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Theatres primed for Saudi return BY LIZ SHACKLETON
Saudi Arabia could see the return of commercial cinemas as early as April 2018 according to several sources here at DIFF, where some companies are already pitching themselves as potential film distributors for the kingdom. Riyadh and Jeddah, the country’s two largest cities, are both expecting to see the opening of state-ofthe-art multiplexes in what is the largest economy in the Arab world.
Jury doubles up at Arab Critics Awards
UK-based Vue Entertainment is seen as the likeliest operator of the first theatres, after CEO Tim Richards was invited to an investment conference in the capital city of Riyadh in October. He talked about reclining seats and laser projection aimed at a market where twothirds of the population are under the age of 30 and avid consumers of YouTube. Also waiting in the wings are chains such as Wanda Group’s
AMC Theatres, which have been closely monitoring developments. The theatre openings would occur almost exactly a year since Ahmed al-Khatib, who spearheads Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, revealed to Reuters that the intention was to bring cinemas back to the country for the first time since the 1970s when clerics forced their closure. Deprived of entertainment back home, middle-class Saudis already
flock to cinemas in neighbouring UAE and Bahrain, which currently boast some of the highest-grossing theatres in the world. Saudis spend an estimated $20bn a year overseas on shopping and entertainment trips. The country now wants to grab back a quarter of that business. Under its ambitious Vision 2030 plan, the Saudi Public Investment Fund is spending $2.67bn to keep Saudis entertained at home while also attracting tourist dollars.
Burnout, page 7
NEWS Ramallah wrap Bassam Jarbawi has finished filming Screwdriver in Palestine » Page 5
REVIEW Burnout A glossy delve into the contradictory nature of contemporary Morocco » Page 6
FEATURE Serial success How Arab TV series are travelling throughout the region and beyond » Page 10
FORUM EVENTS 10:00-10:30 The secret to hit TV formats
Neilson Barnard/Getty
Location Forum Room Panellists Anahita Kheder, FremantleMedia Middle East; Tarek El Ganainy, TVision; Manoj Mathew, Zee Entertainment MENA
BY MELANIE GOODFELLOW
Arab Cinema Center (ACC) is expanding the second edition of its Arab Critics Awards, which were announced at Rotterdam earlier this year and launched for the first time at Cannes in May. The number of critics on the jury has doubled to more than 50 participants, thanks to a deal with digital platform Festival Scope, enabling more international jurors to see films outside of festivals. The selection includes all Arabic-language features that have screened at festivals outside the region, which are then whittled down to three nominees in each category ahead of the final vote. “It can be difficult for critics, both inside and outside the region, to screen all the Arab films in contention. Thanks to this partnership with Festival Scope and the dedicated Arab Critics Awards channel, we can expand the jury this year,” said Egyptian film critic Ahmed Shawky, who manages the awards. In another modification, a feature-length documentary category has been added alongside the prizes for best film, director, actor, actress and screenplay. Winners of the first edition of the Arab Critics Awards included Mohamed Diab, who won best director and screenplay for Clash, and Tamer El Said’s In The Last Days Of The City, which won best film.
TODAY
10:45-11:15 The big binge theory Location Forum Room Panellists Nader Sobhan, iflix; Hani Osama, The Producers Films; Khaled Benchouche, Starz Play; Neil Martin, OSN
11:30-12:30 The Academy: 364 days of the year Location Forum Room Speakers John Bailey and Kimberly Peirce, Ampas
Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle’s Ser’Darius Blain and Madison Iseman at the film’s gala screening last night
TVision chases down Fishere’s thrillers BY MELANIE GOODFELLOW
Cairo-based production house TVision is planning a two-season TV adaptation of Egyptian writer Ezzedine Choukri Fishere’s bestselling novels, The Killing Of Fakhreddine and Abu Omar AlMasry. The prize-winning stories revolve around the mysterious life of a Cairo lawyer who forges links with international terrorist groups. The complex tale, spanning several interlacing storylines, unfolds against the backdrop of Egypt,
Sudan, Afghanistan and Paris, although that segment of the plot might be transposed to London. “We’re building a pan-Arab cast but it’s an international story that we believe will appeal to audiences beyond the region,” said TVision’s founding chief Tarek El Ganainy. Respected screenwriter Mariam Naaoum is currently writing the script. Egyptian filmmaker Ahmed Khaled Mousa, who recently helmed the Emirati series Justice, a joint venture between Image Nation and Beelink Productions, is
attached to direct. Ahmed Ezz has signed to play the protagonist. TVision previously brought the Saturday Night Live format to the Middle East and acquired Arabiclanguage remake rights to US legal drama Suits. The Fishere adaptations were among a dozen projects presented at DIFF’s showcase of series in the pipeline for the 2018 Ramadan season. Other companies at the event included Sabbah Brothers, which unveiled Al Hayba season 2, Ressort and The Way, about an ambitious female lawyer.
14:00-15:00 Content is king: branded entertainment and the future of advertising Location Forum Room Panellists James Morton-Haworth, Gramafilm; Samer Shoueiry, Publicis Communications MEA; Chris Capstick, Motivate Media Group; Paul Trillo, filmmaker
15:30-16:30 Lights, camera, snap! Going mobile in the digital age Location Forum Room Speakers Snapchat stars Shaun McBride and Tanner Fox
17:00-18:15 Dubai Film Connection awards ceremony Location Forum Room
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NEWS
SVoD not driving MENA production BY COLIN BROWN
The global streaming giants may have changed the economics of film financing across the world, but here in the Arab region their arrival has proved problematic so far for local filmmakers. A DIFF film-financing panel heard how the “holdback” demands being made by Netflix and Amazon when licensing Arab content has meant their respective subscription video-ondemand (SVoD) platforms are not yet the incremental new source of money many in the region had
hoped. And nor yet are their Arab competitors such as Icflix and Cinemoz, despite the fact UKbased analyst Digital TV Research predicts that SVoD revenues in the Middle East and Africa will increase from $124m in 2015 to $1.2bn by 2021. “Arab streaming platforms are all in their infancy. They have very few subscribers, so there is little to monetise. Netflix and Amazon do have the subscribers but they want exclusivity,” said Egyptian producer Mohamed Hefzy. “Having that holdback in the
region is a problem because we need television for our revenue. A lot of our money is made from pay-TV.” Hefzy claimed that had he sold SVoD rights to his award-winning film Clash, that deal would have cost as much as $500,000 in lost pay-TV revenues. That is a substantial sum given the production budgets for Arab features average around $700,000. But the panellists also observed that even US and European independent features are no longer assured of theatrical distribution
deals in all major territories. And when they do, the deals are not at previous levels. Voltage Pictures COO Jonathan Deckter said that at last month’s American Film Market, three movie projects budgeted at more than $40m attracted offers of just $100,000-$200,000 for all UK rights — way short of the $6m sales that had been estimated for those films in the territory. “The middle has fallen out,” declared Deckter. “Distribution has become a real feast-or-famine business.”
