Screen DIFF 2017 Day 3

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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9 2017

AT DUBAI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL www.ScreenDaily.com

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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9 2017

AT DUBAI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL www.ScreenDaily.com

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Vox, Iraqi Cinema swoop on DIFF titles

BY MELANIE GOODFELLOW

Regional exhibitors Vox Cinemas and Iraqi Cinema have acquired three DIFF films under the festival’s Dubai Distribution Programme (DDP).

Dubai-based Vox (aka Majid Al Futtaim Cinemas) has taken rights to two Emirati titles competing in DIFF’s Muhr Emirati section: Abdullah Aljunaibi’s thriller Camera, revolving around the murder of a young boy in the desert, and family saga Match, about two brothers

Nacer Khemir opens book for princess

left to fend for themselves following the death of their parents.

“Exposing the public to the work of Emirati filmmakers is the first step in creating awareness and appreciation for Emirati cinema.

We are proud to continue the partnership with DIFF’s Dubai Distribution Programme,” said Vox general manager Jacques Kruger.

Baghdad-based Iraqi Cinema — the territory’s top exhibitor with five multiplexes mainly situated in the capital — has acquired Iraqi

director Mohamed Al-Daradji’s suicide-attack drama The Journey, also under DDP. Zaid F Jawad, Iraqi Cinema’s founding CEO, said the company was planning a big push for The Journey in late January.

“There will be a big premiere with Al-Daradji, the cast and all the local TV channels. There will be merchandising gifts for the audience,” Jawad said. “It’s only the second time we’ve done something on this scale for an Iraqi film.”

Launched by the Dubai Film

Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty

Market in 2014 to support the release of Arabic films in the MENA region, DDP involves a group of local distributors who pledge to acquire theatrical rights to at least one title in the festival line-up.

The number of participants has expanded this year to include Front Row Filmed Entertainment and Kuwaiti National Cinema Company, Gulf Film and new partners Empire International, Prime Pictures and Cinemacity.

Aleppo, Faces Places on road to the Oscars

BY LIZ SHACKLETON

BY MELANIE GOODFELLOW

Tunisian filmmaker and artist Nacer Khemir is gearing up to direct a docudrama about Andalucian princess Wallada bint alMustakfi, thought to be the first woman in Europe to set up a literary salon.

The daughter of one of the last Umayyad caliphs, Wallada was an accomplished poet and intellectual who shocked 11th century Cordoba by refusing to wear a veil.

“I’ve interviewed scholars who say she was the first European woman to have this idea of bringing together writers, musicians and philosophers in a salon,” said Khemir, who is attending DIFF for the world premiere of his latest film Whispering Sands. “I want people to remember this strong and glamorous Arab woman, who lived centuries ago.”

Khemir has already started shooting interviews for the film, Loving Wallada. He is also developing narrative feature The Man Who Lost His Cloud, about a man who decides to call together all the women from his past, but dies before they arrive.

Also an artist, sculptor and cost u m e d e s i g n e r, K h e m i r i s renowned for his desert trilogy, the first of which, Wanderers Of The Desert (1984), screened in Venice Classics this year.

Syrian director Firas Fayyad’s Last Men In Aleppo, which is playing in DIFF’s Muhr Feature competition, has made it onto the final 15-title shortlist for best documentary feature at the upcoming 90th Academy Awards.

Agnes Varda and street artist JR’s Faces Places, which screens in DIFF’s Cinema of the World lineup, has also made it onto the list.

Fayyad’s feature captures the work of the civilian emergency services unit the White Helmets as it comes to the aid of the citizens of Aleppo caught up in the siege of the city by government forces.

It is one of two Syrian Civil Warthemed films on the Oscars shortlist alongside US director Matthew Heineman’s City Of Ghosts, which follows a group of anonymous activists documenting life in Raqqa under Isis.

Olga Kurylenko on the red carpet at DIFF last night for the gala screening of Armando Iannucci’s The Death Of Stalin

Hajwala drifts back into race A sequel to Emirati street-racing hit Hajwala: The Missing Engine, which grossed $1m regionally when it was released in late 2016, is due to start shooting next week.

Hajwala 2: The Mysterious Mission will co-star Emirati actors

Hussain Al Hosani and Ali Abdulla Al Marzooqi. Ibrahim Bin Mohamed returns to direct. The storyline will have an added dimension that sees street racers join forces with figures from the car-drifting scene.

The project is being co-funded by

pan-Arab distributor Empire International and Dhabi Films.

“The car and drifting communities inspired us to make high-quality stories and local content for the cinema,” said Bin Mohamed. The sequel will hit screens in the second quarter of 2018. The original is available on Netflix in 190 countries.

Melanie Goodfellow

TODAY

The Blessed, page 7

NEWS Regional dreams Image Nation set to release two local comedies and Saudi mermaid drama Scales in 2018 » Page 5

PROFILES Up and coming Screen showcases more of the projects in Dubai Film Connection » Page 6

REVIEW The Blessed Disillusionment and generational frustration on the streets of Algiers » Page 7

FORUM EVENTS 10:00-11:00 Screen International Arab Stars of Tomorrow Location Press conference room Speakers Ayman Al-Shatri, director; Ahmed Malek, actor; Manon Nammour, director; Marwan Abdullah Saleh, actor; Maria Zreik, actress Moderator Melanie Goodfellow, France and Middle East correspondent, Screen International

11:00-12:30 Creating iconic screen characters: a Bafta masterclass with Alexandra Byrne Location Forum room Guest Alexandra Byrne, costume designer Interviewer Mariayah Kaderbhai, film programme manager, Bafta

15:30-16:30 Masterclass: The Writers’ Room — making script development work Location Forum room Presenter Ludwik Smolski, script consultant

17:00-18:15 Networking session: meet the UK industry Location Forum room Participants Rachel Robey, British Council; Cate Kane, Curzon Artificial Eye; Samm Haillay, Third Films; Isabel Davis, British Film Institute; Ludwik Smolski, script consultant; Robbie Allen, Creative Scotland; Eve Gabereau, Modern Films

There’s a new buzz in Knightsbridge.

D EFIN IN G C ON T E MP O R A RY ELE G ANCE F O R GENE R AT I ON S TO C OME .

66 Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 7LA Tel +44 (0) 20 7235 2000 mandarinoriental.com

NEWS

Industry still relies on Euro soft money European co-production is still an essential piece of the funding puzzle for Arab filmmakers as regional sources of finance are dwindling, said speakers at DIFF Forum yesterday.

“We’re looking to Europe for soft money, because although it’s more expensive to make a film in France than in the Arab world, many local funds have been shutting down lately,” said Jordanian producer Rula Nasser.

Paris and Algiers-based producer Salem Brahimi said Arab filmmakers often complain about the European funding system, as financiers are looking for subject matter that is “flavour of the month”.

But he added: “You have to remember it’s a system and you have similar restrictions in Hollywood. It’s incredible that films get made in Palestine or Algeria because someone in Europe thinks it’s interesting.

The question we should be asking is, ‘When will Arab countries come together to create a similar system?’”

Nasser added that the problem also lies with audiences.

“We speak the same language across the region, but only Egyptian films are crossing over.

We all read subtitles so why not watch a Moroccan film?”

Liz Shackleton

Image Nation lines up local trio

BY MELANIE GOODFELLOW

Image Nation Abu Dhabi is set for a high-profile 2018 with a trio of Arabic-language productions set for release, including local comedies Rashid & Rajab and Shabab Sheyab, and Saudi mermaid drama Scales.

“This has been a very fertile time for us — the films are all in various stages of post-production,” said Image Nation CEO Michael Garin. “We should be getting the director’s cut for Scales next week, which is an exciting project from female Saudi director Shahad Ameen.”

