Screen Dubai FF Day 5

DA Y

5

MONDAY, DECEMBER 12 2016

AT DUBAI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL www.ScreenDaily.com

Editorial lizshackleton@gmail.com

Advertising scott.benfold@screendaily.com

DA Y

5

MONDAY, DECEMBER 12 2016

TODAY The Preacher, page 6

AT DUBAI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL www.ScreenDaily.com

Arab Film Institute makes bow in Dubai

Editorial lizshackleton@gmail.com

Advertising scott.benfold@screendaily.com

REVIEW The Preacher A rigorous tangling with the tenets of Islam in Egypt » Page 6

Gareth Cattermole/Getty

FEATURE Digital dawn VoD take-up has been slow in the Middle East but potential is huge » Page 10

BY MELANIE GOODFELLOW

Top industry figures from across the Arab cinema world gathered at DIFF yesterday for the launch of the Arab Film Institute (AFI).

Headquartered in Dubai, the non-profit cultural body aims to act as a platform for Arab cinema, past and present, and support its future development at every level, from production through to distribution and promotion.

Modelled loosely on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas), the new body will also launch an Oscar-style awards ceremony, the Arab Film Awards, covering 19 categories, from directing to cinematography and lifetime achievement.

Funding will come through membership fees and patronage.

“Being a witness and active member of the bright and rich Arab film scene, I felt we needed to bring together all this energy and exchange experiences and ideas, as well as offering wider opportunities in a fast-changing world to our film community,” said Lebanese producer Paul Baboudjian.

Other industry figures involved in the initiative include directors Nabil Ayouch (Morocco), Maysoon Pachachi (Iraq), Rashid Masharawi (Palestine), Hafiz Ali Ali (Qatar) and producers Dora Bouchoucha (Tunisia) and Mohamed Hefzy (Egypt).

Final print daily This is Screen’s final print edition for DIFF 2016. For continuing coverage, see ScreenDaily.com

FORUM EVENTS 10:00-11:00 Masterclass: the role of the sales agent Lebanese director Sophie Boutros is joined by the ensemble cast of her cross-cultural family drama Solitaire. (From left) Nicole Kamato, Jaber Jokhadar, Serena Chami, Boutros, Julia Kassar and Betty Taoutel

Raheb, Haffaf clinch DFC

BY MELANIE GOODFELLOW

Lebanese film-maker Eliane Raheb’s The Great Family and Algerian-French film-maker Omar Haffaf ’s Algeria Is Still Far Away shared the $25,000 top prize at Dubai Film Connection (DFC) yesterday.

“We were dazzled by the quality of the 13 projects. It was a difficult process. There’s such diversity in these films,” said jury member Mike Goodridge, CEO of the UK’s Protagonist Pictures. He was joined on the jury by Misr International Films’ Gabriel Khoury and Tribeca Film Institute’s Molly O’Keefe.

The Great Family follows an adopted French woman as she

Ben Hania plots Isis bride doc Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania is developing documentary Mercy And Forgiveness (working title), about a mother fighting to get her two teenage daughters back from Libya, where they are holed up in jail after joining their Isis militant boyfriends.

Ben Hania’s long-time collaborator Habib Attia of Tunisbased Cinetelefilms is producing.

“Tunisia would be happy if they

died over there,” said Ben Hania.

“She is a poor but intelligent woman who speaks with great reason about what has befallen her family.”

Ben Hania’s Zaineb Hates The Snow, following a girl from childhood to adolescence after she is uprooted from Tunisia to begin a new life in Canada, is screening here in the Arabian Nights section.

Melanie Goodfellow

investigates her roots after discovering she may be the daughter of Palestinian refugees. In Algeria Is Still Far Away, Haffaf explores his native country through the prism of Chinese immigrants.

The $10,000 Cinescape/Front Row Award went to Iraqi director Mohanad Hayal’s drama Haifa Street set against the backdrop of an infamous sniper-infested neighbourhood in Baghdad.

The $10,000 ART Award went to Jordanian director Darin J Sallam’s Farha, capturing the 1948 Palestine War through the eyes of a young girl.

The $5,300 prize of the Organi-

sation Internationale de la Francophonie went to Daoud Aoulad Syad’s Touda, about a famous Moroccan folk singer who abandons her band after finding religion.

In two new awards, TFI invited Haifa Street to attend its co-production market at Tribeca Film Festival in April and Norway’s Sorfond extended an invitation to its pitching forum in October to Hiam Abbass’s A Girl Made Of Dust.

Meanwhile, producers Deema Azar, Lara Abou Saifan, Hala Alsalman, Carole Abboud and Khalid Al Mahmood were also awarded accreditations to the Cannes Marché’s Producers Network.