Jarbawi’s Screwdriver nails West Bank shoot BY LIZ SHACKLETON
Ramallah-based Rimsh Film and US production outfit Dialectic have wrapped principal photography on Screwdriver (Mafak), the feature-length debut of Palestinian writer-director Bassam Jarbawi. Starring Ziad Bakri, the film revolves around a newly released Palestinian political prisoner who does not feel like he is the hero that everyone hails him to be. The film was shot by US cinematographer David McFarland entirely on location in the West Bank with a largely Palestinian crew. It was produced by
Screwdriver
New York-based Shrihari Sathe and Palestinian actress-producer Yasmine Qaddumi, who also starred along with Jameel Khoury,
Areen Omari and Mariam Basha. Supported by Doha Film Institute, Arab Fund for Arts and Culture and Sundance Institute,
Screwdriver (previously Solitaire King) was selected for Jordan’s RAWI Screenwriters Lab and the US’s Sundance Creative Producing Lab. It also participated in several project markets including Film Independent Fast Track and IFP No-Borders, both based in the US, Dubai Film Connection and the MIA New Cinema Network in Italy. It is currently seeking postproduction funding and support. Jarbawi’s short film Chicken Heads won the best film prize in DIFF’s Muhr Arab short-film competition in 2009, among other awards.
Byrne dresses to impress — on a budget Award-winning UK costume designer Alexandra Byrne has revealed the tricks of the trade, including how to dress background performers, at a Bafta masterclass here yesterday. She explained how budgets often do not stretch far enough for secondary cast to be dressed as well as the principals, so a workaround is always needed. For Joel Schumacher’s The Phantom Of The Opera ,“Every second row we used inflatables with paper plates as faces.” Byrne has dressed several Marvel films, including Thor and Guardians Of The Galaxy. “It’s where I started to work with special effects and understood that what can be done in post to fix costumes is another tool for costume designers.” Each superhero costume takes around 16 weeks to build. From design stage, toy manufacturers want to know “what the back of the costume looks like before you’ve finished it”. Byrne was an Oscar winner for Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth: The Golden Age. She also worked on the upcoming films Jungle Book from Andy Serkis and Mary Queen Of Scots. Kaleem Aftab
ONE ON ONE NUJOOM ALGHANEM, DIRECTOR, SHARP TOOLS
The Emirati filmmaker talks to William Mullally about honouring the groundbreaking work of late artist Hassan Sharif in Sharp Tools, selected for DIFF’s Muhr Feature and Muhr Emirati competitions
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called and said, ‘Let’s make this film that we talked about’. After the first day of shooting, he became more enthusiastic. He also became very excited when he saw the five-minute teaser that I edited after filming him for a couple of days. The purpose of it was to raise funding for the film, but it gave us the chance to talk about the approach of the film.
assan Sharif is a revered figure in the Gulf art community, whose work has been featured at the Guggenheim in New York, Centre Pompidou in Paris and Tate Modern in London. Before he died in 2016, Nujoom Alghanem, an Emirati poet, filmmaker and friend of Sharif, began filming Sharp Tools, a documentary profiling his work and life. In your view, what did Hassan Sharif mean to the UAE? I consider him to be one of the most important artists in the region, who put the UAE on the map when it comes to conceptual art. Today when they talk about art in the UAE globally, Hassan Sharif’s name is the first one mentioned. This means a lot, nationally and internationally.
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Nujoom Alghanem
What was the original intention of the film? I thought Hassan deserved to be documented in a way that resembles his art and thoughts. He was hesitant at the beginning but we agreed to start recording the interviews. Then, when I was working on another project, he
How did that intention change with his death? It didn’t change anything except for the last note at the end of the film. In fact, I began editing before he passed away but had to stop because I needed to re-edit my previous film, Honey, Rain & Dust. I had to respect his wish in all cases and that’s what happened.
How did you finance the film? At the beginning I reached out to Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation (ADMAF), as they had supported most of my films. [ADMAF founder] Hoda Al Khamis Kanoo accepted immediately because she respects Hassan and his work and trusts my intentions. Then Nahar Productions provided the rest of the production funds. For post-production, I approached Sharjah Art Foundation and [SAF president] Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi was very interested and supportive. What struck you most about his art, and as a person, in your years of friendship? His unusual art was only one aspect. What struck me also was his choice of materials and form, and on an intellectual level, his personality, persistence and confrontation.
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REVIEWS Reviews edited by Mark Adams madams9660@gmail.com
Taste Of Cement Reviewed by Wendy Ide
Burnout Reviewed by Mark Adams A glossy and at times vibrant delve into the contradictory nature of contemporary Moroccan culture, especially when it comes to morals and values, Nour-Eddine Lakhmari’s absorbing Burnout veers from loneliness and misery to hope and redemption. While tinged with a streak of sentimentality, it feels like a very modern film that reflects a society at odds with itself. Burnout follows three storylines as they sometimes intersect, but at heart follow their own journey. Largely shot at night, these very different strands dwell on how hope is ground down by the residual values of a country where people can be ‘burned out’ by the pressures of society. And while it all sounds rather gloomy, the film is also punctuated by a few moments of real joy and hints that happiness can sometimes be found. Writer-director Lakhmari — as he did with his previous film Zero (2012), which also played at DIFF — makes great use of atmospheric music to give Burnout a sense of mood and tone. It works especially well with the storyline featuring Jad (Anas El Baz), a wealthy young man who attempts to drive his sports car from his house to the beach in three minutes. His high-octane drive is balanced by the story of 13-year-old Ayoub (Ilyass El Jihani), a shoeshine boy working on a big boulevard, whose dream is to buy a prosthetic leg for his disabled mother. The third story strand follows Aida (a charismatic Sarah Perles), a young resident doctor who needs to make more money and starts to work as an escort for wealthy men. Each of these fragile and complex characters has to face their sadness and hopes in very different ways. While Ayoub’s story provides the film’s sentimental streak and Aida’s a real sense of darkness as she descends into an exploitative world, the central story of Jad and his wife Ines (Morjana Alaoui) at least hints at a journey of understanding and possible redemption. His unhappiness at work, and a feeling that the marriage was arranged, leads to their separation. While he finds joy away from work, she relishes her search for a painting to take pride of place in an exhibition she is working on. But their paths bring them back together and offer the possibility of reconciliation.
