Netflix has boarded Saudi Arabian multi-hyphenate Fatima Al-Banawi’s feature film debut “Basma” which tackles the theme of mental illness in her country.
The groundbreaking film is set in Jeddah, the city on the Red Sea’s eastern shore where Saudi’s Red Sea Film Festival is currently underway.
Besides writing and directing “Basma,” Al Banawi – who has a psychology degree and also a masters in theological studies from Harvard – also stars as the 26-year-old daughter of a man who suffers from paranoid delusions. Upon returning from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia, Basma tries to save him from his spiraling mental instability before being forced to leave her father again.
Al-Banawi’s first acting role was in Mahmoud Sabbagh’s groundbreaking 2016 comedy “Barakah Meets Barakah” that put her in the international spotlight after the film went to Berlin and was selected as Saudi’s international Oscar candidate.
“Basma,” which...
The groundbreaking film is set in Jeddah, the city on the Red Sea’s eastern shore where Saudi’s Red Sea Film Festival is currently underway.
Besides writing and directing “Basma,” Al Banawi – who has a psychology degree and also a masters in theological studies from Harvard – also stars as the 26-year-old daughter of a man who suffers from paranoid delusions. Upon returning from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia, Basma tries to save him from his spiraling mental instability before being forced to leave her father again.
Al-Banawi’s first acting role was in Mahmoud Sabbagh’s groundbreaking 2016 comedy “Barakah Meets Barakah” that put her in the international spotlight after the film went to Berlin and was selected as Saudi’s international Oscar candidate.
“Basma,” which...
- 12/2/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The drama marks the feature directorial debut of Saudi actress and filmmaker Fatima AlBanawi.
Netflix has boarded upcoming Saudi drama Basma, the feature directorial debut of Saudi actress and filmmaker Fatima AlBanawi, and will exclusively premiere the film on the streaming platform in 2024.
AlBanawi also wrote the script and stars as the title character, a young Saudi woman who returns back to her hometown after studying in the US, only to discover that her family have been hiding her father’s mental illness and broken relationships. A first look at the film can be seen above.
Filmed in Jeddah, it...
Netflix has boarded upcoming Saudi drama Basma, the feature directorial debut of Saudi actress and filmmaker Fatima AlBanawi, and will exclusively premiere the film on the streaming platform in 2024.
AlBanawi also wrote the script and stars as the title character, a young Saudi woman who returns back to her hometown after studying in the US, only to discover that her family have been hiding her father’s mental illness and broken relationships. A first look at the film can be seen above.
Filmed in Jeddah, it...
- 12/1/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Cairo-based film marketing and distribution outfit Mad Solutions is launching Mad Rising Celebrity, a new unit dedicated to launching up-and-coming film and TV acting talents from across the Arab world.
The new Mad Solutions subsidiary has recruited a rich roster of rising Arab actors comprising Saudi Arabia’s Fatima AlBanawi (pictured) – who starred in groundbreaking Saudi comedy “Barakah Meets Barakah,” and more recently landed a small role in new Netflix Arabic original “Paranormal” – and Tunisian thesp Farès Landoulsi, featured in Netflix drama “Messiah,” among other rising celebrities.
“Nobody has been working on new Arab talents,” noted Mad Solutions co-founder Alaa Karkouti, speaking to Variety. He added that besides filling the gap by representing actors the new unit also intends to start handling up-and-coming Arab directors, writers, producers and cinematographers.
Karkouti also noted that Mad Solutions – which has long been active as an Arab world film distributor and has been branching...
The new Mad Solutions subsidiary has recruited a rich roster of rising Arab actors comprising Saudi Arabia’s Fatima AlBanawi (pictured) – who starred in groundbreaking Saudi comedy “Barakah Meets Barakah,” and more recently landed a small role in new Netflix Arabic original “Paranormal” – and Tunisian thesp Farès Landoulsi, featured in Netflix drama “Messiah,” among other rising celebrities.
“Nobody has been working on new Arab talents,” noted Mad Solutions co-founder Alaa Karkouti, speaking to Variety. He added that besides filling the gap by representing actors the new unit also intends to start handling up-and-coming Arab directors, writers, producers and cinematographers.
Karkouti also noted that Mad Solutions – which has long been active as an Arab world film distributor and has been branching...
- 11/16/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
In its first announcement following cancellation of its inaugural edition due to coronavirus, Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival has recruited a high-profile jury that will award two production grants for Arab cinema projects each worth $500,000.
The jurors who will pick winners among 12 projects taking part in the inaugural Red Sea Lodge Residency are: Egyptian auteur Yousry Nasrallah (“After the Battle”); France-based producer Nadia Turincev (“Mimosas”); and German producer Meinholf Zurhorst, who is a commissioner for the German side of European specialty broadcaster Arte.
The Red Sea Lodge program to nurture new voices in Arab cinema – which is organized in tandem with Italy’s TorinoFilmLab – has selected 12 emerging Arab filmmakers, six of whom are from Saudi Arabia, and paired each one with an experienced mentor who will shepherd the development of each project.
The two Red Sea Lodge production grant winners among these will be announced on Sept.
The jurors who will pick winners among 12 projects taking part in the inaugural Red Sea Lodge Residency are: Egyptian auteur Yousry Nasrallah (“After the Battle”); France-based producer Nadia Turincev (“Mimosas”); and German producer Meinholf Zurhorst, who is a commissioner for the German side of European specialty broadcaster Arte.
The Red Sea Lodge program to nurture new voices in Arab cinema – which is organized in tandem with Italy’s TorinoFilmLab – has selected 12 emerging Arab filmmakers, six of whom are from Saudi Arabia, and paired each one with an experienced mentor who will shepherd the development of each project.
The two Red Sea Lodge production grant winners among these will be announced on Sept.
- 9/18/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Saudi company Al Maha Al Arab on board as financier.
Andrés Vicente Gómez, the veteran Spanish Oscar-winning producer of Belle Epoque whose historical epic Born A King is screening in the Marche du Film online, is busy working on upcoming projects.
Lolafilms head Gómez is looking to finish production on Champions, a Saudi remake of the 2018 Spanish hit Campeones, after it was shut down in Jeddah on March 17 due to the pandemic with several days of shooting left to go.
Saudi company Al Maha Al Arab, which is run by Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Saud, son to the late King Faisal,...
Andrés Vicente Gómez, the veteran Spanish Oscar-winning producer of Belle Epoque whose historical epic Born A King is screening in the Marche du Film online, is busy working on upcoming projects.