Shabab Sheyab is set for release early next year by pan-Arab production and distribution house Tanweer, which also co-produced the feature. It is the tale of four elderly friends whose humdrum

Shabab Sheyab

lives are transformed when one of them inherits a fortune.

Garin also has high hopes for body-swap comedy Rashid & Rajab, starring local actor and Screen Arab Star of Tomorrow 2017 Marwan Abdullah Saleh with Egyptian actor Shadi Alfons.

It is the debut feature of Moham-

med Saeed Harib, creator of the hit animated series Freej.

“That could be our most popular film because it has the broadest appeal, thanks to the subject matter, the casting and involvement of Mohammed,” said Garin.

Image Nation, which is selffunding after an initial cash injec-

tion from the Abu Dhabi government, continues to invest in international productions to generate revenues for future regional productions. Upcoming international films on which Image Nation has partnered include Roman J. Israel, Esq., starring Denzel Washington, Brandon Camp’s Benji and horror thriller Prey.

“We’re still waiting but very hopeful for a greenlight on Barbie,” said Garin of a big live-action production, backed by Sony and involving Image Nation’s associate producers Walter F Parkes and Laurie MacDonald.

Meanwhile, Ali F Mostafa’s dystopian drama The Worthy, which was produced by Image Nation and screened at last year’s DIFF, was acquired by Netflix on the eve of this year’s festival.

Female filmmakers break barriers, stereotypes

BY MELANIE GOODFELLOW

Leading female directors Kimberly Peirce, Haifaa Al Mansour and Niki Caro hit the DIFF Forum on Friday to discuss their careers in a wideranging session touching on inequality in the film industry and how to create more opportunities for women in cinema.

Saudi filmmaker Al Mansour told the Ampas-organised event

about her journey from growing up in a small town to becoming her nation’s first female director with Wadjda. She has since moved on to English-language fare with Mary Shelley, which is screening at DIFF. “After Wadjda, I really wanted to do an English-language film.

When they sent me Mary Shelley I was like, ‘What? Mary Shelley, an English woman, it’s period, I’m

from Saudi Arabia. Do they know that?’ But then I read the script and understood it was about a woman trying to find her voice. It reminded me of my life in Saudi Arabia.”

New Zealand-based Caro — who broke out with 2002 feature Whale Rider — is now one of Hollywood’s most sought after directors and is gearing up for Disney’s live-action Mulan remake as well

as biopic Callas. She said that forging a cinema career was tough for women wherever they were based.

“I want to acknowledge how many obstacles will be thrown in your path because you’re a woman.

I’m realistic about that. But what they don’t tell you is they can’t stop you. You can bale out at any time but they can’t stop you if you’re passionate,” she said.

ONE ON ONE NABIL AYOUCH, DIRECTOR, RAZZIA

Franco-Moroccan filmmaker Nabil Ayouch tells Melanie Goodfellow how his latest work Razzia — which plays here in the Muhr Feature competition — grew out of controversy around his last film Much Loved

N

abil Ayouch returns to DIFF for the fifth time with Razzia, his searing critique of Moroccan society that plays in the Muhr Feature competition and is his country’s foreign-language film Oscar submission.

The work opens with a Berber proverb declaring: “Happy is the person who can live their life as they please.” Ayouch explains it is the leitmotif of the film. “I wanted to capture the lives of individuals who are all marked by a strong desire for freedom, whether it be from society, their families, the state or even their relationships,” says Ayouch.

“It grew out of this sense of suffocation I feel within Moroccan society, that I live every day and that became all the more apparent to me with my last feature-length film Much Loved,

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Nabil Ayouch

when I saw the incredibly violent reactions it provoked at home.”

The 2015 picture, about three women working as prostitutes in Marrakesh, premiered in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes but was

quickly banned at home. One of the lead actresses was later forced to flee Morocco after she was violently assaulted on the street.

In Razzia, Ayouch paints a rich fresco of life in Casablanca, interlacing lives from across the social spectrum, including a Berber schoolmaster who quits his post in a remote mountain village after he is forced to teach in Arabic; a Freddie Mercury-loving singer from the slum quarter of Sidi Moumen; a restaurant owner hailing from the city’s dwindling Jewish community, and a fragile teenager growing up with a gilded lifestyle. A sense of frustration runs through all their storylines. When some of these lives collide in a spectacular final scene, the latent tension bubbling under the surface explodes onto the screen.

Ayouch collaborated on the screenplay with writer, filmmaker and wife Maryam Touzani, who would go on to play a beautiful, stylish woman at odds with the calls for modesty on the streets in the film. “It’s a character we created together but we weren’t planning for Maryam to play the role. It just happened naturally as we were writing,” says Ayouch.

“This collaboration grew out of the fact we had lived through the ordeal of Much Loved together. There was this populist backlash, this hatred that was directed towards the actresses, my family and me, which went on for months. At the same time, every evening, we would tell ourselves that something positive would be born out of the situation.” » See review, page 6

December 9, 2017 Screen International at Dubai 5

REVIEWS Reviews edited by Mark Adams madams9660@gmail.com

Razzia Reviewed by Lisa Nesselson

The Journey Reviewed by Wendy Ide This lean drama is set entirely in and around Baghdad Central Station, a device designed to allow director Mohamed Al-Daradji to include as broad a cross-section of Iraqi society as possible.

At the centre of the story is an uncomfortable encounter between secular Iraq, represented by opportunistic hustler Salam (Ameer Ali Jabarah), and the religious fundamentalism that drives Sara (Zahraa Ghandour) to stand at the heart of the station with a bomb strapped to her chest and the aim of ‘purifying’ her country.

Although somewhat schematic in its choice of scenes and supporting characters — at times it feels as though the filmmakers were working through a checklist of Iraqi archetypes — the main narrative moves at a brisk pace.

The date is December 30, 2006. It is a red-letter day for the people of Baghdad. Not only is it the first day of Eid, it is also the date of the grand reopening of the train station. Along with officious policemen and milling passengers, a contingent of US soldiers are loudly keeping the peace. It is this American presence that has marked the station as a target for an attack.

Sara is poised to detonate her bomb when Salam crashes into her life. He spins her a well-practised line about being the country’s premier importer of prosthetic limbs. But Sara is not in the mood for idle flirtation, and takes him as her hostage.

The striking contrast between the two main actors makes for a intriguing, and sometimes jarring dynamic: Ghandour is restrained, her face a tense, hard mask, which is almost unreadable; Jabarah is demonstrative, voluble and mercurial. The titular journey that both will undertake is a spiritual rather than a physical one, since neither character manages to get far from the station.

What the film lacks is a sense of context, mainly because of the choice to moor the story in a single location and a relatively brief window of time. Unlike the thematically similar Paradise Now, we are not given a chance to see the life that the potential suicide bomber is willing to give up. And this, along with the fact she is planning to murder a bunch of innocent people, makes Sara a difficult character with whom to engage.

6 Screen International at Dubai December 9, 2017

MUHR FEATURE Iraq-UK-Fr-Qat-Neth.

2017. 82mins Director Mohamed Al-Daradji Production companies Human Film, Iraqi Independent Film Center, Lionceau Film International sales Picture Tree International pti@picturetreeinternational.com Producers Isabelle Stead, Mohamed Jabarah Al-Daradji, Hélene Cases Screenplay Isabelle Stead, Mohamed Al-Daradji Cinematography Duraid Al-Munajim Editors Mohamed Al-Daradji, Pascale Chavance, Hervé De Luze Music Mike Kourtzer, Fabian Kourtzer Main cast Zahraa Ghandour, Ameer Ali Jabarah

A complex and involving portrait of the upheaval caused by creeping theocracy and ingrained attitudes, Razzia skilfully addresses hypocrisy, ignorance, misguided religious fervour, sexual oppression and the persistent tug towards greater personal freedom as experienced by a cross-section of Moroccans in 1982 and in 2015.