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MUHR FEATURE Mor-Nor. 2017. 113mins Director/screenplay Nour-Eddine Lakhmari Production companies Nel Films, Icflix, Filmhuset AS, Umedia Contact Filmhuset, lakhmari@filmhuset.com Producers Nour-Eddine Lakhmari, Egil Odegard Cinematography Wesley Mrozinski Editors Nour-Eddine Lakhmari, Sarah Mouta Music Oistein Boassen Main cast Anas El Baz, Ilyass El Jihani, Sarah Perles, Morjana Alaoui, Driss Roukhe, Faty El Jaouhari, Saadia Ladib, Karim Saïdi, Mohammed Khiari, Badr Bouhaih, Taoufik Hazeb
Fiercely lyrical in its approach, potent and unavoidable in its message, this documentary looks at the plight of Syrian migrant workers by weaving the construction of a tower block in Beirut with the destruction of lives back home. It is an accomplished, thought-provoking piece that elegantly threads together images which mirror and echo each other, and finds harmonies between sound design and score. Cement is the foundation for this exploration of lives cut adrift. Although none of the workers speak on camera, there is a sparse but evocative narration. It is the voice of an unnamed Syrian man, who recalls the return of his construction-worker father, the corrosive grind of cement dust on skin, the dusty scent of the working man who has returned from Lebanon to Syria. Now a whole new generation of Syrian men make the same journey but, just as their lives back home have crumbled, so their rights have been whittled away. The camera lingers over a sign that reads ‘Curfew on Syrian workers after 7. Any violation is punishable by law.’ After the backbreaking toil on the skyscraper, the men climb down into the concrete bowels of the building where they spend their nights, forbidden from leaving the site. There is an arresting scene, shot from high above, which shows the men in their helmets and hi-vis jackets, disappearing like worker ants into a jagged hole in the ground. The underground space is lit by bare lightbulbs and the glow of countless screens, as the men stonily scroll through news reports and photographs of the destruction back home. The camera has no qualms about extreme close-ups — we see the reflection of footage of a bombing campaign in the unblinking eye of one of the men. Cement is elsewhere — shattered by bombing campaigns in Syria, its dust coating the inside of rescuers’ lungs as they scoop out rubble to get to the people underneath. In the way it uses visual poetry to describe the world of work, the film has something in common with Zhao Liang’s Behemoth or Rahul Jain’s Machines. But the juxtaposition of conflict and construction gives this film a harder edge that should disarm any potential criticism about the aestheticising of suffering.
MUHR FEATURE Ger-Leb-Syr-UAE-Qat. 2017. 85mins Director Ziad Kalthoum Production companies Bidayyat for Audiovisual Art, Basis Berlin Filmproduktion International sales Syndicado, aleksandar@syndicado. com Producers Ansgar Frerich, Eva Kemme, Tobias Siebert Screenplay Ziad Kalthoum, Ansgar Frerich Cinematography Talal Khoury Editors Alex Bakri, Frank Brummundt Music Sebastian Tesch
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SCREENINGS, PAGE 12
In The Shadows Reviewed by Sarah Ward
Wajib Reviewed by Allan Hunter A prodigal son’s Palestinian homecoming is marked by family obligations, confronting white lies and efforts at matchmaking in Wajib, a wry family drama from writerdirector Annemarie Jacir. The script is sharp and the situations should strike a chord across the generation gap. Loosely inspired by events in her own family, Jacir’s film follows Shadi (Saleh Bakri) as he returns to Nazareth for the wedding of his sister Amal (Maria Zreik, one of Screen’s Arab Stars of Tomorrow 2017). Tradition dictates that he should accompany his father Abu Shadi (Mohammad Bakri) as they personally deliver wedding invitations to a large extended family, friends and anyone else considered an essential guest. Abu Shadi is a schoolteacher, divorced from a wife who left both him and the country many years ago. It becomes clear the pain is still raw. Shadi is an architect who now lives in Rome with his girlfriend. Initial scenes suggest a distance between them. They are as polite as two strangers, but eventually niggling comments and tensions rise to the surface. Encounters with family members reveal that Abu Shadi has been less than truthful about his son. He has neglected to mention the boy gave up his medical studies and has seen no reason to correct those who think Shadi is living in the US or assume he is intent on returning to live in Nazareth. Wajib could almost be called a road movie as father and son spend a good deal of their time driving between destinations in Nazareth. There is a faint echo of Abbas Kiarostami’s films, especially Ten (2002), as we witness the two men seated side by side, listening to their interactions. Their clashes of values, aesthetics and even feelings about Nazareth pepper the film with wry chuckles. The political becomes more apparent when the two men deliver some home truths about why Shadi had to leave Nazareth, and how different the country feels in exile compared with the experience of those who still live in it every day. Naturalistic, nicely paced and well played by the lead actors, Wajib succeeds at making us invest in its fragile father/son relationship and willing them to acknowledge there is more that unites them than threatens to drive them apart.
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MUHR FEATURE Pal-Fr-Ger-Col-Nor-QatUAE. 2017. 96mins Director/screenplay Annemarie Jacir Production company Philistine Films International sales Pyramide International, sales@pyramidefilms.com Producer Ossama Bawardi Cinematography Antoine Héberlé Editor Jacques Comets Production designer Nael Kanj Main cast Mohammad Bakri, Saleh Bakri, Maria Zreik
The lure of a labyrinth is twofold. While conquering its twists and turns remains the ultimate aim, enjoying the journey proves just as important. Writer/director Dipesh Jain aims to channel that experience in setting his debut feature within Old Delhi, using its walled-in confines to explore life’s many physical and metaphorical mazes, and following a protagonist trying to piece together a puzzle while wandering the streets. In The Shadows is less a crafty psychological thriller and more an emotional voyage towards an end that is signposted too early to have the desired impact. There is, however, still enough to like about the feature, with an earnestly fraying performance by Manoj Bajpayee (Gangs Of Wasseypur) and a mature turn by first-timer Om Singh. There is also the lived-in grit of its claustrophobic locale, captured with clarity and purpose, and an astute awareness of the haunting nature of the past. An awkward, lonely outcast who spies on his neighbours through secretly installed cameras, Bajpayee’s dishevelled Khuddoos is already living in a maze of sorts. His routine is mundane, with days spent staring at his bank of television screens. But overhearing a young boy’s pain through the walls has an unexpectedly galvanising effect. He becomes obsessed with helping, yet he cannot find the child in question. Working with editor Chris Witt, Jain intertwines Khuddoos’s quest with the boy’s tale, jumping between the two at obvious junctures. The child, Idris (Singh), dotes on his pregnant mother Saira (Shahana Goswami) and baby brother, roams around with his pal, and attempts to avoid his stern, sometimes violent father Liakat (Neeraj Kabi, last seen playing Gandhi in Gurinder Chadha’s Viceroy’s House). It is the sound of a beating that sparks Khuddoos into action, and starts the boy dreaming of an escape. The former is frenzied, losing track of time as he scours the neighbourhood; the latter calm, but filling with anger. Thanks to the efforts of Bajpayee and Singh, In The Shadows works best when it strides into the characters’ inner darkness, rather than when it is laying down clues about its endgame. Each actor sells not only the pain that drives their protagonists, but the struggle that comes with rallying against accepted standards of masculinity.
