films and will be distributed by Mohamed Hefzy’s Film Clinic. The impressive Egyptian cast includes Karim Kassem and Mona Hala.

Abdalla is quietly optimistic about the state of Egyptian filmmaking: “We have now the largest number of theatres in our history and the highest income from commercial blockbusters in more than 100 years of cinema. We have more films being screened in big international festivals than before,” he says.

And DIFF has an additional lure: “Food,” he says. “Before I check the films I’m seeing each day, I always choose where I am having my dinner, then plan the films I watch accordingly. I hope being a jury member this year will not prevent me from doing this.”

12 Screen International at Dubai December 7, 2017

MARTINA GEDECK PRESIDENT, MUHR FEATURE JURY

The German actress intends to immerse herself in Arab culture and film, and to use her role as jury president to promote ethical causes This year marks Martina Gedeck’s first time at the festival. It is also the first time the award-winning German actress has ever visited the region, and she is hungry to absorb all it has to offer. “I am curious about the country and its people,” she says. “And I am particularly looking forward to getting to know the Arab film landscape.

“The Arab region has gone through so many changes during the past years, and since art and especially film always reflect on society’s development, it will be interesting to see in what way Arab filmmakers are dealing with their reality, and also with their dreams.

“How do they analyse the past? What answers do they give? What are the new questions they ask?”

Gedeck is one of Europe’s leading actresses. Her international breakthrough came with her role as a chef struggling to connect with her young niece in Sandra Nettelbeck’s Mostly Martha in 2001. She went on to star in the Oscar-winning The Lives Of Others and Oscar-nominated The Baader Meinhof Complex. She works regularly in German TV and has two feature roles lined up for release in 2018. The first is Julian Pölsler’s Killing Stella, a prequel to his 2012 feminist allegory Die Wand, about a woman dealing with the

‘I feel very responsible for what I do in film and also for what kind of film I do’ Martina Gedeck

fall-out from her failed marriage. This will be followed

by Josef Bierbichler’s Two Men In A Suit in March.

“I feel very responsible for what I do in film and also for what kind of film I do,” Gedeck says of her choices.

“I find it important the audience sees something that enriches them in both mind and heart. In Europe and foremost Germany, society is dealing with the thousands of refugees who arrive every year and what we can do to successfully integrate them.

“We have to work together in dealing with problems like that. One cannot exclude oneself any more. The same goes for the immense problem of climate change that the world community has to solve. For me, that’s why film festivals are so important; they give people from different cultures the possibility to exchange points of views, to get to know each other better and get a better understanding of the other.”

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GILLES MARCHAND PRESIDENT, MUHR SHORT & GULF SHORT

The French writer-director explains why he believes short filmmaking is as demanding and rewarding as directing a feature “I’m happy and very curious,” says writer-director Gilles Marchand, ahead of his first trip to DIFF to head up the Muhr Short and Gulf Short juries.

“I am a regular at Cannes, where you can see films from all countries. For my part, I have always loved diversity in cinema. But even so — and it may seem strange — films have no nationality for me. Of course, the directors are born somewhere, and their stories are nourished by their experiences, which are necessarily related to the places

‘Most people who make features have worked on shorts. They know it’s a special kind of storytelling’ Gilles Marchand

they come from and the societies in which they live. But what to me seems most valuable in a movie comes from the view that the one who made it makes us share.”

Marchand enjoys a long collaboration with Germanyborn writer-director Dominik Moll, with whom he wrote the psychological thriller Harry, He’s Here To Help, a hit in Cannes when it played in Competition in 2000. Marchand has also directed his own features, including Who Killed Bambi? (2003), Black Heaven (2010) and Into The Forest (2016), all co-written with Moll. They are now collaborating on a new feature.

Marchand has also directed several short films.

“It’s as hard to make a good short film as [it is] a good feature film,” he says. “Maybe more difficult. When they see a feature film, the viewer knows they have it for an hour and a half, two hours or more. They abandon themselves more easily. Faced with a short film, the viewer wonders why we dwell on a scene, why we are told this and not that. They are often more impatient.