Lolafilms head Gómez is looking to finish production on Champions, a Saudi remake of the 2018 Spanish hit Campeones, after it was shut down in Jeddah on March 17 due to the pandemic with several days of shooting left to go.
Saudi company Al Maha Al Arab, which is run by Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Saud, son to the late King Faisal,...
- 6/24/2020
- by 36¦Jeremy Kay¦54¦
- ScreenDaily
Produced by Al Maha Al Arabi and Lolafilms, the Saudi Arabian remake of Javier Fesser’s “Campeones” (“Champions”), a Spanish blockbuster and Spain’s International Oscar submission, has been acquired by theatrical distributor Vox, VOD service Shahid VIP and international sales company Latido Films.
Following the success of “Born a King,” the Saudi “Champions” will be released theatrically across the Middle East in December by Vox, then stream six months later on Shahid VIP, the leading Arabic SVOD platform in the Mena region, part of the Mbc Group, which has acquired both “Champions” and “Born a King” and invested substantially in both pictures.
If it were to click for the production partners, Champions could signal the kernel of ever more ambitious projects. The remake’s $4.5 million budget was produced by Al Maha Al Arabi, the production company of Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Saud, son of the late King Faisal...
Following the success of “Born a King,” the Saudi “Champions” will be released theatrically across the Middle East in December by Vox, then stream six months later on Shahid VIP, the leading Arabic SVOD platform in the Mena region, part of the Mbc Group, which has acquired both “Champions” and “Born a King” and invested substantially in both pictures.
If it were to click for the production partners, Champions could signal the kernel of ever more ambitious projects. The remake’s $4.5 million budget was produced by Al Maha Al Arabi, the production company of Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Saud, son of the late King Faisal...
- 6/22/2020
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Saudi Arabia’s nascent Red Sea International Film Festival has postponed its inaugural edition due to coronavirus concerns.
Organizers announced the “difficult” decision on Tuesday “given the current global health emergency,” they said in an email to prospective guests which noted that their “primary consideration” is “the safety and wellbeing of our guests, staff and audiences.”
“We are confident that, in due course, the festival will be rescheduled and that we will be able
to achieve all that we have planned and worked towards over the past 12-months,” they added.
The ambitious event, which had recruited Oliver Stone to preside over the jury and Spike Lee to present a special screening of “Malcolm X,” is Saudi’s first full-fledged film festival and market, with international ambitions after the country in late 2017 removed its religion-related ban on cinemas. It was scheduled to run March 12-21 in the historic district of Jeddah,...
Organizers announced the “difficult” decision on Tuesday “given the current global health emergency,” they said in an email to prospective guests which noted that their “primary consideration” is “the safety and wellbeing of our guests, staff and audiences.”
“We are confident that, in due course, the festival will be rescheduled and that we will be able
to achieve all that we have planned and worked towards over the past 12-months,” they added.
The ambitious event, which had recruited Oliver Stone to preside over the jury and Spike Lee to present a special screening of “Malcolm X,” is Saudi’s first full-fledged film festival and market, with international ambitions after the country in late 2017 removed its religion-related ban on cinemas. It was scheduled to run March 12-21 in the historic district of Jeddah,...
- 3/3/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
It was just four years ago that Berlin hosted the world premiere of Barakah Meets Barakah, the debut feature from Saudi director Mahmoud Sabbagh. Not only was the groundbreaking film the first from the kingdom to screen at the Berlinale, but it was also considered the country’s first-ever romantic comedy, deploying humor as a charming yet pointed tool to highlight the challenges young Saudis face in finding love.
Saudi Arabia has experienced several major cinematic firsts since then — the opening of the first movie theaters since a 35-year ban was lifted, its first ever pavilion in Cannes and the ...
Saudi Arabia has experienced several major cinematic firsts since then — the opening of the first movie theaters since a 35-year ban was lifted, its first ever pavilion in Cannes and the ...
- 2/21/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
It was just four years ago that Berlin hosted the world premiere of Barakah Meets Barakah, the debut feature from Saudi director Mahmoud Sabbagh. Not only was the groundbreaking film the first from the kingdom to screen at the Berlinale, but it was also considered the country’s first-ever romantic comedy, deploying humor as a charming yet pointed tool to highlight the challenges young Saudis face in finding love.
Saudi Arabia has experienced several major cinematic firsts since then — the opening of the first movie theaters since a 35-year ban was lifted, its first ever pavilion in Cannes and the ...
Saudi Arabia has experienced several major cinematic firsts since then — the opening of the first movie theaters since a 35-year ban was lifted, its first ever pavilion in Cannes and the ...
- 2/21/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Saudi Arabian film director Mahmoud Sabbagh, who made a splash with groundbreaking romcom “Barakah Meets Barakah” and black comedy “Amra and the Second Marriage,” roughly a year ago became president of Saudi’s Red Sea International Film Festival, the kingdom’s first full-fledged festival and market. The ambitious event, which will run March 12-21 in Jeddah, recently announced a lineup featuring a fresh mix of international films launching in the region as well as a robust representation of Arab titles. Sabbagh spoke exclusively to Variety about the challenges of attracting movies, talents, and industry executives to its inaugural edition. Excerpts from the conversation.
It’s tough launching a film festival with ambitions to put it in on the map. And it’s no secret that there is an aversion to Saudi [due to the Jamal Khashoggi murder.] How tough was it to get movies and people to come?
Each film or director or...
It’s tough launching a film festival with ambitions to put it in on the map. And it’s no secret that there is an aversion to Saudi [due to the Jamal Khashoggi murder.] How tough was it to get movies and people to come?
Each film or director or...
- 2/20/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Saudi Arabia’s nascent Red Sea International Film festival has unveiled its inaugural lineup featuring the Middle East premiere of Harvey Weinstein-inspired workplace abuse drama “The Assistant” amid a fresh mix of feature films and docs from Europe, the U.S., Asia, and Africa launching in the region on top of a robust representation of Arab films.
Significantly, the opener will be “The Book of Sun” by debuting Saudi directorial duo Faris and Suhaib Godus, about a teenager named Husam who, prompted by the growing phenomenon of Saudi YouTube content, embarks with a group of geeks on a mission to make a no-budget horror pic. Production of this film was supported by the fest.
Oliver Stone will preside over the competition jury.
Red Sea festival chief Mahmoud Sabbagh in a statement called “Book of Sun” “a testament to the passionate community of pioneering filmmakers who have inspired and drive Saudi cinema culture.