In the Atlas Mountains in 1982, teacher Abdallah (Amine Ennaji) leaves the village where he loved teaching science and poetry to boys and girls alike in their native Berber. He is also leaving behind his romance with an independent-minded widow, Yto (Saadia Ladib), whose son Ilyas is a good pupil but stutters.

The seeds of his departure for Casablanca came when an inspector declared that all classes must be conducted in Arabic, “the language of the Holy Quran”. The teacher is driven to tears as theocratic rote learning gradually supplants authentic knowledge and discovery.

In Casablanca, 2015, crowds are chanting that Morocco is a Muslim country where men and women are not equal.

Literally moving against the tide, confidently sensual Salima (co-screenwriter Maryam Touzani), in a short dress and uncovered hair, makes her way to the home of now-elderly Yto (Nezha Tebbai). Women gather there to blow off steam by dancing among themselves. Yto takes one look at Salima and deduces that she is pregnant.

Now middle-aged, Ilyas (Abdellah Didane) works at a restaurant run by Joe (Arieh Worthalter), a secular Jew whose observant elderly father is unwell; twentysomething Hakim (Abdelilah Rachid) keeps a scrapbook about his hero Freddie Mercury and dreams of a music career in Europe, while 15-year-old Ines (Dounia Binebine) lives in a spacious modern house where she and her friends discuss whether having sex before marriage is advisable or a sin.

With completely organic élan, most of the cast ends up either at the same party or in the same streets on the same night as mob violence breaks out.

Thwarted desires are a staple of tragic drama that Razzia taps into with a sure and modern hand. This ambitious, beautifully modulated film posits that dreaming of better horizons is all well and good, but few are strong enough or lucky enough to steer their own destiny against harsh social odds.

MUHR FEATURE Fr-Mor-Bel. 2017.

119mins Director Nabil Ayouch Production companies Unité de Production, Les Films du Nouveau Monde, Artemis Productions, Ali n’ Productions, France 3 Cinema International sales Playtime, bef@playtime. group Producers Bruno Nahon, Patrick Quinet, Nabil Ayouch Screenplay Nabil Ayouch, Maryam Touzani Cinematography Virginie Surdej Editors Sophie Reine, Marie-Hélene Dozo Production designer Hafid Amly Music Caroline Chaspoul, Eduardo Henríquez, Guillaume Poncelet Main cast Maryam Touzani, Arieh Worthalter, Amine Ennaji, Abdelilah Rachid, Dounia Binebine, Abdellah Didane, Nezha Tebbai

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SCREENINGS, PAGE 12

Beyond The Clouds Reviewed by Wendy Ide

The Blessed Reviewed by Mark Adams An impressive cast helps give writer-director Sofia Djama’s powerful drama The Blessed (Les Bienheureux) a real sense of insight and angst. The film draws on a strong script that dwells on disillusionment, sadness and generational frustration, all set against the backdrop of Algiers in 2008 just a few years after the end of the civil war.

Gently paced and allowing its characters to develop and slowly reveal their true natures, the story revolves around Amal (Nadia Kaci) and Samir (Sami Bouajila, whose credits include Days Of Glory) as they decide to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary in a restaurant.

The occasion may be a happy one but it also sparks discussions about the state of their country, of lost illusions and the possibility of a better future for their 18-year-old son Fahim (Amine Lansari).

Amal is keen for Fahim — a genial slacker who enjoys his life in the city — to go to France to study, convinced that he does not have much of a future in Algeria. She carries disillusionment physically with her, frustrated at the attitude of her husband — a gynaecologist who also performs illegal abortions — and their generation, which saw their fight for democracy fail.

Their bickering is set against the story of Fahim and his two friends Feriel (Lyna Khoudri, who won the best actress award in Venice’s Horizons section for her performance) and Reda (Adam Bessa), a devout Muslim who plans to have a passage from the Quran tattooed on his chest. Fahim and Reda play loud punk-rock music in Fahim’s room — mainly to annoy his parents — and smoke hash, while liberal Feriel balances school work with looking after her father, who seems to be grieving his wife, presumably lost in the war.

As the evening draws on, all will talk about their beliefs and feelings. Feriel is keen Fahim should leave Algeria and seek a new life (she wants to eat sardines in Sicily) and she also mocks Reda’s religion, while Reda hits back as he comments on her perceived feminism. At heart these three friends want to have fun, though their night in Algiers challenges them in different ways. Similarly, as Samir and Amal head to dinner with friends, their opinions, passions and beliefs are brought into sharp focus.

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MUHR FEATURE Fr-Bel. 2017. 102mins Director/screenplay Sofia Djama Production company Liaison Cinematographique, Artemis Productions International sales Bac Films, sales@bacfilms.fr Producers Serge Zeitoun, Patrick Quinet Cinematographer Pierre Aïm Editor Sophie Brunet Music Jean Umansky Main cast Sami Bouajila, Nadia Kaci, Adam Bessa, Amine Lansari, Lyna Khoudri, Faouzi Bensaïdi

THE BEACH

The first India-set film for award-winning Iranian director Majid Majidi, Beyond The Clouds is a melodrama focusing on Mumbai’s impoverished underclass.

A brother who lives on the wrong side of the law and his sister who finds herself imprisoned for attempted murder after she defends herself from a sexual assault, are the two central characters.

As it gives a voice to the voiceless and makes a case for the people whose poverty denies them justice, it is perhaps forgivable that the film labours its point a little stridently at times. Majidi, who was Oscar-nominated for Children Of Heaven (1997), brings an outsider’s eye view to the streets of Mumbai, which makes for a visually striking film.

An arresting opening shot neatly conveys a city divided. The camera scans a busy road, packed with traffic. It latches onto a young man darting in between the vehicles and follows him down the embankment and under the road bridge where numerous impoverished families make their homes. The young man, Aamir (energetic newcomer Ishaan Khattar) saunters through the chaos and hops onto the back of a motorbike.

A police bust interrupts an impromptu dance sequence and results in a chase through the city, which culminates at a laundry, the workplace of Aamir’s sister Taara (Malavika Mohanan, prone to extreme reactions). Aided by an older male colleague Akshi (Goutam Ghose), Taara conceals her brother and his stash of drugs.

But in Akshi’s mind, his help means that Taara is now somehow beholden to him. He assaults her, against a striking backdrop of sheets, which turn from lemon yellow to blood red when Taara fights him off using a rock to his head. Taara finds herself facing life in prison, unless Akshi recovers and can be persuaded to admit his role in the incident.

Although at times a little overwrought in tone, and at others emphatically sentimental, the film does not pull its punches when it comes to condemning a society that punishes its poor. It is also an arresting visual experience: a potent recurring motif uses silhouettes; another a scattering flocks of birds. And climactic scenes set against the backdrop of the anarchic festival of Holi encapsulate the film’s vivid energy.

India. 2017. 120mins Director Majid Majidi Production company Zee Studio, Namah Pictures Contact Zee Studio International, vibha. chopra@zee.esselgroup. com Producers Shareen Mantri Kedia, Kishor Arora Screenplay Majid Majidi, Mehran Kashani Cinematography Anil Mehta Editor Hassan Hassandoost Production designer Mansi Dhruv Mehta Music AR Rahman Main cast Ishaan Khattar, Malavika Mohanan, Goutam Ghose, GV Sharada, Dhwani Rajesh, Amruta Santosh Thakur, Shivam Pujar

December 9, 2017 Screen International at Dubai 7

ARAB 2017

Neilson Barnard/Getty

STARS OF TOMORROW ARAB 2017

Maria Zreik Actress (Palestine)

The Palestinian actress tells Melanie Goodfellow about her commitment to breaking stereotypes

H

aifa-born Palestinian actress Maria Zreik is regarded as one of the brightest young talents of her generation. Her first role was a small part in Peter Kosminsky’s 2011 Channel 4 TV drama The Promise, about a young British woman who goes to Israel and Palestine to research her grandfather’s life there in the final days of the British mandate.