CINEMA OF THE WORLD Ind-UK-Ger. 2017. 117mins Director/screenplay Dipesh Jain Production company/ international sales Exstant Motion Pictures, shuchi@exstantmotion pictures.com Producers Shuchi Jain, Dipesh Jain, Lena Vurma Cinematography Kai Miedendorp Editor Chris Witt Production designer Sujata Sharma Virk Music Dana Niu Main cast Manoj Bajpayee, Ranvir Shorey, Neeraj Kabi, Shahana Goswami, Om Singh
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ARAB 2017
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STARS OF TOMORROW ARAB 2017
Marwan Abdullah Saleh Actor (UAE)
The star of the small screen has snagged the lead in a big local film that could catapult his career to the next level. Melanie Goodfellow reports
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arwan Abdullah Saleh, a TV and socialmedia star in the United Arab Emirates, is ready to break out internationally with his debut big-screen role in Mohammed Saeed Harib’s body-swap comedy Rashid & Rajab. The eagerly awaited feature is compatriot director Harib’s first live-action film following the hit animated series Freej and his work on feature-length animation The Prophet, which was spearheaded by Salma Hayek. In Rashid & Rajab, which opens in the UAE early next year, Saleh plays workaholic Emirati businessman Rashid opposite Egyptian actor Shadi Alfons as impoverished Egyptian deliveryman Rajab. The pair mysteriously swap bodies after a car crash, giving them a fresh perspective on life as they fight to get back their true identities. “He has this amazing comedic energy,” says Harib of Saleh. “I knew that we would create magic by putting him on the big screen. I always wanted to work with him and knew he had potential. He’s going to be one of the big stars of cinema.” The director says Saleh brought his unique stamp to the role. “His character became very Charlie Chaplinesque,” Harib explains. “Everyone was laughing on set after we called cut and I knew this was the right tone for the film.” Saleh admits his first time on a film set was a steep learning curve after his TV work. “There was a lot more attention to detail and it was a lot more complicated, but it was a challenge I really enjoyed,” he says. “The biggest shock was shooting one scene for 11 hours. That’s unheard of when you shoot a TV series. “A lot of research went into this, from studying the character’s background, to looking into his psychology and physical appearance.” Saleh grew up in the theatre as the son of Abdullah Saleh, one of the UAE’s most respected actors and writers. His first role was at the age of six in a play called Destiny, directed by Emirati actor and household name Habib Ghuloom. However, until he was nine, his first love was football.
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“I was playing for the local team but my footballing career was cut short when I sustained a serious injury,” he reveals. “It forced me back to acting.” Saleh started to win small TV parts and has been working regularly in local series ever since. One of his best-known TV roles to date is playing opposite Emirati star Jaber Naghmoosh, as his character’s son, in the popular local comedy show Hayer Tayer, which ran for five seasons from 2000-07. “The chemistry was so fantastic that many of the show’s fans and critics said no other actors could play such a great father-and-son duo. It was incredible feedback,” says Saleh. “I hope one day I will be the next Jaber Naghmoosh.” Another role model for the young actor is Hollywood star Jim Carrey. “As a young boy, I would watch his films Ace Ventura and The Mask, and I would try to copy his expressions and movements, really trying to learn from each scene.” Saleh studied at Tunisia’s Arab-African Centre for Training in Theatre, based in the El Hamra Theatre in
Tunis and founded by the celebrated late actor and director Ezzedine Gannoun. Alongside his TV and theatre work, Saleh also has a strong social-media following that he hopes to develop further. “I’m active on Snapchat. I’ve been doing a few sketches on Snapchat to make people laugh. Surprisingly, I recently found out these are being uploaded to YouTube, where they have a huge number of views. I’m planning to develop my own YouTube channel in the next few months,” he says. Alongside his multiple commitments, Saleh finds time for theatre work. Last year, he produced and directed the comedy Ers Al Ethnain as part of his campaign to revive the UAE’s flagging theatre scene. “I am working on producing a number of plays,” he says. “I think Emirati audiences have forgotten about the theatre, and I hope to get them interested again in this art form.” Contact Marwan Abdullah Saleh dubai_theater@hotmail.com
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KAMILA ANDINI & JONAS CARPIGNANO PROFILES
Local colour
The Seen And Unseen
Writer-director Jonas Carpignano says the Italian shoot for coming-of-age tale A Ciambra was as intense off-screen as it was on. Kaleem Aftab reports
J Poetry in motion Kamila Andini tells Liz Shackleton about the local culture behind children’s fable The Seen And Unseen
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et on the Indonesian island of Bali, director Kamila Andini’s The Seen And Unseen is about a 10-year-old girl whose twin brother falls seriously ill. While he languishes in a hospital bed, she retreats into a fantastical world of dance, costume and puppetry to help her cope with the possible loss of her brother and closest friend. Following her debut feature The Mirror Never Lies (2011), Andini spent a few years developing the ideas behind her second film. “The Balinese have this philosophy, ‘sekala niskala’, through which they believe in everything they can see and also everything they cannot see. It fits with me as both a creator and an Indonesian, because we’ve always lived within myths, beliefs and religions, and we connect to each other in a holistic way.” Wo r k i n g w i t h Balinese choreographer Ida Ayu Wayan Arya Satyani, Andini created a magical realm in which song, poetry and movement — instead of speech — are used to communicate and express emotions. “Balinese dance can be very dynamic, but we used a style called sanghyang, which is slow and mystical,” Andini explains. “It was important to get the rhythm right, as movement is the dialogue of this film.” The Seen And Unseen also explores the special connection between male and female twins and the cycles present in nature, in particular the power of the moon. With so many esoteric concepts, Andini and her producers Gita Fara and Ifa Isfansyah initially found it difficult to
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‘The ideas weren’t easy for financiers to grasp and we wanted to keep an independent spirit’ Kamila Andini
raise funding. “The ideas weren’t easy for financiers to grasp and we wanted to keep an independent spirit,” Andini explains. Eventually the film was financed by crowdfunding and grants from Hubert Bals and the APSA Children’s Film Fund, while Doha Film Institute helped back post-production. A week before shooting started, Andini discovered she was three-months pregnant with her second child. “The pregnancy was also a kind of seen and unseen,” she jokes. “But I work with a community that accepts I’m a mother and often take my older daughter on set.” After premiering at Toronto, The Seen And Unseen has been winning awards on the festival circuit, including best youth feature film at the APSAs. It also shared the grand prix at Tokyo Filmex with another Indonesian film — Mouly Surya’s Marlina The Murderer In Four Acts. Dubai-based Cercamon is handling international sales. The Seen And Unseen screens at Mall of the Emirates at 18:45 on December 10 and 15:15 on December 11
onas Carpignano has set his second feature, A Ciambra, in the same Calabrian coastal town of Gioia Tauro that served as the backdrop to his 2015 award-winning debut Mediterranea. Working with the same neorealist palate and once again asking locals to play versions of themselves, the Italian-American director has taken one of the secondary characters from his first film, the cherubic-looking, Artful Dodger-type teenager Pio Amato, and put him centre stage in a coming-of-age story set among immigrants crossing paths with the local criminal underground. With this tale covering both the gypsy community and an African refugee camp, Carpignano wanted to avoid stereotypes. “The idea for me is not to be judgmental,” he says. “Stereotypes often come from what people think rather than what they do, and I think you can take the same action and put it under a different lens and see something totally different.” With the fly-on-the-wall handheld camera lending a documentary aesthetic, Carpignano delights in subverting the typecasts: “There is a stereotype that gypsies steal, so for me the challenge is to say, ‘So you think these guys steal? Can’t we fall in love with them anyway?’”