Bakri leaps for Sen-Gupta’s Slam

BY LIZ SHACKLETON

Palestinian actor Adam Bakri (Omar) has been cast in Sydneybased director Partho Sen-Gupta’s upcoming drama Slam, alongside Australian actress Rachael Blake.

The story follows a young Australian of Palestinian origin whose peaceful life is shattered when his sister disappears and local media claim she has run away to join Isis.

Michael Wrenn’s Australian production outfit Invisible Republic is producing the film with Australia’s

Charles Billeh and Marc Irmer of Paris-based Dolce Vita Films on board as co-producers. Screen Australia supported development of the English-language project.

Billeh is attending Dubai Film Market to find a minority co-producer from the region for the film, which is scheduled to shoot in Sydney next year.

Born in India and based in Sydney, Sen-Gupta directed Hindilanguage dramas Let The Wind Blow (2004) and Sunrise (2014).

Speaker Sebastien Chesneau, senior partner, acquisitions and sales, Cercamon

11:30-12:30 Brave new world of distribution Panellists Gavin Humphries, Nowness; Nader Sobhan, iflix; Gianluca Chakra, Front Row Filmed Entertainment; Andy Whittaker, Dogwoof

14:00-15:00 Masterclass: engaging audiences with multiplatform storytelling Speaker Domenico La Porta, Director, R/O Institute

15:30-16:30 Where the kids are at: millennials and the digital generation Panellists Matthias Puschmann, VAST Media; Randel Bryan, Endemol Shine Beyond UK; Josh Dickey, Mashable; Maria Gedeon, Majid Al Futtaim Cinemas

17:00-18:15 Networking session: meet the sales agents and distributors Participants Gianluca Chakra, Front Row Filmed Entertainment; Jonathan Hild, Pantaflix; Hania Mroue, Metropolis Cinema; Ahmed Sobky, Zawya Cinema and Distribution; Nicolai Korsgaard, TrustNordisk; Alaa Karkouti and Abdallah Al Shami, MAD Solutions.

Open to DFM and DIFF delegates.

BOOK YOUR ADVERTISING NOW Contact Scott Benfold

+44 7765 257260

scott.benfold@screendaily.com

NEWS

Bolotin: ‘Use English only if it fits story’ Foreign-language film-makers should resist the pressure to use English in their scripts unless it makes sense for the story, said XYZ Films co-founder Nate Bolotin at Dubai Film Market’s globalisation panel yesterday.

“As a sales agent we’re interested in a strong vision from a director that feels different,” said Bolotin. “We spend time looking to local-language content to discover new film-makers and then monetise their films.”

He used the example of Farsilanguage horror film Under The Shadow, a co-production between the UK, Jordan and Qatar. “It’s from a first-time director who was born in Iran but lives in the UK. We could have made it in English but the decision to contextualise it gives it something special.”

BAC Films CEO David Grumbach agreed that using English can make a film less authentic, but added the US market remains tough for foreignlanguage films. “If you have the potential to go to the US market, and you need $20m in financing, you might have to compromise.”

Liz Shackleton

Film, TV still key as YouTube finds Space

BY MELANIE GOODFELLOW

Dubai Film and TV Commission chairman Jamal Al Sharif says the emirate remains committed to the film and TV industry, despite a shift towards digital creation with the launch of a YouTube Space here next year.

Double-hatted Al Sharif, who is also head of Dubai Studio City, was instrumental in convincing the online video giant to build its first Middle East YouTube Space in a deal announced on December 9.

‘I met them in Los Angeles a year-and-a-half ago to see what we could do together. They suggested a pop-up space, and I

pushed to make it permanent,” said Al Sharif.

He added that Dubai’s strong telecommunication networks, diverse population, creative hub credentials and reputation as a secure haven in the region were among the factors that played a role in convincing YouTube to commit to the emirate.

The planned 10,000 sq ft digital talent incubator, due to be built at the Dubai Studio City media cluster next year, will be the tenth such facility worldwide alongside hubs in Los Angeles, London, Tokyo and Mumbai.

Al Sharif said the shift towards supporting youngsters involved

Jamal Al Sharif

in the production of online content was a natural move. “We need to pay attention to these young artists who have become celebrities out of their bedrooms, and not just the directors and producers creating for the big

screen,” said Al Sharif. “They are shooting short content at the lowest cost possible to reach the biggest audience possible; the biggest studios spend millions of dollars to reach a certain amount of viewers in the cinema,” said Al Sharif.

He stressed that film and TV remained important in Dubai, which has welcomed productions including Star Trek Beyond and Jackie Chan’s Kung Fu Yoga.

“Film and TV are our bread and butter. We don’t have any films in the pipeline right now but we’re in talks with a few productions and hope to welcome at least one in early 2018.