“My sister Lana is also an actress and had gone for an audition,” says 25-year-old Zriek, who was 17 at the time. “She heard they were looking for someone to play a young girl and suggested I went along. To my surprise, I landed the part.” (Her sister won a small role too.) Zreik was cast as the daughter of a character played by celebrated Palestinian actor Ali Suliman.

“Working with Ali Suliman was an amazing experience,” Zriek enthuses. “From that moment, I knew I wanted to work in TV and cinema, nothing else.”

But her parents insisted she work towards another professional qualification before focusing on acting.

“They had seen how hard it was for my sister and that there was not a lot of work in the acting field,” Zriek explains. “They said study something, have it in your pocket and then do whatever you want.”

Zreik did as her parents asked but within weeks of graduating in law from the University of Haifa and completing an internship at a local firm, she flew to the US for an intensive acting workshop at the William Esper Studio in New York.

Now back in her home city of Haifa in northern Israel, one of the few cities in the divided territory where Israelis and Palestinians live side by side, Zreik has put her law qualifications to one side to focus on acting. But she says her status as a Palestinian citizen of Israel can make it more complicated to find work. “As a minority [in Israel], you don’t get as many acting opportunities,” says Zreik. “Most Israeli productions present Palestinians as terrorists or the underdog.

I don’t want to give this image of Palestinians.”

Before she had finished her studies, Zreik had clinched the starring role in Villa Touma, directed by Israeli Arab writer-director Suha Arraf. She played the orphaned niece of eccentric sisters living in the fading

8 Screen International at Dubai December 9, 2017

grandeur of the family villa in Ramallah. The film premiered at Venice Film Festival in 2014 and went on to play the circuit.

She describes the role, which brought her into contact with the more established actresses Nisreen Faour, Cherien Dabis and Ula Tabari, as a seminal experience.

“Villa Touma got me back into the acting scene,” she explains. “It was so challenging but it was an amazing cast that helped me through it all.”

She then played a novice nun in Basil Khalil’s short Ave Maria about five nuns in a remote West Bank convent whose silent routine is disturbed when the car of an Israeli settler family breaks down on their doorstep.

The film premiered at Cannes in the short film competition and was nominated for an Oscar for best liveaction short film. “Basil had come on to the set of Villa Touma and seen me at work there, and then asked me to read the script he’d just written,” says Zreik.

Her recent work in Israeli cinema includes a role in Miya Hatav’s Between Worlds, which screened at the Busan and Haifa film festivals in 2016. She played the

Palestinian girlfriend of a young Israeli man who has turned his back on his strict religious upbringing. “It’s a film about love and acceptance. It wasn’t political at all,” she explains. “All the cast and crew were Israelis. It was a new experience for me for which I am grateful.”

Zreik appears in two features screening at DIFF. She has a supporting role in Annemarie Jacir’s Wajib, alongside father and son co-stars Mohammad and Saleh Bakri, which is screening in the Muhr Feature competition. She also stars in Saudi director Hajar Alnaim’s Detained, which is premiering in the Muhr Gulf Short section. Zriek plays a Syrian refugee in the US picked up by Homeland Security due to her father’s alleged terrorist activities.

“As a Palestinian, I can feel their struggle and daily crisis,” says Zreik of her decision to play a Syrian woman. “It is really important to show the world that we are all connected as Arabs. We are one nation.”

Contact Maria Zreik zreikmaria@gmail.com

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DUBAI FILM CONNECTION PROFILES

Europa

God Bless Buddies

I Dreamt Of Empire

Dir Haider Rashid

Dir Lotfi Achour

Dir Kasem Kharsa

Project’s country of origin Italy

Project’s country of origin Tunisia

Born in Florence, the son of an Iraqi father and Italian mother, director Haider Rashid has tackled the subject of migration and identity throughout his career. His output has included the theatrically released features Tangled Up In Blue and It’s About To Rain, as well as DIFF-prize winning short The Deep and Italy’s first VR film No Borders.

His new dramatic project takes these themes to challenging heights by exposing the proliferation of far-right vigilante groups that scour for people in the same way they might hunt animals.

“Europa is a very intimate and visceral story about a migrant trying to enter Europe on foot through the forest on the border between Turkey and Bulgaria, as he’s chased and wounded by so called ‘migrant hunters’,” says Rashid. “The journey becomes a gruelling story of survival in a hostile and seemingly inescapable environment.

Rashid will write at least another draft of his screenplay with a view to filming in summer 2018. A “good portion” of the finance is in place, and the team is looking for a sales agent that will help to secure the remainder while waiting on confirmation from funds to which they have already applied. Europa is being produced by Rashid’s Radical Plans, which he founded in 2009. The executive producer is Stefano Mutolo, CEO of Italian producer-distributor Berta Film.

“We will keep the crew very small and shoot almost only with natural light,” Rashid explains. “We intend to live in the forest for the duration of the shoot, avoiding contact with the outside world as much as possible.”

Colin Brown

God Bless Buddies is a psychological thriller about a group of men in their 40s who were friends when they were younger but have now gone their separate ways. They reunite at an isolated beach house for a wild weekend in an attempt to rekindle their youth, but old resentments and ingrained power plays emerge, including a thirst for vengeance from one recently released from prison after serving a sentence for pederasty.

The film is the second feature by Tunisian writer/ director Lotfi Achour, whose shorts Pere and Law Of Lamb were selected for the short-film competition at Cannes. Pere was also selected for Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in 2015, where it won the audience award for best international film and a jury special mention. Pere is about a fleeting encounter between a taxi driver and a young pregnant woman on the verge of going into labour in the back of his cab. Law Of Lamb depicts a strange moment on the road as a boy and his grandfather travel to sell sheep.

Achour’s first feature, Burning Hope, captured the precarious period in post-revolution Tunisia through its portrayal of an unconventional friendship. It was produced by Achour through Artistes Producteurs Associés (APA), the Tunisian production company he runs with writer, actress and producer Anissa Daoud. That film was released theatrically in Tunisia earlier this year. Daoud co-wrote and starred in Burning Hope and now she and Achour are collaborating again on God Bless Buddies, which will also be produced via APA. Louise Tutt

For his ambitious debut, Egyptian-American filmmaker Kasem Kharsa offers a fresh genre twist on the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. “It is a sciencefiction drama about a father who has the opportunity to go back in time to save the son he lost,” Kharsa explains. “It is about memory and coming to terms with the past. Even though the story is fantastical, it is grounded in two familial experiences. The first is how my grandfather lost his favourite son during the Sinai War and how it changed him forever. The second is how as a child my family would recount to me their romantic memories of Nasser’s Egypt, lamenting that a golden age had crumbled before their eyes.

“In both examples, the past had been enshrined into something so perfect, a kind of escape, a kind of prison. Writing a film about time travel became a way for me to explore that yearning for myself.”

The script is now mostly finished after going through TorinoFilmLab and DIFF’s Interchange programme in 2013. It tells the story of a professor living in Cairo in 1980 who cannot move beyond the grief of losing his son in 1956. When he develops a way to turn back the clock, he wakes up in the middle of the war — only to find he has switched bodies and lives with an Israeli soldier.

“Science fiction is not a well-explored genre in Arab cinema,” notes Kharsa. “This film subverts expectations because it deals less with futuristic gadgets and more with the metaphysical.”