Significantly, the opener will be “The Book of Sun” by debuting Saudi directorial duo Faris and Suhaib Godus, about a teenager named Husam who, prompted by the growing phenomenon of Saudi YouTube content, embarks with a group of geeks on a mission to make a no-budget horror pic. Production of this film was supported by the fest.
Oliver Stone will preside over the competition jury.
Red Sea festival chief Mahmoud Sabbagh in a statement called “Book of Sun” “a testament to the passionate community of pioneering filmmakers who have inspired and drive Saudi cinema culture.
- 2/17/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Which film will follow on from ‘Roma’ in winning the prize?
Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2020 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.
This is the first year the award will be given under the new name of ‘best international feature film’, after a change in April from ‘foreign-language film’.
Scroll down for latest entries
The eligibility rules remain the same: an international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the Us with a predominantly non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2020 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.
This is the first year the award will be given under the new name of ‘best international feature film’, after a change in April from ‘foreign-language film’.
Scroll down for latest entries
The eligibility rules remain the same: an international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the Us with a predominantly non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
- 10/4/2019
- by 1101321¦Ben Dalton¦26¦¬0¦Emma Kiely, Nancy Epton¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
The Red Sea International Film Festival, which is Saudi Arabia’s first international film fest, is ramping up operations with the appointment of French industry veteran Julie Bergeron as head of its nascent market.
Ahead of its first edition, to be held March 12–21, 2020, in Jeddah, they’ve also announced funds providing up to $3 million in support for emerging Arab filmmakers and cash prizes totaling $350,000.
Bergeron has been head of industry programs at the Cannes Marché du Film as well as project manager of its Ventana Sur Latin American offshoot, and she has also worked for the now-defunct Dubai film market, among other roles.
Bergeron joins a high-caliber team that includes former Sundance fest documentary programmer Hussain Currimbhoy, who is the Red Sea fest’s artistic director; Dubai’s former top exec Shivani Pandya Malhotra, who is managing director; Antoine Khalife, also a Dubai fest veteran who is director of the...
Ahead of its first edition, to be held March 12–21, 2020, in Jeddah, they’ve also announced funds providing up to $3 million in support for emerging Arab filmmakers and cash prizes totaling $350,000.
Bergeron has been head of industry programs at the Cannes Marché du Film as well as project manager of its Ventana Sur Latin American offshoot, and she has also worked for the now-defunct Dubai film market, among other roles.
Bergeron joins a high-caliber team that includes former Sundance fest documentary programmer Hussain Currimbhoy, who is the Red Sea fest’s artistic director; Dubai’s former top exec Shivani Pandya Malhotra, who is managing director; Antoine Khalife, also a Dubai fest veteran who is director of the...
- 8/31/2019
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The Red Sea International Film Festival, which is Saudi Arabia’s first international film fest, has officially announced its team and set March 12-21, 2020, as the dates of its first edition. The event is to be held in the historic district of Jeddah, which is a Unesco World Heritage site.
As anticipated by Variety, former Dubai Film Festival exec Shivani Pandya has been named general manager of the ambitious event. Hussain Currimbhoy, who has previously served as a documentary programmer at the Sundance Film Festival, is joining as artistic director
Somewhat like Sundance, the Red Sea fest is positioning itself as a year-round film lab/incubator, which it is calling the Red Sea Lodge, to be operated in a partnership with Italy’s Torino Film Lab.
The Red Sea Lodge will select 12 Arabic projects, of which at least six will be directed by Saudi filmmakers. It will provide two of...
As anticipated by Variety, former Dubai Film Festival exec Shivani Pandya has been named general manager of the ambitious event. Hussain Currimbhoy, who has previously served as a documentary programmer at the Sundance Film Festival, is joining as artistic director
Somewhat like Sundance, the Red Sea fest is positioning itself as a year-round film lab/incubator, which it is calling the Red Sea Lodge, to be operated in a partnership with Italy’s Torino Film Lab.
The Red Sea Lodge will select 12 Arabic projects, of which at least six will be directed by Saudi filmmakers. It will provide two of...
- 6/27/2019
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Saudi Arabia has welcomed its first art house cinema.
The open-air Elhoush Cinema – which can seat 75 people – opened to a packed house on Tuesday night in the coastal city of Jeddah with the screening of Stanley Kubrick's groundbreaking epic 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The initiative is the brainchild of Saudi director Mahmoud Sabbagh, the filmmaker behind the Berlinale-bowing comedy Barakah Meets Barakah and last year's Amra and the Second Marriage. Sabbagh is also the director and CEO of the recently-announced Red Sea Film Festival, which is set to have its inaugural edition in Jeddah in ...
The open-air Elhoush Cinema – which can seat 75 people – opened to a packed house on Tuesday night in the coastal city of Jeddah with the screening of Stanley Kubrick's groundbreaking epic 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The initiative is the brainchild of Saudi director Mahmoud Sabbagh, the filmmaker behind the Berlinale-bowing comedy Barakah Meets Barakah and last year's Amra and the Second Marriage. Sabbagh is also the director and CEO of the recently-announced Red Sea Film Festival, which is set to have its inaugural edition in Jeddah in ...
- 6/26/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Saudi Arabia has welcomed its first art house cinema.
The open-air Elhoush Cinema — which can seat 75 people — opened to a packed house Tuesday night in the coastal city of Jeddah with the screening of Stanley Kubrick's groundbreaking epic 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The initiative is the brainchild of Saudi director Mahmoud Sabbagh, the filmmaker behind the Berlinale-bowing comedy Barakah Meets Barakah and last year's Amra and the Second Marriage. Sabbagh is also the director and CEO of the recently announced Red Sea Film Festival, which is set to have its inaugural edition in Jeddah in ...
The open-air Elhoush Cinema — which can seat 75 people — opened to a packed house Tuesday night in the coastal city of Jeddah with the screening of Stanley Kubrick's groundbreaking epic 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The initiative is the brainchild of Saudi director Mahmoud Sabbagh, the filmmaker behind the Berlinale-bowing comedy Barakah Meets Barakah and last year's Amra and the Second Marriage. Sabbagh is also the director and CEO of the recently announced Red Sea Film Festival, which is set to have its inaugural edition in Jeddah in ...
- 6/26/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Riyadh-born Hisham Fageeh was working as a standup comedian, with shows in the U.S. and the U.K., when he decided to venture into filmmaking.