There are four main ‘families’ in Gioia Tauro and the decision to concentrate on the Amatos did not sit well with some of the other families. “By focusing all my attention on the Amato family, there was almost this jealousy, which created a really tense atmosphere in an already really intense place,” says Carpignano. “There are some relationships that changed to the point where there are some people that I don’t even speak to anymore.” One relationship that did develop over the course of production was with Martin Scorsese, who came on board as an executive producer via his film fund, which is designed to help emerging filmmakers. It is part of a partnership between Scorsese and Emma Tillinger Koskoff ’s Sikelia Productions and Rodrigo Teixeira’s Brazil-based RT Features. “The first time we spoke was after Scorsese saw a cut of the film,” says Carpignano. “If you watch My Voyage To Italy, where he is telling you why the films are interesting to him, hearing him talk about Pio and A Ciambra in the same way was shocking. He knows who these people are.” A Ciambra screens at Mall of the Emirates at 15:30 on December 10
A Ciambra
December 10, 2017 Screen International at Dubai 9
SPOTLIGHT MIDDLE EAST TV
O
ne of the key themes at this year’s edition of global content market Mipcom, held in Cannes in October, was the rise of a so-called ‘glocal’ production and distribution approach. Sparked by the proliferation of digital platforms, led by companies including Netflix and Amazon, with both mainstream and niche content needs, it has given rise to a wave of successful, non-US, high-end drama series, which are hits at home and also find audiences regionally and globally. A Mipcom discussion ‘Successful Content in the Middle East’ suggested the Arab TV world is catching up with this trend. The MENA TV sector is undergoing a boom, with the number of pan-Arab drama series and formats proliferating and increasingly travelling beyond their home borders.
Dramatic
shift
The boom in high-end TV has reached the Middle East, where both original content and local versions of international dramas are in demand. Melanie Goodfellow reports
‘Pan-Arab shows have scored high ratings outside their home territories’ Fadi Ismail, MBC
Nabil Kazan, founding president of Beirut-based advertising consultancy KPTV-MENA and a veteran of the region’s TV industry, noted Arabic series are on the rise in terms of the number being made, bigger budgets, starrier casts and higher TV ratings. He said around 100 Arabic dramas and comedies had been produced specifically for the peak TV viewing season of Ramadan in 2017, which ran May 26 to June 24. Pan-Arab approach Top shows in the region over the past six months included Lebanon’s Al Hayba, about a family of arms smugglers working the border between Syria and Lebanon, the satirical Saudi Arabian show Selfie, Syrian Civil War drama Waiting For Jasmine, historical series Malik Bin Al Rayb, about the adventures of a poet from the ancient Bani Tamim tribe, and the hard-hitting life-under-Isis drama Black Crows. Fadi Ismail, director of group drama at pan-Arab, Dubai-based broadcaster MBC, observed that shows are increasingly finding audiences outside their home territories. He said this could be seen, for example, in Saudi Arabia, where the most popular show during Ramadan was local production Selfie, but with Lebanon’s Al Hayba and Black
Al Hayba
Crows also featuring in the top five. “What’s interesting is the ascendency of pan-Arab drama not only on TV, but also on digital platforms and social media,” said Ismail. “Pan-Arab shows like Al Hayba and Black Crows have scored high ratings outside their home territories, higher than in previous years. “Al Hayba was a big success in my opinion because it had captivating characters that we really wanted to follow. The plot was also tied up with a feudal culture, which has emotional resonance across the region. “Black Crows banked on being a reflection of a daily news story,” he added, pointing out the portrayal of life under Isis was a “concern for every single Arab”. A number of new players are entering the scripted drama arena in the region. “Everyone is moving from nonscripted to scripted,” said Joseph Husseini, channel head at MTV Lebanon and founder of production and distri-
10 Screen International at Dubai December 10, 2017
Malik Bin Al Rayb
bution company Bright I. He said the channel is increasingly branching into drama, having previously focused on factual and studio-based entertainment content. MTV Lebanon’s new enthusiasm for drama has been fuelled in part by its success with Al Hayba, which it had acquired from local production and distribution company Cedars Art Pro-
duction-Sabbah Brothers. “It had huge ratings and we made a lot of money,” Husseini added. MTV Lebanon is now moving into producing its own in-house drama series and has signed a contract with popular Lebanese actress and writer Carine Rizkallah to create an in-house series, having previously broadcast her
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‘We’re looking for stories that can fly outside the Middle East’ Talal Al Awamleh, Telemedia Group
was actively looking for international partners, in response to the difficulty in raising sizeable budgets through broadcasters in the region. This marks a fresh departure for the Amman-based production and distribution group. It has produced more than 5,000 hours of content aimed only at Arabic-language audiences since its creation in 1983, including hit shows The Sons Of Al Rashid, Abu Ja’far Al Mansour, Al Hajjaj and Malik Bin Al Rayeb. “We’re looking for stories that can fly outside the Middle East and appeal to more international audiences,” he said. “You need to find relevant stories that can talk to audiences both in the region and outside. It involves higher standards, more detailed development on the storylines and international talent, as well as different distribution and marketing strategies. It’s a game-changer.”