Hamburg-based Beleza Film, the main producer of the film, has a track record of working on projects with a strong international component.

Colin Brown

Europa

God Bless Buddies

I Dreamt Of Empire

Producer Stefano Mutolo Production company Radical Plans Budget n/a Finance raised to date Toscana Film Commission as well as minority

Producer Anissa Daoud Production company Artistes Producteurs Associés Budget $682,000 (€570,000) Finance raised to date n/a Contact Anissa Douad, Artistes Producteurs Associés

Producers Jessica Landt, Falk Nagel Production company Beleza Film Budget $944,000 Finance raised to date $29,000 from Filmförderung Hamburg

co-production funds from two other private entities

Contact Haider Rashid, Radical Plans info@radicalplans.com

www.screendaily.com

daoud.anissa@gmail.com

Project’s countries of origin Egypt-Germany-

France-Qatar

Schleswig-Holstein; $60,000 from Doha Film Institute; $155,000 producers investment total Contact Jessica Landt, Beleza Film info@belezafilm.de

December 9, 2017 Screen International at Dubai 9

PROFILES DUBAI FILM CONNECTION

Costa Brava

Dirty, Difficult, Dangerous

It’s Far Away Where I Must Go

Dir Mounia Akl

Dir Wissam Charaf

Dir Karima Saidi

Project’s country of origin Lebanon

Project’s countries of origin Lebanon-France

Project’s countries of origin Morocco-Belgium

Lebanese director Mounia Akl, who was at DIFF last year with her award-winning short Submarine and as one of Screen International’s inaugural Arab Stars of Tomorrow, returns to the festival with her debut feature project, Costa Brava. Akl comes to Dubai from Paris, where she is developing the project at Cannes’ Cinéfondation residency.

Like Submarine, which followed a woman whose world is submerged in a deadly garbage mountain, the premise for Costa Brava was sparked by Lebanon’s long-running refuse crisis, during which the authorities stopped collections. In the new script, an extended family has escaped the situation by moving to a sparsely populated, untainted part of the country where they have created an isolated utopia. But when the government announces it is going to build a huge landfill site where their house is situated, cracks begin to appear in their previously harmonious existence. “The family is made up of one man, his wife, two daughters and mother. They’ve lived in this little kingdom for a decade and their youngest daughter has never known life outside of their compound,” says Akl. Beirut-based Myriam Sassine of Abbout Productions is producing in a collaboration that began at DIFF last year. Sassine’s credits include Egyptian director Mohamed Siam’s feature documentary Amal and Khalil Joreige and Joana Hadjithomas’s The Notebooks.

Melanie Goodfellow

The Lebanese capital, Beirut, has long been a crossroads for immigrants from across the Levant and beyond, many escaping wars and conflicts at home.

But life in the city can be harsh for these new arrivals.

French-Lebanese director Wissam Charaf ’s second feature is about a young Syrian refugee and an Ethiopian maid who embark on a seemingly impossible relationship. Charaf ’s star-crossed love story will take the audience into the heart of contemporary Beirut as well as the refugee camps on Lebanon’s eastern border.

Charaf says the film will tackle the issue of racism against foreign workers in Lebanon and what it means for an individual to be reduced to a statistic in a larger humanitarian crisis. “We want to convey the cruelty and the misery of marginalisation but also, and above all, the fantasy of such an encounter between these two characters,” Charaf explains. “A bittersweet mix portrayed using situations that are sometimes dramatic, sometimes incongruous and sometimes comical so sadness and empathy aren’t the dominant tones.”

The feel, says Charaf, will be similar to an Aki Kaurismaki feature. “We’d like to address far-reaching and important issues using situations that are often offbeat, sometimes a little crazy and sometimes funny, in order to continually surprise the viewer and not entrench them in sadness,” he says.

Dirty, Difficult, Dangerous is Charaf ’s second feature following Heaven Sent, which premiered at Cannes in 2016 in the parallel ACID sidebar.

Melanie Goodfellow

The inspiration for the debut feature documentary from Morocco-born, Belgium-based filmmaker Karima Saidi came from her mother, who battles Alzheimer’s disease. “Filming the mental decay of my mother led me to question my own identity, which is a construction of two cultures — Moroccan and Belgium,” Saidi explains. “On an iconographic level, the Arab mother is a sacred symbol that can be looked at and represented only as a pure thing. It is therefore an opportunity for me to free myself from my own censorship, reveal the image of my mother and, in doing so, humanise her.”

The film is also a chance for Saidi to capture the experience of Moroccan women who immigrated to Belgium. It is a subject she has ventured into before through a short film and several radio documentaries. She plans to shoot in Morocco and Belgium and use plenty of archive material, including personal archives.

It’s Far Away Where I Must Go is being produced

by Karim Aitouna of France-based Hautlesmains Productions, with co-producer Julie Freres of Belgian outfit Dérives. Financing for the project has already been secured from France’s Fonds Image de la Francophonie, RTBF, Wallonie Image Production (WIP) and Centre du Cinéma de la Federation Wallonie-Bruxelles. Hautlesmains’ credits include Anna Roussillon’s I Am The People and David Yon’s The Night And The Kid. Louise Tutt

Costa Brava

Dirty, Difficult, Dangerous

It’s Far Away Where I Must Go

Producer Myriam Sassine Production company Abbout Productions Budget $1.2m Finance raised to date $10,000 Contact Myriam Sassine, Abbout

Producer Charlotte Vincent Production company Aurora Films Budget $1.1m Finance raised to date $67,000 Contact Charlotte Vincent, Aurora Films

Producers Karim Aitouna, Julie Freres Production companies Hautlesmains Productions, Dérives Budget $250,000 Finance raised to date $180,000 Contact Karim Aitouna, Hautlesmains Productions

Productions

myriam@abboutproductions.com

contact@aurorafilms.fr

karim@hautlesmainsproductions.fr

10 Screen International at Dubai December 9, 2017

www.screendaily.com

School Of Hope

The Alleys

You Will Die At Twenty

Dir Mohamed El Aboudi

Dir Bassel Ghandour

Dir Amjad Abu Alala

Project’s countries of origin Morocco-Finland-

Project’s country of origin Jordan

The fourth feature documentary to be directed by Morocco-born, Finland-based Mohamed El Aboudi is about a nomadic tribe living in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco who are struggling to get an education for their children, and the young teacher fighting their cause.

“The nomads of Morocco are one of the many populations in the world trying to find their way in the changing environment and demands of a modernising society, making their traditional lifestyle more and more difficult,” El Aboudi explains. “They have realised education could be the solution; it would give their children more chances to make a better living, maybe bringing more state investment to the area. But the road is full of obstacles, from government indifference to a harsh environment, lack of infrastructure, old attitudes and fears for the disappearing traditional lifestyle.”

El Aboudi’s previous documentaries include Dance Of Outlaws, which was pitched at DFC and went on to screen at international festivals including CPH:DOX, Locarno and Munich.

School Of Hope is being produced by creative documentary specialist Pertti Veijalainen of Helsinkibased Illume. It is Veijalainen’s first time at DFC and he is looking for backing from regional funders and partners. “We hope to find additional funding, feedback, discussion on the project and the topic, and the way to reach Arab audiences,” he says.

Louise Tutt

The Alleys will be the feature directing debut of Bassel Ghandour, the award-winning screenwriter and producer of Theeb. It is a dark comedy-drama about the lives and loves of people living in a neighbourhood of Amman.

“Life in neighbourhoods fascinates me. Where a rich array of characters exists, each person’s narrative is inseparable from the other,” says Ghandour. “This intimacy is a blessing and a curse. One can form close relationships with one’s neighbours, but the constant presence of a watchful eye can be suffocating.