“We have to wear so many hats,” says Fageeh of the showbiz climate in his Saudi Arabia. “I started as a standup comedian and then I needed more gigs, so I started acting. Then I needed more scripts, so I started writing. Then I needed someone to produce my projects, so I started producing. At the end of my projects it feels like I’ve gone through war. We’re expected to produce at such a high rate. We’re always trying to run ourselves into the ground.”
The work has paid off. With his satirical take on Arabic culture, Fageeh’s 2013 web video “No Woman, No Drive” went viral and he was co-producer on Saudi Arabia’s 2016 Oscar submission for foreign-language film, “Barakah Meets Barakah.
“We have to wear so many hats,” says Fageeh of the showbiz climate in his Saudi Arabia. “I started as a standup comedian and then I needed more gigs, so I started acting. Then I needed more scripts, so I started writing. Then I needed someone to produce my projects, so I started producing. At the end of my projects it feels like I’ve gone through war. We’re expected to produce at such a high rate. We’re always trying to run ourselves into the ground.”
The work has paid off. With his satirical take on Arabic culture, Fageeh’s 2013 web video “No Woman, No Drive” went viral and he was co-producer on Saudi Arabia’s 2016 Oscar submission for foreign-language film, “Barakah Meets Barakah.
- 5/10/2019
- by Malina Saval
- Variety Film + TV
Despite ongoing outcry over the assassination of a journalist and rapidly dissolving ties to Hollywood, at least three theater chains are moving forward with plans to put movie screens in Saudi Arabia.
National Association of Theater Owners President John Fithian said he’s recently spoken with numerous members of his organization about sorting out licensing issues with the Saudi government, and continuing with plans to put cineplexes in the Middle Eastern kingdom.
“I’ve spoken to three members this week about their scheduled openings,”said Fithian, addressing journalists at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
While Fithian called the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi “a tragic, awful human rights violation,” he sees the entry of global cinematic voices into Saudi culture as a positive.
“I don’t think it’s our business to make foreign policy as a trade association. It’s our business to represent a trade industry,...
National Association of Theater Owners President John Fithian said he’s recently spoken with numerous members of his organization about sorting out licensing issues with the Saudi government, and continuing with plans to put cineplexes in the Middle Eastern kingdom.
“I’ve spoken to three members this week about their scheduled openings,”said Fithian, addressing journalists at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
While Fithian called the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi “a tragic, awful human rights violation,” he sees the entry of global cinematic voices into Saudi culture as a positive.
“I don’t think it’s our business to make foreign policy as a trade association. It’s our business to represent a trade industry,...
- 4/2/2019
- by Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
Saudi Arabia’s recently established culture ministry has announced a slew of arts initiatives, including plans for the kingdom’s first film festival, a film school and a national film archive. The plans are designed to foster a local film industry.
During a ceremony Wednesday evening in the capital of Riyadh, Prince Badr Bin Abdullah Bin Farhan, who was appointed Saudi Arabia’s first culture minister last year, unveiled a document called “Our Culture, Our Identity” outlining initiatives to kickstart the local arts sector. The effort is part of social and economic reforms championed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman under the Vision 2030 banner.
Saudi Arabia’s first film fest has been named the Red Sea International Film Festival and will be based in the historic district of Jeddah, which is a Unesco World Heritage site. The festival’s president is young Saudi director Mahmoud Sabbagh, known for groundbreaking comedies...
During a ceremony Wednesday evening in the capital of Riyadh, Prince Badr Bin Abdullah Bin Farhan, who was appointed Saudi Arabia’s first culture minister last year, unveiled a document called “Our Culture, Our Identity” outlining initiatives to kickstart the local arts sector. The effort is part of social and economic reforms championed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman under the Vision 2030 banner.
Saudi Arabia’s first film fest has been named the Red Sea International Film Festival and will be based in the historic district of Jeddah, which is a Unesco World Heritage site. The festival’s president is young Saudi director Mahmoud Sabbagh, known for groundbreaking comedies...
- 3/28/2019
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Young Saudi director Mahmoud Sabbagh’s groundbreaking romcom “Barakah Meets Barakah,” about the complexities of dating among his compatriots, made a splash at the 2016 Berlinale and became his country’s contender for the foreign-language Oscar. His new film is black comedy “Amra and the Second Marriage,” in which a 40-something housewife “feels suffocated by a very closed society,” as he puts it.
Sabbagh spoke to Variety at the Cairo Film Festival about pushing the cultural envelope in Saudi Arabia, which recently ended its ban on cinemas but has now been widely condemned for orchestrating the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul.
This is a government-approved production, yet it packs a feminist punch, shows pot-smoking, and features a bogus imam. How did you pull it off?
My cinema really is about pushing artistic limits, and I hope I pushed a bit further this time, though I don’t want...
Sabbagh spoke to Variety at the Cairo Film Festival about pushing the cultural envelope in Saudi Arabia, which recently ended its ban on cinemas but has now been widely condemned for orchestrating the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul.
This is a government-approved production, yet it packs a feminist punch, shows pot-smoking, and features a bogus imam. How did you pull it off?
My cinema really is about pushing artistic limits, and I hope I pushed a bit further this time, though I don’t want...
- 11/30/2018
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Amid the opening of Saudi Arabia’s movie theaters and a push to send an overall message that the Kingdom is open for business, representatives of the General Culture Authority and the Saudi Film Council had a huge first-time presence at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Gca CEO Ahmad Al-Maziad came by Deadline’s Cannes Studio to discuss how the Kingdom is developing guidelines for content, its ongoing discussions with Hollywood and lessons learned from China as well as how Saudi is dealing with outside perceptions. Check out the video above.
At a press conference earlier in the week to announce cash incentives designed to attract foreign productions to the Kingdom as well as grants for local filmmakers, the CEO fielded multiple questions about censorship and the roles of women. He tells me, “I think it’s a fair concern from everyone. We’re new to the game so...
At a press conference earlier in the week to announce cash incentives designed to attract foreign productions to the Kingdom as well as grants for local filmmakers, the CEO fielded multiple questions about censorship and the roles of women. He tells me, “I think it’s a fair concern from everyone. We’re new to the game so...
- 5/18/2018
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
A decade ago, Hollywood received an injection of Middle East oil money when the United Arab Emirates and Qatar decided to build an entertainment industry as part of their economic diversification. But the eager newcomers soon got burned by their knowledge gap and, for the most part, rapidly shrank their investments and redirected their ambitions.
Cut to 2018. The petrodollars are back — but with a more cautious approach — in a new wave of Arab investment led by Saudi Arabia, whose recent entry onto the scene has helped rekindle ties between Hollywood and the Middle East.