“Most people who make feature films have worked on short films. They know it’s a special kind of storytelling — demanding and often exciting.”

MAGDI AHMED ALI PRESIDENT, MUHR EMIRATI JURY

DIFF regular Magdi Ahmed Ali says the festival has been pivotal in creating new filmmakers and cineastes in the Gulf region Renowned Egyptian director Magdi Ahmed Ali first came to DIFF with Nile Birds in 2009, a hardhitting look at the reality of life in Cairo told through the eyes of a young man recently arrived in the city. It played in the Muhr Arab Competition and won the prize for best editor.

He was back at DIFF last year in the Muhr Feature Competition with The Preacher, which starred Amr Saad as a young sheikh with a daily TV show who is having doubts about the message he is conveying to his audience of millions.

“My first and lingering impression is that Dubai is an organised and well-established film festival, with a well-disciplined spirit that makes it move forward,” says Ahmed Ali, who enjoys the event’s intimate atmosphere. “The festival has succeeded in creating new generations of filmmakers and cineastes in the Gulf region that are both interested in watching films and in making cinema.”

The director is working on two features: Life Is More Beautiful Than Paradise, about an Egyptian fundamentalist and the rise of the Salafi movement in Egypt; and The Magic Of Passion, a love story written by the late Ra’fat Al Mihy, about a Muslim and a Christian living in the city of Hurghada. Both are being produced by IProductions, the privately financed film and TV company owned by Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris. with whom he collaborated on The Preacher.

He laments the limited role the Egyptian government plays in nurturing filmmakers. “There’s no interest in supporting young filmmakers,

‘Dubai is an organised and well-established festival, with a very well-disciplined spirit that makes it move forward’ Magdi Ahmed Ali

The Preacher

nor building cinemas or reducing tax, or in creating an atmosphere that allows freedom or democracy when dealing with sensitive matters,” he says.

However, he does see some bright points: “The new generation of filmmakers is still pushing to make special films, and there is a small window of freedom available to the older generation to move through to make their films.

“The Egyptian audience is very diverse and is capable of enjoying different kinds of creativity,” he continues. “We have The Preacher’s commercial s success as a proof of this.” ■

(Right) Into The Forest

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December 7, 2017 Screen International at Dubai 13

SCREENINGS Edited by Paul Lindsell

» Screening times and venues are

correct at the time of going to press but subject to alteration.

paullindsell@gmail.com

FESTIVAL THEATRES ARENA Madinat Jumeirah

SOUK THEATRE Madinat Jumeirah

THE BEACH Opposite Jumeirah Beach Residencies

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THE DU VR CINEMA DIFF HQ foyer

FESTIVAL 10:00 ORCHESTRA CLASS (LA MELODIE)

(France) Gaumont.

101mins. Drama. Dir: Rachid Hami. Cast: Kad Merad, Samir Guesmi, Renely Alfred.

Simon is a distinguished but disillusioned violinist.

Arnold is a shy student who is fascinated by the violin.

With Arnold’s raw talent and the joyous energy of his class, Simon gradually rediscovers the joy of music.

Together, they will overcome many obstacles and succeed in enrolling the class in an end-of-the-year concert at the prestigious Paris Philharmonic.

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11:00

13:00 EXTRAVAGANZA

ON CHESIL BEACH

(US) 6mins. Fiction, animation, comedy.

Dir: Ethan Shaftel.

Cast: Paul Scheer, John Gemberling, Will Greenberg.

An immersive VR film that mixes animation and live-action footage in a bitingly funny satire. You are a puppet trapped in an offensive show, performing for a clueless executive and confronted with his prejudices. Can technology change society for the better, or does it magnify our worst traits in new ways?

(UK) Rocket Science.

109mins. Drama. Dir: Dominic Cooke. Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Emily Watson, Billy Howle,

DIFFerent Reality (2) The du VR Cinema Public

14:00 SHOCK AND AWE

(UK) 10mins. Comedy.