“This sense of perpetual judgment drives people to put up a certain image in public, but a second life manifests — hidden away from society’s gaze — and it isn’t always a healthy one. I’m interested in this duality, the ‘ideal’ social image and the hidden dark truth.”

The Alleys is produced by prolific producer Rula Nasser of Jordan’s The Imaginarium Films, who regularly works with first-time directors. Her credits include Mohammad Al Hushki’s 2010 drama Transit Cities, which won the special jury prize and Fipresci award at DIFF, Yahya Alabdallah’s The Last Friday, which won the special jury prize at DIFF the following year, and Rifqi Assaf ’s The Curve, which was selected for the Muhr Feature competition here in 2015.

“DFC is an important stop for an Arab project,” says Nasser. “It’s the right place to sense the possibility of the story for the international as well as the regional market.”

Louise Tutt

Amjad Abu Alala is a UAE-based producer, director and writer of Sudanese descent whose short films have screened at festivals including DIFF, where Teena was selected for the Muhr Arab Short competition in 2009. He was also one of more than 30 filmmakers involved as a writer in the multi-national portmanteau film Train Station in 2015.

You Will Die At Twenty is his feature debut as a director. Written by Yousif Ibrahim, the story follows a young boy living in a Sudanese village who was cursed by a Dervish prophecy that he will die at the age of 20. He grows up with this shadow looming over him until a man returns to his home village from the city, bringing with him a cinema projector.

It opens up a whole new world for the young boy, who for the first time begins to doubt the veracity of the prophecy.

Produced by Hossam Elouan of Cairo-based Transit Films and Germany’s Die Gesellschaft DGS, the project has already secured backing from Doha Film Institute and the Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund.

Elouan’s credits include Hala Elkoussy’s Cactus Flower, which played at International Film Festival Rotterdam in January, and Sharif El-Bindari’s Ali Mizah Wa Ibrahim, which screened at DIFF last year, and for which Ali Subhi won the best actor prize.

Die Gesellschaft DGS is the Cologne-based production company of former Greenlight Media executive Michael Henrichs.

Louise Tutt

School Of Hope

The Alleys

You Will Die At Twenty

Producers Pertti Veijalainen, Marianne Makela, Hind Saih Production companies Illume (Finland); Bellota Films (France) Budget $600,000 (€505,000) Finance raised to date $290,000, including Finnish Film Foundation

Producer Rula Nasser Production company The Imaginarium Films Budget n/a Finance raised to date n/a Contact Rula Nasser, The Imaginarium Films

Producer Hossam Elouan Production company Transit Films, Die Gesellschaft DGS Budget n/a Finance raised to date Doha Film Institute, World Cinema Fund Contact Hossam Elouan, Transit Films

France

($18,000), Avek Fund ($54,000), TV Yle ($54,000) and a presale to Moroccan broadcaster M2 ($3,500) Contact Pertti Veijalainen, Illume veijalainen@illume.fi

www.screendaily.com

rula@theimaginariumfilms.com

Project’s countries of origin UK-Sudan-Egypt-

Germany

hossamelouan@gmail.com

December 9, 2017 Screen International at Dubai 11

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

DUBAI THEATRES ARENA Madinat Jumeirah

SOUK THEATRE Madinat Jumeirah

THE BEACH Opposite Jumeirah Beach Residencies

VOX CINEMAS Mall of the Emirates

THE DU VR CINEMA DIFF HQ

FESTIVAL 11:00 ANA AND BRUNO (ANA Y BRUNO)

(Mexico) Anima Estudio.

96mins. Adventure, animation, fantasy.

Dir: Carlos Carrera.

Ana is a peculiar girl, who escapes from a psychiatric institution. She needs to find her father to help save her mother. Aided by the odd and funny personalities with whom she is acquainted in her institution, she starts a journey full of thrilling and touching adventures.

Cinema for Children Souk Madinat Theatre Public

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.

DIFFerent Reality (3) The du VR Cinema Public

13:00 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.

DIFFerent Reality (4) The du VR Cinema Public

14:00 SHOCK AND AWE

(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”.

Cinema of the World Madinat Arena Gala

14:30 LOVELESS (NELYUBOV)

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

127mins. Drama.

Dir: Andrey Zvyagintsev.

Cast: Maryana Spivak, Alexey Rozin, Matvey Novikov.

Zhenya and Boris are going through a

12 Screen International at Dubai December 9, 2017

14:30 THE OUTLAWS (BEOMJOIDOSI)

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

Action, drama. Dir: Kang Yoon-sung. Cast: Yoon Kye-sang, Don Lee. Seoul, 2004: Jang Chen from Harbin, China, is a new breed of gangster, who singlehandedly takes over the mob and becomes the most feared criminal

vicious divorce marked by resentment and recrimination. Already embarking on new lives, each with a new partner, they are impatient to start again, to turn the page — even if it means threatening to abandon their 12-year-old son.

Until, that is, the boy disappears after witnessing one of their fights.

Cinema of the World Mall of the Emirates — Vox 05 Public

THE OUTLAWS (BEOMJOIDOSI) See box, above

14:45 BORG/MCENROE

(Denmark, Finland, Sweden) Phoenicia

in the city. He and his merciless gang will do anything for money.

Ruthless detective Ma Seok-do wields his powerful fists to maintain peace in his city. When Jang sends his district into chaos, Ma and his ragtag group of detectives plan to get rid of Jang and his men for good.

Cinema of the World Mall of the Emirates — Vox 14 Public

Pictures International.

107mins. Biography, drama, sport. Dir: Janus Metz. Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Stellan Skarsgard, Sverrir Gudnason, Leo Borg.

A film about two of the world’s greatest sports icons, Bjorn Borg and his biggest rival, the young, volcanic and irrepressibly talented John McEnroe. It charts the unforgettable rivalry of the tennis champions and the price they had to pay to reach the pinnacle of the sport they loved.

Cinema of the World Souk Madinat Theatre Public

MOLLY’S GAME

(US) Sierra/Affinity.

141mins. Biography, drama. Dir: Aaron

Sorkin. Cast: Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Chris O’Dowd.

Based on the memoirs of Molly Bloom, the skiing prodigy turned poker princess. When Molly’s skiing career is tragically and abruptly cut short by a freak accident at the US Olympic trials, she moves to Hollywood and tries her hand at poker.

Driven by her irrepressible talent, she finds a unique groove that has her hosting and running her own game, and enjoying the patronage of Hollywood A-listers and business tycoons. But when she becomes the target of an FBI investigation, Molly’s former clients conveniently disappear. Lawyer Charlie Jaffey is her only ally.

Cinema of the World Mall of the Emirates — Vox 03 Public

ZAGROS

(Belgium, Netherlands) Alice Buquoy. 95mins.

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

Havin, a Kurdish shepherd’s wife, flees to Belgium with her nineyear-old daughter after being accused of having an affair. Her husband Zagros believes her and follows her to the West, only to be plagued by doubts once he is there.

Muhr Feature Mall of the Emirates — Vox 15 Public

15:00 BEAUTY AND THE DOGS (AALA KAF IFRIT)

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

Drama. Dir: Kaouther Ben

VOX CINEMAS OUTDOOR Galleria Mall

Hania. Cast: Mohamed Al Akkari, Mariam Alferjani, Ghanem Zrelli.

During a student party, Mariam, a young Tunisian woman, meets the mysterious Youssef and leaves with him. A long night will begin during which she will have to fight for her rights and her dignity.

Arabian Nights Mall of the Emirates — Vox 06 Public

RADIOGRAM

(Bulgaria) Intramovies.

84mins. Drama. Dir: Rouzie Hassanova.