The oil-rich kingdom’s decision to lift its 35-year-old ban on movie theaters in December has triggered a flurry of film-related activity at home and in the wider region. AMC Theaters and other multiplex chains are now scrambling to build theaters and screens in Saudi Arabia, the Middle East’s last untapped movie market. The country’s first national film entity,...
Cut to 2018. The petrodollars are back — but with a more cautious approach — in a new wave of Arab investment led by Saudi Arabia, whose recent entry onto the scene has helped rekindle ties between Hollywood and the Middle East.
The oil-rich kingdom’s decision to lift its 35-year-old ban on movie theaters in December has triggered a flurry of film-related activity at home and in the wider region. AMC Theaters and other multiplex chains are now scrambling to build theaters and screens in Saudi Arabia, the Middle East’s last untapped movie market. The country’s first national film entity,...
- 5/4/2018
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Current Mpm Film and Premium Films sales executives Ricardo Monastier and Leslie Saussereau will combine forces on the international sales front.
Paris-based auteur-focused Mpm Film and shorts specialist Premium Films have joined forces to create a single sales entity called Mpm Premium, combining their industry know-how and network.
Under the new structure, current Mpm Film and Premium Films sales executives Ricardo Monastier and Leslie Saussereau will combine forces on the international sales front.
Mpm Film founding chief Marie-Pierre Macia and producer Claire Gadéa and Premium Films founder Jean-Charles Mille will oversee management of the company.
“The market is evolving and we have to adapt. The fusion allows us more flexibility and better reactivity thanks to a bigger team, with complementary abilities and a wide expertise. We plan to optimise our investments and be more present on the international markets,” Macia, Gadéa and Mille said in a joint statement.
“It’s more and more difficult for auteur films to find...
Paris-based auteur-focused Mpm Film and shorts specialist Premium Films have joined forces to create a single sales entity called Mpm Premium, combining their industry know-how and network.
Under the new structure, current Mpm Film and Premium Films sales executives Ricardo Monastier and Leslie Saussereau will combine forces on the international sales front.
Mpm Film founding chief Marie-Pierre Macia and producer Claire Gadéa and Premium Films founder Jean-Charles Mille will oversee management of the company.
“The market is evolving and we have to adapt. The fusion allows us more flexibility and better reactivity thanks to a bigger team, with complementary abilities and a wide expertise. We plan to optimise our investments and be more present on the international markets,” Macia, Gadéa and Mille said in a joint statement.
“It’s more and more difficult for auteur films to find...
- 2/15/2018
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
The Toronto International Film Festival — aka Tiff — has announced its first round of picks for this year’s festival, including Galas and Special Presentations, along with the festival’s opening night selection, Antoine Fuqua’s “The Magnificent Seven,” and their closing night pick, Kelly Fremon Craig’s feature directorial debut “The Edge of Seventeen.” Filled with early awards contenders, returning filmmakers and favorites from other festivals from around the globe, it’s a meaty selection of offerings that firmly announces the imminent arrival of the cinematic bonanza otherwise known as the fall festival season.
There are plenty of familiar faces here, including Denis Villeneuve, who will be bringing his “Arrival” to the same festival that has also screened his “Sicario” and “Prisoners” in previous years. The year after debuting his “Being Charlie” at Tiff, director Rob Reiner will return with his Woody Harrelson-starring biopic “Lbj.” Lone Scherfig, who has...
There are plenty of familiar faces here, including Denis Villeneuve, who will be bringing his “Arrival” to the same festival that has also screened his “Sicario” and “Prisoners” in previous years. The year after debuting his “Being Charlie” at Tiff, director Rob Reiner will return with his Woody Harrelson-starring biopic “Lbj.” Lone Scherfig, who has...
- 7/26/2016
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
This year we are seeing many films from Mena, that is an acronym for the Middle East and North Africa. More commonly called “Arab” cinema, (though the term is inaccurate because several countries in the region are not actually “Arab”) the films of this region are winning many awards and garnering much interest worldwide.
More than 10 Arab films participated in the Berlinale’s Forum and Forum Expanded programs this year, in addition to the ones which participated in the Official Competition (“Inhebek Hedi”/ “Hedi” from Tunisia and “A Dragon Arrives!” by Mani Haghighi from Iran). This makes an especially remarkable year for Arab cinema’s presence in Berlin.
The Forum focus on Arab cinema, represented with films from Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Saudi Arabia highlights mostly young directors whose works explore both the past and present of their homelands.
The films included: “A Magical Substance Flows into Me” by artist Jumana Manna (Palestine), “Akher ayam el madina”/ “In the Last Days of the City” (Egypt) by Tamer El Said (international sales by Still Moving), documentary “Makhdoumin”/ “A Maid for Each” (Lebanon) by Maher Abi Samra (Isa: Docs & Film), “Barakah yoqabil Barakah”/ “Barakah Meets Barakah” (Saudi Arabia) by Mahmoud Sabbagh and Manazil (Isa: Mpm), “Bela abwab”/ “Houses without Doors” by Syrian-Armenian director Avo Kaprealian. Of course the 46th Berlinale Forum also screens films from European, Latin American and Asian directors.
The Tunisian film in Competition “Inhebek Hedi”/ “Hedi” by Mohamed Ben Attia, won the Best First Feature Award and its leading man, Majd Mastoura, received the prestigious Silver Bear for Best Actor for his role as Hedi. Attia’s debut feature film is a thoughtful love story about identity and independence in Tunisian society. It is being sold internationally by Luxbox.
Palestinian director Mahdi Fleifel won the Silver Bear Jury Prize for Short Film for “ A Man Returned”, a 30-minute portrayal of a young refugee struggling to make a life for himself in Lebanon’s Ain El-Helweh camp, being sold internationally by 3.14 Collectif. He previously made an award-winning documentary about his own experience as a refugee. The short film was also selected as the Berlin Short Film Nominee for the European Film Awards.
The Ecumenical Jury awarded the Forum Prize to Saudi filmmaker Mahmoud Sabbagh for his well-received romantic comedy “Barakah Yoqabil Barakah”/ “Barakah Meets Barakah”, a social commentary on the lives of young people in Saudi Arabia. It shared the prize with Danish production “Les Sauteurs”/ “Those Who Jump” – a film that also highlights the plight of Europe-bound refugees.
Egyptian filmmaker Tamer El-Said’s feature film “Akher Ayam El-Madina”/ “In the Last Days of the City” won the Caligari Film Prize. The film looks at a young filmmaker’s struggle to complete a film about Cairo. It was the only Egyptian film to participate in the 2016 Berlinale Forum.