Dir: Mike Samir, Matej Chlupacek. Cast: Robert Ashe, Tricia Kelly, Steve Paget.

Set in a fictional part of England where everything is in perfect order. Chaos begins when an elderly resident paints her house pink. As the committee debates the matter, tempers flare and hilarity ensues.

(US) Voltage Pictures.

91mins. Biography, drama, historical, thriller.

Dir: Rob Reiner. Cast: Woody Harrelson, James Marsden, Tommy Lee Jones.

A group of journalists covering George W Bush’s planned invasion of Iraq in 2003 are sceptical of the president’s claim that Saddam Hussein has “weapons of mass destruction”.

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THE COMMITTEE

18:00

14 Screen International at Dubai December 7, 2017

Anne-Marie Duff.

A drama set in the early 1960s and centred on a young couple on their honeymoon.

Cinema of the World Madinat Arena Gala

A story of twisted love, revenge and the redemptive power of a song. Nooran is a tribal woman learning the ancient art of healing from her grandmother, a revered “scorpion-singer” who is believed to be able to counter the fatal sting of a scorpion. When Aadam, a camel trader in the Rajasthan desert, hears Nooran sing, he falls in love. Before they are suitably acquainted, Nooran is poisoned by a brutal treachery that sets her on a perilous journey.

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18:15 73°C

15:00 SERGEANT JAMES

(France) Wide Management. 7mins.

Fiction. Dir: Alexandre Perez. Cast: Elliot Daurat, Eleonore Joncquez.

It is Leo’s bedtime. When his mum goes to switch off the light, the little boy thinks there is something under his bed… “Will you leave the light on, please?” asks Leo. DIFFerent Reality (3) The du VR Cinema Public

17:00 THE LAST CHAIR: FRED (AL MAKAAD AL AKHIR: FRED)

(Netherlands) 15mins.

Non-fiction. Dir: Jessie Van Vreden, Anke Teunissen.

Through the protagonists — an elderly Egbert living out his last days and Fred, a terminally ill ex-hippie — we experience a calm that’s rarely seen in the modern world. At the same time, we

are silent witnesses of lives drawing to an end.

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18:00 LOVELESS (NELYUBOV)

(Russia, France, Belgium, Germany) Wild Bunch.

127mins. Drama. Dir: Andrey Zvyagintsev. Cast: Maryana Spivak, Alexey Rozin, Matvey Novikov.

A couple going through a divorce must team up to find their son who has disappeared during one of their bitter arguments.

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ON CHESIL BEACH See box, above

THE SONG OF SCORPIONS

(France, Singapore, Switzerland) The Match Factory. 120mins.

Drama. Dir: Anup Singh.

Cast: Golshifteh Farahani, Irrfan Khan, Waheeda Rehman.

(Canada, Iraq, Czech Republic, UAE) KIC Film.

103mins. Non-fiction.

Dir: Baz Dinka Shamoun.

Asia, Rayan and Ali find themselves imprisoned in their homeland, Iraq, because of the Western invasion. In a country where violence and religious war pose a threat to their wellbeing, life has become a battle — their main challenge is to exist. They had ambitions when they were children but war destroyed all hope. Can they change their destiny?

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BEAUTY AND THE DOGS (AALA KAF IFRIT)

(Tunisia, Qatar, France, Lebanon, Sweden) Jour2Fête. 100mins.

Drama. Dir: Kaouther Ben Hania. Cast: Mohamed Al Akkari, Mariam Alferjani, Ghanem Zrelli.

During a student party, Mariam, a young Tunisian woman, meets the

VOX CINEMAS OUTDOOR Galleria Mall

mysterious Youssef and leaves with him. A long night begins, during which she will have to fight for her rights and her dignity.

But how can she find justice when it lies on the side of the tormentors?

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18:30 HEAVEN WITHOUT PEOPLE (GHADA EL EID)

(Lebanon) 91mins.

Drama. Dir: Lucien Bourjeily. Cast: Farah Shaer, Samira Sarkis, Nadim Abou Samra.