Cast: Yana Titova, Alexander Hadjiangelov, Aleksandar Aleksiev, Alexander Ivanov, Stephan A Shtereff, Stefan Mavrodiev.

Based on a true story set in Bulgaria under Communist rule in 1971, when any religious expression or musical influences from the West were forbidden. A father will go to any lengths, including walking almost 100km to the nearest town, to buy a radio for his rock ‘n’ roll-obsessed son.

Cinema of the World Mall of the Emirates — Vox 13 Public

WAR TOURIST

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

A war documentary with a personal perspective on the motives behind filming combat and an exploration of the role images play in militarising civilians.

DIFFerent Reality (5) The du VR Cinema Public

15:30 5 RUPEES (5 RUPYA)

(India) 82mins. Drama, www.screendaily.com

FURTHER DIFF COVERAGE, SEE SCREENDAILY.COM

family. Dir: Piyush Chandrakant Panjuani.

Cast: Shabana Azmi, Yohaan Bimal Panjuani.

Ameena is a poor old lady who lives in a tiny village in the foothills of the Himalayas with her seven-year-old grandson, Hamid. On the last day of Ramadan, Hamid looks forward to breaking his fast with an Eid celebration and receiving a five-rupee coin, which Ameena has been saving up for. On the day, unexpected actions result in a misunderstanding that ultimately reveals the pure, deep love a grandson has for a grandmother.

Cinema for Children Mall of the Emirates — Vox 17 Public

17:00 THE COMMITTEE

(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.

childlike wonder cannot perceive the danger of the difficult times in which he lives.

DIFFerent Reality (1) The du VR Cinema Public

Cinema of the World Mall of the Emirates — Vox 03 Public

18:00 48 HOUR FILM PROJECT

DARKEST HOUR

90mins.

See box, below

Events during DIFF The Beach Public

BAREFOOT (PO STRNISTI BOS)

(Czech Republic, Denmark, Slovak Republic) Biograf Jan Sverak. 111mins. Comedy, drama, war. Dir: Jan Sverak. Cast: Zdenek Sverak.

Eight-year-old Eda is the long-desired and overprotected son of parents who had previously lost a child. Eda is a touchstone for his parents and even has the same name as his deceased sibling. In 1939, when his father renounces the Nazi invaders of Czechoslovakia, the family leaves Prague and moves in with relatives in the countryside. The war presents mysterious adventures to Eda, whose

JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE

(US) Sony Pictures Releasing. 114mins.

Action, adventure, comedy. Dir: Jake Kasdan.

Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, Alex Wolff, Madison Iseman.

When four high-school kids discover an old video game — Jumanji — they are immediately transported into its jungle setting, taking on the guise of the avatars they chose.

To beat the game and return to the real world, they will have to go on the most dangerous adventure of their lives and change the way they think about themselves — or they’ll be stuck in the game forever.

Cinema of the World Madinat Arena Gala

FESTIVAL 18:15 MARY SHELLEY

(US) HanWay Films.

120mins. Biography, drama, romance. Dir: Haifaa Al Mansour.

Cast: Elle Fanning, Bel Powley, Maisie Williams, Douglas Booth.

Passionate and rebellious teenager Mary

18:15 MARY SHELLEY See box, above

MY PURE LAND

FESTIVAL 18:00 DARKEST HOUR

(UK) Universal Pictures International. 114mins.

Biography, drama, historical, war. Dir: Joe Wright. Cast: Gary Oldman, Lily James, Kristin Scott Thomas.

With the fall of France imminent during the

www.screendaily.com

early days of the Second World War, Britain faces its darkest hour as the threat of invasion looms. The seemingly unstoppable Nazi forces are advancing and the Allies are cornered on the beaches of Dunkirk.

Western Europe depends on the leadership of the

newly appointed British prime minister, Winston Churchill, who must either negotiate with Hitler to save the British people at a terrible cost or fight on against incredible odds.

Cinema of the World Mall of the Emirates — Vox 01 Public

(UK) Sarah Lebutsch.

92mins. Action, biography, drama. Dir: Sarmad Masud. Cast: Suhaee Abro, Eman Malik, Syed Tanveer Hussain.

In rural Pakistan, a mother and her two daughters are forced to defend their family home from their uncle and his cronies. As the women fight to keep the men at bay, the film alternates through different timelines as we begin to understand the events that have led to the siege. When the women’s resistance leaves two of his men dead, the enraged uncle calls in a local ragtag militia. With only a handful of bullets left, the eldest daughter Nazo refuses to give in.

Based on a true story.

Cinema of the World Mall of the Emirates — Vox 15 Public

Wollstonecraft Godwin finds a kindred spirit in the radical poet/ philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. Their whirlwind love affair scandalises polite society, as the young couple gorge on literature and lead a bohemian life. When tragedy strikes and the

18:30 THE BLESSED (LES BIENHEUREUX)

(France, Belgium, Qatar) Bac Films. 102mins.

Drama. Dir: Sofia Djama.

Cast: Sami Bouajila, Nadia Kaci, Adam Bessa.

In Algiers, a few years after the civil war, Amal and Samir decide to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary in a restaurant. On their way to the venue, they discuss their views on Algeria.

Amal talks about lost illusions and Samir about the necessity to cope with them. Meanwhile, their son Fahim and his friends Feriel and Reda wander through a hostile Algiers that is about to take away their youth.

Muhr Feature Mall of the Emirates — Vox 05 Public

ONE OF THESE DAYS

(Lebanon, UAE) MC Distribution. 91mins.

Drama. Dir: Nadim Tabet.

couple lose their baby daughter, Mary strikes back, finding the courage and bravery to transform her pain into the world’s first science-fiction novel, ‘Frankenstein’ — all by the age of 21.

Cinema of the World Mall of the Emirates — Vox 06 Public

Cast: Manal Issa, Yumna Marwan, Reine Salameh.

A 24-hour youth chronicle in Beirut. They are 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 is sadly just one of those days.

They still have the music, their youth and their dreams. They play the game of seduction, fall in and out of love and fight the boredom.

Arabian Nights Mall of the Emirates — Vox 14 Public

18:45 STORIES OF PASSERS THROUGH

(Iraq) 67mins. Creative documentary. Dir: Koutaiba Al-Janabi.

Cast: Amer Mahdy.

A montage between still and film scenes captured

December 9, 2017 Screen International at Dubai 13

»

SCREENINGS

Director James Franco transforms the tragicomic true-story of aspiring filmmaker and infamous Hollywood outsider Tommy Wiseau — an artist whose passion was as sincere as his methods were questionable — into a celebration of friendship, artistic expression and dreams pursued against insurmountable odds. A hilarious reminder that there is more than one way to become a legend — and no limit to what you can achieve when you have absolutely no idea what you are doing.

that wants to define her.

Joe, a Jewish restaurateur, chooses to live in the Casablanca of his dreams.

Ines is torn between tradition and modernity as she deals with her sexual awakening. More than three decades earlier, a passionate teacher in the Atlas Mountains is silenced and through the echo of his shattered dreams, the four souls’ disillusions fan the flames that will light up the city.

Cinema of the World Madinat Arena Gala

THE WORKSHOP (L’ATELIER)

21:15 LIVE PERFORMANCE

FESTIVAL 18:45 SUPER SIZE ME 2: HOLY CHICKEN!

(US) 103mins. Nonfiction. Dir: Morgan Spurlock. Cast: Morgan Spurlock.

The revolutionary filmmaker behind the hit documentary ‘Super Size Me’ reignites his battle with the fast-food industry in this sequel.

Follow Morgan Spurlock as he fights the industry at its own game — by opening his own fastfood chicken restaurant.

by the director Koutaiba Al-Janabi over 30 years.