Lebanese filmmaker Maher Abi Samra’s documentary “Makhdoumin”/ “A Maid for Each”, a look at the legal system that controls the lives of Lebanon’s foreign domestic workers, won the Peace Film Prize.
“Zinzana”/ “Rattle the Cage” director, Majid al Ansari, from the Arab Emirates, was honored with Variety’s Mid-East Filmmaker of the Year Award at the Berlinale. The film is the first genre movie of its kind produced in the UAE. It was financed and produced by Abu Dhabi’s ImageNation. It is repped for Us by Cinetic and international sales are by Im Global.
Projects “Mawlana”, based on Ibrahim Issa’s best-selling novel and shortlisted for the Arabic Booker Prize and director’s Mohamed Yassein’s “Wedding Song” based on Naguib Mahfouz’s novel, the Nobel Prize Winner for Literature were being promoted at the Arab Cinema Center at the Market. Reflecting a decadent Egypt from the 1970s, “Wedding Song” is one of the largest TV productions in the Arab World in 2016.
“Theeb”, a Jordanian Epic about Bedouins, is the Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. It played in Venice. International sales agent Fortissimo has licensed it to Film Movement for U.S., ABC for Benelux, New Wave for U.K., As Fidalgo for Norway, Jiff for Australia, trigon-film for Switzerland. Mad Solutions is handling the Middle East. “Ave Maria” a 14-minute Palestine satirical short is the Academy Award nomination for Best Short Fiction and is being sold internationally by Ouat Media. “ The Idol” (Palestine) played Tiff 2015 and other top fests and has sold widely throughout the world through Canada-based international sales agent Seville. Not since Elia Suleiman won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival for “Divine Intervention” has a Palestinian film director made as much of an impact as “The Idol” director Hany Abu-Assad whose “Paradise Now” and “Omar” both went to the Academy Awards.
Kudos for much of the success of Arab cinema go to Mad Solutions, the Cairo, Abu Dhabi and New York based marketing and distribution company for its marketing and social media strategies as well as its release of “Theeb”, “Zinzana” and “Ave Maria”. It also helped create the Arab Cinema Center which was launched last year at the Berlinale and Efm.
In all, 20 Mena films played in the Festival and Market this year.
And what of that other small country in the region called Israel (and/ or Palestine) which is not included in the term Mena? While Israeli films that showed in Berlin received international praise, they will never show in any of the Arab countries and are sometimes boycotted by international film festivals who succumb to censorship tactics.
Most of the larger Israeli features go to Cannes, Venice and Toronto; “Afterthought” went to Cannes, “Mountain” to Venice, “Barash” to San Sebastian”, “Wedding Doll” to London and “A.K.A. Nadia” to Talinn Black Nights Film Festival. In Berlin many are screened as German Premieres.
What Israeli films have won acclaim lately? Is it possible that our hero, Katriel Schory, head of the Israel Film Fund, whose stand for true art has earned him Israeli government censure at home (A prophet is never honored in his own land) and fame abroad with new countries striving to create national cinema, is being eclipsed by the growth of “Arab” cinema?
“Sandstorm” directed by Elite Zexer (international sales by Beta) made its way to Panorama from its world premiere in Sundance where it won the Best Actress Award for Palestinian actress Lamis Ammar’s portrayal of a young Bedouin woman forced to choose between modern freedom or traditional societal strictures within an arranged marriage.
Panorama also screened “Junction 48” (international sales by The Match Factory) which received international praise and audience acclaim. The Israeli-Palestinian hip-hop movie by Israeli-American filmmaker, Udi Aloni, was supported by the Israel-based Rabinovich Foundation. The story is about Kareem who lives in a mixed Jewish-Arab crime-ridden ghetto outside Tel Aviv. He deals drugs and lives dangerously until he discovers hip-hop and decides to express his life as a Palestinian youth along with young singer Manar. Palestinian and Israeli musicians drive this music movie and for Aloni, just seeing the film made, and then shown at the Berlin Film Festival proves its success.
“Suddenly a group of people just choose to make a film and the film is extremely professional. It’s very important that this bi-national energy can create high quality stuff, the high quality is almost the symbol of the resistance. We should not even have to tell the story about the issue. The fact that we could create it is amazing,” Aloni told Euronews.
Thirty-seven-year-old Arab-Israeli rapper Tamer Nafar plays the lead role, and has known the 56-year-old Aloni for some time. “We have been on the same demonstrations, in the parties since 2000, so we live in each other’s world. He has been to my concerts many times, he directed a video clip, I was in his movies as a producer a few times. It’s not about an old generation and new generation, it’s just about creating the right generation,” he said. “He has that gift of being a good story teller and director but he gives us the stage, no, he doesn’t give us a stage, we are building a stage together… he has his own perspective but we are all on the same level,” said actress Samar Qupty. The struggle for equal rights for Palestinians or Arab Israelis inside Israel is at its crux.
Panorama Documents screened “Who’s Gonna Love Me Now?” directed by Tomer Haymann and Barak Heymann co-directed by Alexander Bodin Saphir and being sold by Austria’s Autlook. Forum showed “ Inertia” by Idan Haguel being sold by Oration Films’ Timothy O’Brian of the U.S., and “Between Fences” by Avi Mograbi, being sold by Docs & Film’s Daniela Elstner of France. Culinary Cinema showed “Café Nagler” by Mor Kaplansky and Yariv Barel is being sold internationally by Go2Films.
Teddy 30 (the retrospective of Teddy Award winners over the past 30 years) honored Dan Wolman’s 1979 film “Hide and Seek”/ “Machboim”. Berlinale Shorts screened Rotem Murat’s “Winds Junction” from Sapir College which also holds international rights; Generation 14 Plus screened “Mushkie” by Aleeza Chanowitz from the Jerusalem San Spiegel Film School, being sold by Cinephil. Seven other films were sold in the market by various sales agents.
One of the very special events I attended at the Berlinale this year was the Shabbat Dinner, held the first Friday in the Festival and hosted by Nicola Galliner, Founder and Force of the Berlin Jewish Film Festival. There was a table full of Jews: the new Director of the Jerusalem Film Festival, Noa Regev, PhD; Jay Rosenblatt, Program Director of San Francisco’sJewish Film Institute and its former Director, Peter Stein, now the Senior Programmer of Frameline, San Francisco’s Lgbtq Film Festival; Judy Ironside, the Founder and President of UK Jewish Film and of the sixth edition of the Geneva and Zurich Jewish Film Festivals, the new young director of the Boston Jewish Film Festival, Ariana Cohen-Halberstam who recently moved from the New York Jcc to Boston, the prolific Israeli director, filmmaker Dan Wolman whose new film will soon be out and whose 1979 film “Hide and Seek”/ “Machboim” was part of the Teddy 30th Anniversary Retrospective held by the Berlinale Panorama.