Black Crows
Selfie
‘Everyone is moving from nonscripted to scripted’ Joseph Husseini, MTV Lebanon
production Li Akher Nafass over Ramadan 2017. “We’re going to start production soon on a new series, which will be made in Lebanon, although the idea is to make something that could travel worldwide,” Husseini explained. Filling the gaps The Mipcom talk also revealed a growing regional interest in tailored Arabiclanguage remakes of popular US and European TV shows. “We did an indepth analysis of the market and looked at where the gaps are, and then at what was available in terms of formats worldwide, mapping their success with the
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gaps,” said Khulud Abu Homos, CEO of fledgling company Arab Format Lab, a subsidiary of the Saudi Ritix Group with offices in Dubai, Cairo and Jeddah. Under the strategy, Arab Format Lab has acquired a number of successful drama formats in recent months including Entertainment Experience, the user-generated movie show created by Dutch company FCCE, US teen medical comedy-drama Red Band Society and Spanish prison drama Locked Up, which the company plans to transpose to Guantanamo Bay. While the pan-Arab drama scene is on a roll, many of the speakers suggested the key to sustaining and expanding the trend is Arab Format Lab has acquired international formats including US medical drama Red Band Society (pictured right)
to find partners outside the Middle East. The region has a population of some 300 million people, but poor penetration rates for pay-TV outside key markets such as the Gulf — alongside piracy and the fact many people subscribe directly to the US versions of platforms such as Netflix and Amazon — have combined to cap potential revenues and therefore production budgets. “The region is too small to grow the quality of production and storytelling,” said Ismail. “We have to look outside the region to do content that really makes a difference, and there’s nothing wrong with that. There is no reason why we can’t do what Denmark, or even Israel, is doing.” Talal Al Awamleh, CEO of Jordan’s Arab Telemedia Group, said his company
Power of 10 As part of this drive, Arab Telemedia Group has moved away from the traditional 30-part series aimed at a Ramadan broadcast in favour of 10-part series, which are more in keeping with popular US-produced series such as Breaking Bad or Narcos. Al Awamleh noted that the success of Narcos, which combines Spanish and English-language dialogue, shows there is an international market for multilingual dramas. His company’s internationally focused projects include Guantanamo Bay drama Camp 7 and sci-fi series The Necronomicon, inspired by the fictional magical textbook referenced in a number of works by horror writer HP Lovecraft. “The story allows us to have English- and Arabic-speaking characters, from journalists and prison-camp guards to detainees,” he said of Camp 7. “It allows everyone to speak his own language but in a natural way.” Sadek Sabbah, chairman of Cedars Art Production, which produced Al Hayba, said the show was already sparking interest outside the Middle East. “We have already signed deals in Georgia, Russia and another Eastern European country, and negotiations are underway on a number of other territos ries,” he said. ■
December 10, 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
Cast: Waleed Al Yasi, Mahmood Bin Shamsan, Sawsan Saad. Two brothers have a tough life. When their father is murdered, they find themselves in even more challenging circumstances. The film follows the paths taken by each brother following their father’s death and the consequences of their actions.
FESTIVAL 15:00 73°C
(Canada, Iraq, Czech Republic, UAE) KIC Film. 103mins. Nonfiction. Dir: Baz Dinka Shamoun. Asia, Rayan and Ali find themselves imprisoned in their homeland, Iraq, because of the Western invasion. Living has become a battle, with their world shattered as violence and religious
11:00 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
13:00 WAR TOURIST
(US) 30mins. Non-fiction, war. Dir: Emiliano Ruprah.
war pose a threat to their health and wellbeing. Their main challenge is to exist. They had ambitions and dreams when they were children, but war destroyed all hope and led them into a state of chaos. Can they change their destiny? Will they fulfil their dreams? Muhr Feature Mall of the Emirates — Vox 15 Public
An immersive film shot in and around Mosul, northern Iraq during the offensive to retake the city. This is a war documentary with a personal perspective on the motives behind filming combat and an exploration about the role images play in militarising civilians. DIFFerent Reality (5) The du VR Cinema Public
14:45 BURNOUT
(Morocco) Nelfilms, Filmhuset Studio. 113mins. Drama. Dir: Nour-Eddine Lakhmari. Cast: Sarah Perles, Ilyass El Jihani, Anas El Baz, Morjana Alaoui, Faty El Jaouhari, Driss Roukhe, Karim Saidi, Badr Bouaiche, Saadia Ladib,
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Mohammed Khiyari. Thirteen-year-old Ayoub is a shoeshine boy who spends his days working on the big boulevard. His dream is to buy a prosthetic leg for his crippled mother. Jad, a wealthy young heir, hides behind the wheel of his sports car as he challenges himself to drive from his house to the beach in three minutes. And Aida, a young resident in a hospital who needs to make more money, starts a new job as an escort for rich and powerful men. Fragile characters confront their loneliness, misery, fears and hopes.
meeting, characters address you directly and you have a first-hand view of smalltown bureaucracy going wrong. DIFFerent Reality (1) The du VR Cinema Public
Muhr Emirati Mall of the Emirates — Vox 17 Public
15:15 CUSTODY (JUSQU’A LA GARDE) See box, below
VOX CINEMAS OUTDOOR Galleria Mall
Broadcasting Corp. 104mins. Non-fiction. Dir: Feras Fayyad. After five years of war, the remaining citizens of Aleppo are readying themselves to come under siege. Through the volunteers of the White Helmets, the film tells a personal story about their daily lives, deaths and their struggle to keep the city safe. They fight for sanity at a time when war has become the norm. Muhr Feature Mall of the Emirates — Vox 13 Public
15:30 A CIAMBRA
MATCH
(UAE) Hush Films. 90mins. Drama. Dir: Obaid Al Hmoudi.
LAST MEN IN ALEPPO (AKHER ALREGAL FE HALAB)
(Syria, Denmark) Danish
(Italy, US, France, Germany) Luxbox. 120mins. Drama. Dir: Jonas Carpignano.
Muhr Feature Mall of the Emirates — Vox 03 Public
15:00 73°C See box, above
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 reigns when an elderly resident paints her house pink. The committee debates the matter, tempers flare and hilarity ensues. As a member of the
FESTIVAL 15:15 CUSTODY (JUSQU’A LA GARDE)
(France) Celluloid Dreams. 90mins. Drama. Dir: Xavier Legrand. Cast: Denis Menochet, Lea Drucker, Thomas Gioria.