Josephine, the matriarch of a sprawling family, is delighted to gather everyone at an Easter lunch for the first time in two years.

While they share a joyful meal, an incident ignites underlying tensions between the family members.

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MATCH

(UAE) Hush Films.

90mins. Drama.

Dir: Obaid Al Hmoudi.

Cast: Waleed Al Yasi, Mahmood Bin Shamsan, Sawsan Saad.

Two brothers have a tough life. When their father is murdered, they find themselves in even more challenging circumstances.

The film follows the paths taken by each sibling, and the consequences of their actions.

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18:45 69 MINUTES OF 86 DAYS

(Norway) Taskovski Films.

70mins. Non-fiction. Dir: Egil Haaskjold Larsen. www.screendaily.com

FURTHER DIFF COVERAGE, SEE SCREENDAILY.COM

We follow three-year-old refugee Lean on her flight through Europe, for 69 minutes of 86 days.

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CUSTODY (JUSQU’A LA GARDE)

(France) Celluloid Dreams. 90mins. Drama.

Dir: Xavier Legrand. Cast: Denis Menochet, Lea Drucker, Thomas Gioria.

A broken marriage leads to a bitter custody battle with an embattled son at the centre.

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KISS ME NOT (BALASH TEBOSNY)

(Egypt) MAD Solutions.

88mins. Comedy. Dir: Ahmed Amer. Cast: Yasmine Rais, Sawsan Badr, Mohamed Mahran.

A young director faces major challenges to shoot a kissing scene for his first film in an increasingly conservative society.

Arabian Nights Souk Madinat Theatre Public

19:00 WAR TOURIST

(US) 30mins. Non-fiction, war. Dir: Emiliano Ruprah.

An immersive documentary with a personal perspective on the motives behind filming war and an exploration about the role images play in militarising civilians.

Lakhmari. Cast: Sarah Perles, Ilyass El Jihani, Anas El Baz. Thirteen-year-old Ayoub is a shoeshine boy whose dream is to buy a prosthetic leg for his crippled mother.

Jad, a wealthy young heir, hides behind the wheel of his sports car as he challenges himself to drive from his house to the beach in three minutes. And Aida, a young resident in a hospital who wants to make more money, becomes an escort for rich men.

Fragile characters confront their loneliness, misery, fears and hopes.

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THE SQUARE

(Denmark, France, Germany, Sweden) Coprodution Office.

142mins. Comedy, drama.

Dir: Ruben Ostlund.

Cast: Dominic West, Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, Terry Notary.

A satirical drama set around an art gallery and its latest installation, The Square. The story is a reflection of our times — the sense of community, moral courage and the affluent person’s need

for egocentricity in an uncertain world.

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21:30 A GENTLE CREATURE (KROTKAYA)

(France, Germany, Lithuania, Netherlands) Wild Bunch. 143mins.

Drama. Dir: Sergei Loznitsa. Cast: Vasilina Makovtseva, Marina Kleshcheva, Lia Akhedzhakova.

A woman in a village in Russia receives back a parcel she had sent to her husband, who is serving a sentence in prison.

Confused and angry, she sets out to find why her package was returned.

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talent and the joyous energy of his class, Simon gradually rediscovers the joy of music. Together, they will overcome many obstacles and succeed in enrolling the class in an end-of-the-year concert at the prestigious Paris Philharmonic.

Arabian Nights Madinat Arena Gala

THE OUTLAWS (BEOMJOIDOSI)

(South Korea) M-Line Distribution. 121mins.

Action, drama. Dir: Kang Yoon-Sung. Cast: Yoon Kye-Sang, Don Lee. Based on real events that occurred in 2007 dubbed the “Heuksapa Incident”.

The story follows a turf war between rival gangs.

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21:45

ORCHESTRA CLASS (LA MELODIE)

LOVE ME NOT

(France) Gaumont.

101mins. Drama. Dir: Rachid Hami. Cast: Kad Merad, Samir Guesmi, Renely Alfred.

Simon is a distinguished but disillusioned violinist.