Talk was about films, about politics including gender politics, about our concerns, (we Jews are better worriers than warriors) and just plain gossip.
Now if my readers will excuse my interjecting myself into this article:
It is my opinion that the region of the world called the Middle East, and the three major monotheistic religions of the world whose origin is there had better learn to do more than merely co-exist peacefully if we are to see peaceful and fruitful consequences which will set the world back upon its proper axis.
Art breaks down borders; it is subversive rather than observant of the exigencies of ever changing governments. It creates new perspectives and breaks down old ways of seeing. What I call “Cinema” is Art. Other movies may simply entertain and not aspire to more or they may propagate dogmas, but Art serves no master; it is not tethered; it is freedom of expression which should be honored with freedom to travel.
More than 10 Arab films participated in the Berlinale’s Forum and Forum Expanded programs this year, in addition to the ones which participated in the Official Competition (“Inhebek Hedi”/ “Hedi” from Tunisia and “A Dragon Arrives!” by Mani Haghighi from Iran). This makes an especially remarkable year for Arab cinema’s presence in Berlin.
The Forum focus on Arab cinema, represented with films from Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Saudi Arabia highlights mostly young directors whose works explore both the past and present of their homelands.
The films included: “A Magical Substance Flows into Me” by artist Jumana Manna (Palestine), “Akher ayam el madina”/ “In the Last Days of the City” (Egypt) by Tamer El Said (international sales by Still Moving), documentary “Makhdoumin”/ “A Maid for Each” (Lebanon) by Maher Abi Samra (Isa: Docs & Film), “Barakah yoqabil Barakah”/ “Barakah Meets Barakah” (Saudi Arabia) by Mahmoud Sabbagh and Manazil (Isa: Mpm), “Bela abwab”/ “Houses without Doors” by Syrian-Armenian director Avo Kaprealian. Of course the 46th Berlinale Forum also screens films from European, Latin American and Asian directors.
The Tunisian film in Competition “Inhebek Hedi”/ “Hedi” by Mohamed Ben Attia, won the Best First Feature Award and its leading man, Majd Mastoura, received the prestigious Silver Bear for Best Actor for his role as Hedi. Attia’s debut feature film is a thoughtful love story about identity and independence in Tunisian society. It is being sold internationally by Luxbox.
Palestinian director Mahdi Fleifel won the Silver Bear Jury Prize for Short Film for “ A Man Returned”, a 30-minute portrayal of a young refugee struggling to make a life for himself in Lebanon’s Ain El-Helweh camp, being sold internationally by 3.14 Collectif. He previously made an award-winning documentary about his own experience as a refugee. The short film was also selected as the Berlin Short Film Nominee for the European Film Awards.
The Ecumenical Jury awarded the Forum Prize to Saudi filmmaker Mahmoud Sabbagh for his well-received romantic comedy “Barakah Yoqabil Barakah”/ “Barakah Meets Barakah”, a social commentary on the lives of young people in Saudi Arabia. It shared the prize with Danish production “Les Sauteurs”/ “Those Who Jump” – a film that also highlights the plight of Europe-bound refugees.
Egyptian filmmaker Tamer El-Said’s feature film “Akher Ayam El-Madina”/ “In the Last Days of the City” won the Caligari Film Prize. The film looks at a young filmmaker’s struggle to complete a film about Cairo. It was the only Egyptian film to participate in the 2016 Berlinale Forum.
Lebanese filmmaker Maher Abi Samra’s documentary “Makhdoumin”/ “A Maid for Each”, a look at the legal system that controls the lives of Lebanon’s foreign domestic workers, won the Peace Film Prize.
“Zinzana”/ “Rattle the Cage” director, Majid al Ansari, from the Arab Emirates, was honored with Variety’s Mid-East Filmmaker of the Year Award at the Berlinale. The film is the first genre movie of its kind produced in the UAE. It was financed and produced by Abu Dhabi’s ImageNation. It is repped for Us by Cinetic and international sales are by Im Global.
Projects “Mawlana”, based on Ibrahim Issa’s best-selling novel and shortlisted for the Arabic Booker Prize and director’s Mohamed Yassein’s “Wedding Song” based on Naguib Mahfouz’s novel, the Nobel Prize Winner for Literature were being promoted at the Arab Cinema Center at the Market. Reflecting a decadent Egypt from the 1970s, “Wedding Song” is one of the largest TV productions in the Arab World in 2016.
“Theeb”, a Jordanian Epic about Bedouins, is the Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. It played in Venice. International sales agent Fortissimo has licensed it to Film Movement for U.S., ABC for Benelux, New Wave for U.K., As Fidalgo for Norway, Jiff for Australia, trigon-film for Switzerland. Mad Solutions is handling the Middle East. “Ave Maria” a 14-minute Palestine satirical short is the Academy Award nomination for Best Short Fiction and is being sold internationally by Ouat Media. “ The Idol” (Palestine) played Tiff 2015 and other top fests and has sold widely throughout the world through Canada-based international sales agent Seville. Not since Elia Suleiman won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival for “Divine Intervention” has a Palestinian film director made as much of an impact as “The Idol” director Hany Abu-Assad whose “Paradise Now” and “Omar” both went to the Academy Awards.
Kudos for much of the success of Arab cinema go to Mad Solutions, the Cairo, Abu Dhabi and New York based marketing and distribution company for its marketing and social media strategies as well as its release of “Theeb”, “Zinzana” and “Ave Maria”. It also helped create the Arab Cinema Center which was launched last year at the Berlinale and Efm.
In all, 20 Mena films played in the Festival and Market this year.
And what of that other small country in the region called Israel (and/ or Palestine) which is not included in the term Mena? While Israeli films that showed in Berlin received international praise, they will never show in any of the Arab countries and are sometimes boycotted by international film festivals who succumb to censorship tactics.
Most of the larger Israeli features go to Cannes, Venice and Toronto; “Afterthought” went to Cannes, “Mountain” to Venice, “Barash” to San Sebastian”, “Wedding Doll” to London and “A.K.A. Nadia” to Talinn Black Nights Film Festival. In Berlin many are screened as German Premieres.