Miriam and Antoine Besson have divorced and Miriam is seeking sole custody of their son, Julien, to protect him from a father she claims is violent. Antoine pleads his case as a scorned father, and the judge rules in
favour of joint custody. A hostage to the escalating family conflict, Julien is pushed to the edge in preventing his worst-case scenario from playing out. Cinema of the World Mall of the Emirates — Vox 14 Public
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find a human connection. Cinema of the World Mall of the Emirates — Vox 17 Public
18:15 CATCH THE WIND (PRENDRE LE LARGE) See box, below
MUHR SHORT: PACKAGE 3
(Netherlands) 88mins. Muhr Short (3) Mall of the Emirates — Vox 03 Public
18:30 MUHR GULF SHORT: PACKAGE 1
(UAE, Bahrain) 82mins. Muhr Gulf Short (1) Mall of the Emirates — Vox 06 Public
NO DATE, NO SIGNATURE (BEDOUNE TARIKH, BEDOUNE EMZA)
FESTIVAL 18:00 CACTUS FLOWER (ZAHRET AL SABAR)
(Egypt, Qatar, UAE, Norway) 102mins. Drama. Dir: Hala Elkoussy. Cast: Menha El Batroui, Salma Samy, Marwan Alazab. Aida, 33, is a struggling actress from a provincial background. She finds herself on the streets of Cairo alongside her neighbour Samiha, 70, a reclusive bourgeois. With no money and nowhere to go, the two women,
aided by Yassin, a streetsavvy youth, embark on a journey to find shelter. Amid the banal and at times disastrous turns their journey takes, they move along parallel journeys of self-discovery. An extraordinary friendship grows among the unlikely trio; a friendship comparable to a delicate flower blooming from a thorny cactus. Muhr Feature Mall of the Emirates — Vox 14 Public
Cast: Iolanda Amato, Koudous Seihon, Pio Amato. Within a small Romani community in Calabria, 14-year-old Pio Amato is in a hurry to grow up. He drinks, smokes and follows his older brother Cosimo everywhere. Through Cosimo, Pio learns how to navigate the streets of their hometown. One night, Pio sets out to prove to his brother that he is as good or better than him, but when things go wrong. A series of events will forever change the way he sees the world.
SHARP TOOLS (ALAAT HADDAH)
Cinema of the World Mall of the Emirates — Vox 06 Public
Muhr Feature, Muhr Emirati Mall of the Emirates — Vox 05 Public
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(UAE) 84mins. Creative documentary, non-fiction. Dir: Nujoom Alghanem. Cast: Hassan Sharif. Hassan Sharif, the late founder of the conceptual art movement in the UAE and the most influential and controversial artist in the region, discusses the motivations behind his work during a time that was not ready for an art revolution. His philosophy remained central to his art, but this documentary also breaks new ground.
17:00 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?
walls of his house. The obsession to find Idris takes over Khuddoos. As the boy’s condition seems to degenerate from bad to worse, Khuddoos loses his grip over time and reality. An absorbing story of a man trapped within the walls of an old city and his attempts to break free in order to
(Iran) Noori Pictures. 104mins. Drama. Dir: Vahid Jalilvand. Cast: Amir Agha’ee, Navid Mohammadzadeh, Hediyeh Tehrani. Forensic pathologist Dr Nariman, a principled and virtuous man, has an accident with a motorcyclist and his family, and injures their
eight-year-old son. He financially compensates the man and offers to take the child to the nearest clinic. The next morning, he learns the same boy has been brought in for an autopsy. Dr Nariman must determine if he is responsible for the child’s death or if the child died of food poisoning, as claimed in another doctor’s diagnosis. Cinema of the World Mall of the Emirates — Vox 05 Public
18:45 FACES PLACES (VISAGES VILLAGES)
(France) Cohen Media Group. 93mins. Nonfiction. Dir: JR, Agnes Varda. Agnes Varda, the 89-yearold legend of the French New Wave, and JR, an acclaimed 33-year-old French photographer and muralist, team up to co-direct this enchanting documentary/road movie. Kindred spirits, Varda and JR share a lifelong passion for images and how they are created, displayed and shared. Together they travel around the villages
DIFFerent Reality (2) The du VR Cinema Public
18:00 CACTUS FLOWER (ZAHRET AL SABAR) See box, above
IN THE SHADOWS
(India, UK) Premium Films. 117mins. Drama. Dir: Dipesh Jain. Cast: Neeraj Kabi, Shahana Goswami, Om Singh. In the walled city of Old Delhi, Khuddoos, a lonely man who obsessively watches people through his hidden cameras, begins a search for a boy, Idris, whom he hears being beaten up through the
FESTIVAL 18:15 CATCH THE WIND (PRENDRE LE LARGE)
(France) Doc & Film International. 103mins. Drama. Dir: Gaël Morel. Cast: Sandrine Bonnaire, Mouna Fettou, Kamal El Amri.
Edith, a 45-year-old textile factory worker, sees her life turned upsidedown by the company’s downsizing measures. She is estranged from her son and does not have any other ties to home. Instead of seeking
unemployment benefit, she decides to leave her life behind and follow her work at the factory, which has been relocated to Morocco. Arabian Nights Mall of the Emirates — Vox 15 Public
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December 10, 2017 Screen International at Dubai 13
SCREENINGS
Cast: Ardalan Esmaili, Stine Fischer Christensen, Morten Hee Andersen, Lars Brygmann. Esmail, a young Iranian man is desperate to meet women who can help him secure his residency in Denmark through a strictly transactional arrangement. With time running out, he unexpectedly falls in love and fights against his secret past that is starting to catch up with him. This intense psychological drama marks the debut of Sweden-based Iranian director Milad Alami. It is a keen observational film about Scandinavia’s growing Iranian community as it vacillates between integration and cultural preservation. FESTIVAL 18:45 WHISPERING SANDS (HAMSOU-EL-RIMAL)
(Tunisia, Qatar, UAE) Wallada Distribution. 95mins. Drama. Dir: Nacer Khemir. Cast: Dorra Zarrouk, Hichem Rostom, Noura Saladin. What secret has pushed a Canadian woman of Arab descent into the desert? What is the
essence of the popular tales that the local guide recounts during the long trip they undertake, passing through the ruined childhood places of the guide? We are far beyond drama. Only the deep pain and awful sense of loss remain. Muhr Feature Souk Madinat Theatre Public
of France in JR’s photo truck, meeting locals, hearing their stories and producing epic-size portraits of them. The photos are prominently displayed on houses, barns, storefronts and trains, revealing the humanity in their subjects, and themselves.
time left with her brother. Haunted by the thought of a life without him, she awakens repeatedly from a dream at night and sees Tantra. The night becomes their playground and under the full moon Tantri dances. As the moon dims and is replaced by the sun, so are Tantra and Tantri.