Arnold is a shy student who is fascinated by the violin. With Arnold’s raw

(Greece, France) Elle Driver. 103mins. Thriller.

Dir: Alexandros Avranas.

Cast: Eleni Roussinou, Christos Loulis.

A couple hire a young migrant to be their surrogate mother and move her into the villa. The woman and the girl bond

MOUNTAIN

21:15 BURNOUT

(Morocco) Nelfilms, Filmhuset Studio.

113mins. Drama.

Dir: Nour-Eddine

www.screendaily.com

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Reporter Melanie Goodfellow, melaniegoodfellow100@ gmail.com

ZAGROS

Reviews editor Mark Adams, mark.adams@ edfilmfest.org.uk

(Belgium, Netherlands) Alice Buquoy. 95mins.

Drama. Dir: Sahim Omar Kalifa. Cast: Feyyaz Duman, Halima Ilter, Daria Hachem Mohamed.

Havin, the wife of Kurdish shepherd Zagros, is accused of adultery. She flees with their daughter to Brussels.

Zagros, convinced of her innocence, leaves his family to start a new life.

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22:00 CAMERA See box, below

MY GENERATION

(UK) IM Global. 86mins.

Music, non-fiction. Dir: David Batty. Cast: Michael Caine.

British film icon Michael Caine’s personal journey through 1960s London.

ONE OF THESE DAYS

19:30

The Beach The Beach Public

DIFF EDITORIAL OFFICE PRESS & PUBLICITY OFFICE, MADINAT JUMEIRAH CONFERENCE CENTRE

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DIFFerent Reality (5) The du VR Cinema Public

(Australia) Dogwoof Films. 74mins. Musical, non-fiction, adventure.

Dir: Jennifer Peedom.

A dazzling exploration of our obsession with mountains.

while the man is away on work, but the woman shows signs of chronic depression behind her forced cheerfulness. After a confrontation with the girl, she goes for a drive. Her husband receives a call the next morning: his wife’s burned body has been found in the wrecked car.

FESTIVAL 22:00 CAMERA

(UAE) 65mins. Drama, thriller. Dir: Abdullah Aljunaibi. Cast: Humaid Alawadi, Omar Almulla, Yaser Alneyadi.

A group of friends cruising through the desert find a camera.

Their curiosity gets the better of them and they play what it has recorded.

The footage reveals

another group of friends who are on a road trip that turns into a horrific tale of survival.

Muhr Emirati Mall of the Emirates — Vox 17 Public

(Lebanon, UAE) MC Distribution. 91mins.

Drama. Dir: Nadim Tabet.

Cast: Manal Issa, Yumna Marwan, Reine Salameh.

A 24-hour youth chronicle in Beirut. They’re in their early twenties, they are smart, beautiful and hungry for life. Beirut is experiencing yet another terrorist attack with street demonstrations and police checkpoints. For a generation that has known war since birth, it’s sadly just one of those days. They still have the music, their youth and their dreams.

Arabian Nights Mall of the Emirates — Vox 03 Public

EDITORIAL DIFF dailies editor and Asia editor Liz Shackleton lizshackleton@gmail.com

Contributor Colin Brown, colinbrown1@earthlink.net Features editor Louise Tutt, tuttlouise@gmail.com Group head of production & art Mark Mowbray, mark. mowbray@screendaily.com Sub editors Paul Lindsell, Jon Lysons, Richard Young EDITORIAL Publishing director Nadia Romdhani, nadia. romdhani@screendaily.com, +44 7540 100 315 Commercial director Scott Benfold, scott.benfold@ screendaily.com, +44 7765 257 260 International sales consultant Raphael Bechakjian, raphael.bechakjian@ screendaily.com, +44 20 8102 0862 Production manager Jonathon Cooke, jonathon. cooke@mb-insight.com Group commercial director, MBI Alison Pitchford Chief executive, MBI Conor Dignam Printer Atlas Group, Street 26, Al Quoz 4, PO Box 14833, Dubai, +971 4 340 9895, admin@atlasgroupme.com

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December 7, 2017 Screen International at Dubai 15