What Israeli films have won acclaim lately? Is it possible that our hero, Katriel Schory, head of the Israel Film Fund, whose stand for true art has earned him Israeli government censure at home (A prophet is never honored in his own land) and fame abroad with new countries striving to create national cinema, is being eclipsed by the growth of “Arab” cinema?
“Sandstorm” directed by Elite Zexer (international sales by Beta) made its way to Panorama from its world premiere in Sundance where it won the Best Actress Award for Palestinian actress Lamis Ammar’s portrayal of a young Bedouin woman forced to choose between modern freedom or traditional societal strictures within an arranged marriage.
Panorama also screened “Junction 48” (international sales by The Match Factory) which received international praise and audience acclaim. The Israeli-Palestinian hip-hop movie by Israeli-American filmmaker, Udi Aloni, was supported by the Israel-based Rabinovich Foundation. The story is about Kareem who lives in a mixed Jewish-Arab crime-ridden ghetto outside Tel Aviv. He deals drugs and lives dangerously until he discovers hip-hop and decides to express his life as a Palestinian youth along with young singer Manar. Palestinian and Israeli musicians drive this music movie and for Aloni, just seeing the film made, and then shown at the Berlin Film Festival proves its success.
“Suddenly a group of people just choose to make a film and the film is extremely professional. It’s very important that this bi-national energy can create high quality stuff, the high quality is almost the symbol of the resistance. We should not even have to tell the story about the issue. The fact that we could create it is amazing,” Aloni told Euronews.
Thirty-seven-year-old Arab-Israeli rapper Tamer Nafar plays the lead role, and has known the 56-year-old Aloni for some time. “We have been on the same demonstrations, in the parties since 2000, so we live in each other’s world. He has been to my concerts many times, he directed a video clip, I was in his movies as a producer a few times. It’s not about an old generation and new generation, it’s just about creating the right generation,” he said. “He has that gift of being a good story teller and director but he gives us the stage, no, he doesn’t give us a stage, we are building a stage together… he has his own perspective but we are all on the same level,” said actress Samar Qupty. The struggle for equal rights for Palestinians or Arab Israelis inside Israel is at its crux.
Panorama Documents screened “Who’s Gonna Love Me Now?” directed by Tomer Haymann and Barak Heymann co-directed by Alexander Bodin Saphir and being sold by Austria’s Autlook. Forum showed “ Inertia” by Idan Haguel being sold by Oration Films’ Timothy O’Brian of the U.S., and “Between Fences” by Avi Mograbi, being sold by Docs & Film’s Daniela Elstner of France. Culinary Cinema showed “Café Nagler” by Mor Kaplansky and Yariv Barel is being sold internationally by Go2Films.
Teddy 30 (the retrospective of Teddy Award winners over the past 30 years) honored Dan Wolman’s 1979 film “Hide and Seek”/ “Machboim”. Berlinale Shorts screened Rotem Murat’s “Winds Junction” from Sapir College which also holds international rights; Generation 14 Plus screened “Mushkie” by Aleeza Chanowitz from the Jerusalem San Spiegel Film School, being sold by Cinephil. Seven other films were sold in the market by various sales agents.
One of the very special events I attended at the Berlinale this year was the Shabbat Dinner, held the first Friday in the Festival and hosted by Nicola Galliner, Founder and Force of the Berlin Jewish Film Festival. There was a table full of Jews: the new Director of the Jerusalem Film Festival, Noa Regev, PhD; Jay Rosenblatt, Program Director of San Francisco’sJewish Film Institute and its former Director, Peter Stein, now the Senior Programmer of Frameline, San Francisco’s Lgbtq Film Festival; Judy Ironside, the Founder and President of UK Jewish Film and of the sixth edition of the Geneva and Zurich Jewish Film Festivals, the new young director of the Boston Jewish Film Festival, Ariana Cohen-Halberstam who recently moved from the New York Jcc to Boston, the prolific Israeli director, filmmaker Dan Wolman whose new film will soon be out and whose 1979 film “Hide and Seek”/ “Machboim” was part of the Teddy 30th Anniversary Retrospective held by the Berlinale Panorama.
Talk was about films, about politics including gender politics, about our concerns, (we Jews are better worriers than warriors) and just plain gossip.
Now if my readers will excuse my interjecting myself into this article:
It is my opinion that the region of the world called the Middle East, and the three major monotheistic religions of the world whose origin is there had better learn to do more than merely co-exist peacefully if we are to see peaceful and fruitful consequences which will set the world back upon its proper axis.
Art breaks down borders; it is subversive rather than observant of the exigencies of ever changing governments. It creates new perspectives and breaks down old ways of seeing. What I call “Cinema” is Art. Other movies may simply entertain and not aspire to more or they may propagate dogmas, but Art serves no master; it is not tethered; it is freedom of expression which should be honored with freedom to travel.
- 3/6/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Saudi film-maker Mahmoud Sabbagh challenges Saudi authorities to show his film in cinemas.
Saudi Arabia has one cinema. But film-maker Mahmoud Sabbagh, whose feature debut Barakah Yoqabil Barakah (Barakah Meets Barakah) is playing in Berlin’s Forum strand, wants his film to be shown in the Islamic kingdom.
“The film will be seen [by Saudis],” says Sabbagh. “It will probably be watched through torrents, or in other Gcc countries, where Saudis go to watch films at the weekend. But I do not want to end it there. I want to take the battle of having my films shown in public. Because my whole film is about that.”
“I wanted to be part of the growing momentum for change,” he adds. “We are a society that is in a transition. I wanted to show a balanced image of the country.”
Most news emanating from the notoriously private kingdom focuses on the number of public executions, the limited...
Saudi Arabia has one cinema. But film-maker Mahmoud Sabbagh, whose feature debut Barakah Yoqabil Barakah (Barakah Meets Barakah) is playing in Berlin’s Forum strand, wants his film to be shown in the Islamic kingdom.
“The film will be seen [by Saudis],” says Sabbagh. “It will probably be watched through torrents, or in other Gcc countries, where Saudis go to watch films at the weekend. But I do not want to end it there. I want to take the battle of having my films shown in public. Because my whole film is about that.”
“I wanted to be part of the growing momentum for change,” he adds. “We are a society that is in a transition. I wanted to show a balanced image of the country.”
Most news emanating from the notoriously private kingdom focuses on the number of public executions, the limited...
- 2/16/2016
- ScreenDaily
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