Cinema of the World Mall of the Emirates — Vox 01 Public
Cinema of the World Mall of the Emirates — Vox 13 Public
THE SEEN AND UNSEEN
WHISPERING SANDS (HAMSOU-EL-RIMAL)
(Indonesia, Australia, Netherlands, Qatar) Cercamon. 86mins. Drama. Dir: Kamila Andini. Cast: Ni Kadek Thaly Titi Kasih, Ida Bagus Putu Radithya Mahijasena, Ayu Laksmi. Ten-year-old Tantra spends most of his time in a hospital room. He starts to lose his senses as his brain weakens. In this hospital room, his twin sister Tantri realises that she does not have a lot of
“Will you leave the light on, please?” asks Leo of his mother. DIFFerent Reality (3) The du VR Cinema Public
19:30 WHERE TO? (ILA AYN?)
(Lebanon) 81mins. Drama. Dir: Georges Nasser. Cast: Nazha Younes, Chakib Khoury, Laura Azar. A family lives in poverty, in a village in the
mountains of Lebanon. One day, the father abandons his family and leaves for Brazil, considered at the time as an Eldorado by a great number of his compatriots. Twenty years pass and the mother has raised her children with great difficulty. The elder child has a family and the younger one is getting ready to emigrate to Brazil. One day a ragged
old man arrives in the village. The Beach The Beach Public
21:00 THE SHAPE OF WATER See box, below
21:15
Cinema of the World Mall of the Emirates — Vox 14 Public
MUHR EMIRATI: PACKAGE 2
(UAE) 73mins. Muhr Emirati (2) Mall of the Emirates — Vox 17 Public
21:30 MUHR SHORT: PACKAGE 2
THE CHARMER (CHARMOREN)
(Egypt) Noha Adel. 100mins.
(Denmark) Stray Dogs. 103mins. Drama. Dir: Milad Alami.
Muhr Short (2) Mall of the Emirates — Vox 03 Public
See box, above
19:00 SERGEANT JAMES
(France) Wide Management. 7mins. Fiction. Dir: Alexandre Perez. Cast: Elliot Daurat, Eleonore Joncquez. It is Leo’s bedtime. When his mum goes to switch off the light, the little boy thinks there is something under his bed…
14 Screen International at Dubai December 10, 2017
FESTIVAL 21:00 THE SHAPE OF WATER
(US) Fox Searchlight Europe. 119mins. Drama, fantasy. Dir: Guillermo del Toro. Cast: Sally
Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins. An other-worldly fairy tale, set against the backdrop of a Cold
War-era America, circa 1962. In a hidden highsecurity government laboratory, lonely cleaner Elisa is trapped in a life of isolation. Her life is
changed forever when she and co-worker Zelda discover a secret classified experiment. Cinema of the World Madinat Arena Gala
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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 Reporter Melanie Goodfellow, melaniegoodfellow100@ gmail.com Reviews editor 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
FESTIVAL 21:30 NEVER LEAVE ME (BIRAKMA BENI)
(Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina) 96mins. Drama. Dir: Aida Begic. Cast: Motaz Faez Basha, Isa Demlakhi, Ahmad Husrom. After his mother dies, Isa, 14, is sent to an orphanage for Syrian refugees in Turkey, where he makes an uneasy friendship with Ahmad, 11, and Motaz, 10. Although the three boys are very different,
they all want to leave the orphanage and start anew. To fund their goal, the boys start selling paper tissues to tourists at historic sites. Their enterprising efforts are quickly rewarded, but Karaca, a local deadbeat who has lent money to Isa, starts to threaten them. The dangers that threaten to ruin their lives will now help them find love, friendship and hope. Arabian Nights Mall of the Emirates — Vox 15 Public
mould of a conventional wife in Iran. Certainly not when she is seen racing bikes on a dusty motocross track. She is independent, capable and committed to the quaint pizzeria she runs with her husband, Amir. When a tragedy threatens them both, she tries to devise ingenious ways and means to save their business — and their future. Cinema of the World Mall of the Emirates — Vox 01 Public
UNTIL THE END OF TIME (ILA AKHER EZAMAN)
(Algeria, UAE) 93mins. Drama. Dir: Yasmine Chouikh. Cast: Djillali Boudjemaa, Djamila Arres, Mohamed Takiret. Ziara is the time of year when families come together to visit and remember their deceased relatives. Ali, a 70-yearold gravedigger, has seen each Ziara come and go, but finds this year to be different when Joher,
a 60-year-old woman, arrives to visit the grave of her sister. While there, Joher decides she wants to rest permanently beside her relative and requests Ali’s assistance. The film observes two souls who discover each other in the theatre of death. Muhr Feature Mall of the Emirates — Vox 05 Public
22:15
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@
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screendaily.com, +44 20 8102 0862 Production manager Jonathon Cooke, jonathon. cooke@mb-insight.com
NEVER LEAVE ME (BIRAKMA BENI) See box, above
21:45 MUHR GULF SHORT: PACKAGE 2
(Iraq, Qatar, US) Hussein Abdul Baqi. 90mins. Muhr Gulf Short (2) Mall of the Emirates — Vox 06 Public
TASTE OF CEMENT
(Germany, Lebanon, Syria, UAE, Qatar) Syndicado Film Sales. 85mins. Non-fiction. Dir: Ziad Khalthoum. In Beirut, Syrian construction workers are building a skyscraper as their own houses in their homeland are being shelled. The workers are locked in the building site and are not allowed to
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leave after sunset, as the Lebanese government has imposed evening curfews on the refugees. Cut off from their homeland, they gather at night around a small TV set for news about Syria. Tormented by anguish and anxiety, while suffering the deprivation of the most basic human and workers’ rights, they keep hoping for a different life. Muhr Feature Mall of the Emirates — Vox 13 Public
22:00 AZAR
(Iran) 89mins. Drama. Dir: Mohammad Hamzei. Cast: Niki Karimi, Hamidreza Azarang, Farid Sjadi Hoseini, Shirin Aghakashi, Houman Seyedi. Azar does not fit the
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FESTIVAL 22:15 WAJIB
(Palestine, Colombia, Norway, UAE, France, Germany, Qatar) Pyramide Films. 97mins. Comedy, drama. Dir: Annemarie Jacir. Cast: Mohammad Bakri, Saleh Bakri, Maria Zreik,
1st Floor Unit F2/G, Zetland House, 5-25 Scrutton Street,
Rana Alamuddin. Abu Shadi is a divorced father in his mid-60s living in Nazareth. After his daughter’s wedding in one month he will be living alone. Shadi, his architect son, arrives from Rome after years abroad to help his father deliver
the invitations in person to each guest, as per local custom. The estranged father and son spend the day together, and their tense relationship comes to a head, challenging their very different ways of life.
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December 10, 2017 Screen International at Dubai 15