‘Stories Of Passers Through’ is a personal journey and a diary about exile from his place of birth, Baghdad, and the loss of a missing father.

It is an exploration with a camera and a personal quest for the homeland.

With an experimental approach to style and narrative, this film is testament to experiencing the world through the lens; as with lost time and the years that have passed, the filmmaker bears witness with his camera throughout his exile.

Muhr Feature Mall of the Emirates — Vox 13 Public

SUPER SIZE ME 2: HOLY CHICKEN! See box, above

60mins.

19:30

We see his journey from raising his first chickens to working behind the counter as the store opens. No one is better at speaking truth to power than Spurlock, and in this entertaining and timely film he uses his disarming humour and charm to uncover the truths and lies behind the multibillion-dollar industry known as “Big Chicken”.

Cinema of the World Souk Madinat Theatre Public

WATERMELON CLUB (NADI ALBATIKH) See box, right

19:00 EXTRAVAGANZA

(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?

DIFFerent Reality (2) The du VR Cinema Public

14 Screen International at Dubai December 9, 2017

THE MAN BEHIND THE MICROPHONE

(Tunisia, UK, Qatar) Mike Lerner. 98mins.

Non-fiction, music.

Dir: Claire Belhassine.

Cast: Ferid Belhassine, Afifa Belhassine, Adel Jouini.

Hedi Jouini is the most popular musical star in Tunisian history, often referred to as the country’s Frank Sinatra. His songs appeal to and inspire both revolutionaries and conservatives, and strike at the heart of Tunisia’s postcolonial social and political upheaval that continues in the wake of the Arab Spring. He was a father to the nation but not to his own family. The incredible and complex story of the godfather of Tunisian music uncovers his reasons for hiding his fame from his family.

joys 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 Galleria Mall Public

21:00 THE DISASTER ARTIST

(US) Warner Bros.

103mins. Biography, comedy, drama, historical.

Dir: James Franco.

Cast: James Franco, Dave Franco, Seth Rogen, Ari Graynor, Greg Sestero.

Events during DIFF The Beach Public

RAZZIA

(Morocco, France) Playtime. 119mins. Drama, romance. Dir: Nabil Ayouch. Cast: Maryam Touzani, Arieh Worthalter, Abdelilah Rachid.

Casablanca is vibrant, rough, inviting and unforgiving. Four souls in the city are in pursuit of the truth. Hakim lives in the conservative medina and dreams of being a rock star. Salima struggles to free herself from a society

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(France) Playtime.

113mins. Drama.

Dir: Laurent Cantet.

Cast: Marina Fois, Matthieu Lucci.

The setting is La Ciotat in southern France. Antoine attends a summer writing workshop, in which a few young people have been selected to write a crime thriller and to be mentored

by Olivia, a famous novelist. The creative process requires the group to revisit the town’s industrial past, a form of nostalgia towards which Antoine feels indifferent.

He is more concerned with the fears of the modern world and soon clashes with the group and Olivia,

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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 and chubby student who is fascinated by the violin. With Arnold’s raw talent and the joyous energy of his class, Simon gradually rediscovers the

FESTIVAL 18:45 WATERMELON CLUB (NADI ALBATIKH)

(UAE) 75mins. Drama.

Dir: Yaser Al Neyadi.

Cast: Khaled Almaani, Khaled Alnaimi, Mohamed Saleh.

One late summer night, six men meet on a farm that is far away from the hustle and bustle of the city. They indulge in bizarre and messy acts and games. At sunrise, the horrific aftermath

places the six protagonists in a melancholic conflict with their shocking past and inconsistent thoughts.

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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.

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DIFF EDITORIAL OFFICE PRESS & PUBLICITY OFFICE, MADINAT JUMEIRAH CONFERENCE CENTRE EDITORIAL DIFF dailies editor and Asia editor Liz Shackleton lizshackleton@gmail.com

CENTAUR See box, below

22:15

21:30 UNTIL THE BIRDS RETURN (EN ATTENDANT LES HIRONDELLES)

(France, Germany, Algeria, Qatar) MK2.

113mins. Drama.

Dir: Karim Moussaoui.

Cast: Nadia Kaci, Hania Amar, Aure Atika, Mohamed Djourhi, Sonia Mekkiou.

Set in contemporary Algeria, a convergence of three stories that plunge

us into the human soul of Arab society. The past and present collide through the lives of a newly wealthy property developer, an ambitious neurologist impeded by wartime wrongdoings, and a young woman who is torn between the paths of reason and sentiment.

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who is both alarmed and captivated by Antoine’s violence.

UNTIL THE BIRDS RETURN (EN ATTENDANT LES HIRONDELLES)

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See box, above

21:30 KISS ME NOT (BALASH TBOUSNY)

(Egypt) MAD Solutions.

88mins. Comedy.

Dir: Ahmed Amer.

Cast: Yasmine Rais, Sawsan Badr, Mohamed Mahran.

An entertaining mockumentary that follows a young and ambitious Egyptian director, who is challenged while attempting to film a scene in his new film that features a kiss. He is faced with particular resistance from the leading actress, who decides to pursue a more conservative path.

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Driver. 103mins. Thriller, drama. Dir: Alexandros Avranas. Cast: Eleni Roussinou, Christos Loulis.

A couple hire a young migrant to be their surrogate mother and move her into their beautiful villa. The woman and the girl start to bond and enjoy the couple’s wealthy way of life 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. The next morning, her husband receives a call: his wife is dead and her burned body has been found in her wrecked car.

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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

(Iraq, UK, France, Netherlands, Qatar) 82mins. Drama. Dir: Mohamed Al Daradji.

Cast: Ameer Jbara, Zahraa Ghandour, Huda Abd Alameer.

The story focuses on what might be the final moments of a suicide bomber’s life. Baghdad, 2006: Sara, a young Iraqi woman, enters Baghdad Central Station with deadly intentions. We see her hand clutching a detonator. In a series of encounters, she meets her potential victims.

Each exchange makes life the more compelling choice, yet still we see Sara struggle against the weight of her own indoctrination, leading to an unforgettable climax.

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LOVE ME NOT

Mark Adams, madams9660@ 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 Jonathon Cooke, jonathon. cooke@mb-insight.com Group commercial director, MBI Alison Pitchford

HEAVEN WITHOUT PEOPLE (GHADA EL EID)

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Reviews editor

Production manager

21:45

(Lebanon) 91mins.

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

Josephine, the matriarch of a sprawling family, is delighted to gather everyone for Easter lunch for the first time in two years. While they all share a joyful meal, an incident ignites underlying tensions between the family members and leads them gradually into chaos.

melaniegoodfellow100@ gmail.com

THE JOURNEY (AL RIHLA)

FESTIVAL

Reporter Melanie Goodfellow,

Chief executive, MBI Conor Dignam

Printer Atlas Group, Street 26, Al Quoz 4, PO Box 14833, Dubai, +971 4 340 9895, admin@atlasgroupme.com Screen International London 1st Floor Unit F2/G, Zetland House, 5-25 Scrutton Street,

FESTIVAL 22:00 CENTAUR

(Kyrgyzstan, Netherlands, Germany, France) The Match Factory. 89mins. Drama.

Dir: Aktan Arym Kubat. Cast: Nuraly Tursunkojoev, Zarema

London EC2A 4HJ

Asanalieva, Aktan Arym Kubat.

Centaur lives a simple life in a village in Kyrgyzstan.

He believes the Kyrgyz people, who were once invincible because of their horses, are now enduring a curse for their abuse of

power. He becomes a horse thief in an attempt to break the curse but he is forced to decide the destiny of those closest to him when his secret is revealed.

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(Greece, France) Elle December 9, 2017 Screen International at Dubai 15