Wheelchair gains momentum with Factory Girl’s Samir

BY LIZ SHACKLETON

Egyptian producer Mohamed Samir has boarded Wheelchair, the first narrative feature from documentary maker Mohamed Rashad. Samir produced Factory Girl, directed by the late Mohamed Khan, which screened at DIFF in 2013.

Rashad’s first feature documentary Little Eagles is screening here in the Muhr Feature competition. He is currently scripting Wheelchair, the story of a youth who makes a discovery about his

uncle, and hopes to start shooting in 2018. Produced by Hala Lotfy, Little Eagles is an autobiographical documentary about the impact of the revolution on the relationship between Egyptian youth and their formerly leftist parents.

“We used to have anger towards our parents for their passivity. But recent events have helped us understand how revolutionary zeal can fade,” said Rashad. “Researching this film has brought me closer to my own father.”

Mohamed Rashad’s Little Eagles plays in DIFF’s Muhr Feature competition

ONE ON ONE MOHAMED BEN ATTIA, DIRECTOR, HEDI

Tunisian director Mohamed Ben Attia talks to Melanie Goodfellow about his award-winning drama Hedi, which screens here in the Muhr Feature competition today

M

ohamed Ben Attia belongs to a generation of Tunisian directors who have flourished artistically following the country’s 2011 popular uprising. His latecoming-of-age tale Hedi revolves around an introverted car salesman who breaks out of his shell after he falls for a free-spirited woman on the eve of his arranged marriage. The title premiered in Competition at this year’s Berlinale, where it won the Silver Bear for best first feature, while Majd Mastoura clinched best actor.

Is it true you’ve worked as a car salesman?

Yes, I was working for a company not dissimilar from that employing Hedi. But that was not the starting point for the film. It grew out of a desire to explore the revolution, but because it was still so raw and I lacked the tools and maturity to tackle it directly, I looked at it

www.screendaily.com

through the prism of a love story and a young man forced to make difficult choices.

Do you think Hedi’s situation reflects that of many younger Tunisians?

There’s so much change at the moment that we don’t even know where we’re headed.

There’s a lot bubbling under the surface. We’re torn between lots of things at the same time.

We’ve been taught that happiness lies in studies, a job, a partner and children but a lot of youngsters are questioning this destiny and whether it’s the best route for them.

How did you cast Majd Mastoura?

He turned up at the office after we posted an announcement on Facebook. I wasn’t convinced at first. His personality is really different from that of Hedi. He is outgoing and

loud and physically I had another idea in my head. At the same time, there was something about his look that was very ‘un-Tunisian’ that I liked. He has this chameleon quality and I’m grateful he convinced me to take him on.

Tunisian producer Dora Bouchoucha brought in Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne as co-producers. Were they hands-on too?

We had a number of Skype sessions. It was more Jean-Pierre than Luc in the beginning. He was very curious about the characters and their

motivation and evolution. During our shoot, they were tied-up in pre-production on The Unknown Girl but they advised me at the editing stage. The changes they suggested were subtle but had an impact nonetheless.

Just knowing they were taking an interest was a huge motivator.

Tunisian cinema seems to be on a roll at the moment. Where is this energy coming from?

I was wary at first of jumping on the bandwagon of saying it’s down to the revolution but in large part it is.

We gained freedom of expression and this has unleashed a lot of creativity as people started telling stories they couldn’t before.

December 12, 2016 Screen International at Dubai 5

REVIEWS Reviews edited by Fionnuala Halligan finn.halligan@screendaily.com

White Sun Reviewed by Wendy Ide

The Preacher Reviewed by Fionnuala Halligan Controversial Egyptian writer and journalist Ibrahim Essa’s 2013 bestselling novel The Televangelist — published in English this year — scales up well to the big screen for Magdy Ahmed Ali’s satisfyingly dense The Preacher (Mawlana), a close-up look at the politics of religion in that country. It is no surprise Essa views The Televangelist as being cut from the same cloth as The Da Vinci Code and The Name Of The Rose; there is a rigorous tangling with the tenets and interpretation of Islam in Egypt at play inside this twisty thriller.

Amr Saad (The Other, El Medina) is terrific in the lead, playing Sheikh Hatem, a pious, funny man who — in a pre-credit sequence — is given the opportunity to lead prayers at the government mosque. His stern warning (“Authority is a responsibility you will be held accountable for on judgment day”) leads to him being offered a job as a TV evangelist, where his blend of easy humour and in-depth knowledge of the Qur’an leads to wild success, and he is soon followed by millions all over Egypt. His lifestyle rapidly scales up: he marries the beautiful Oamina (Dorra) and they have a son after seven years of trying, but his over-protectiveness puts the boy’s life at risk.

Essa’s screenplay makes it clear how Sheikh Hatem’s public position has forced him into some slippery personal compromises. He is more tolerant in private than he appears in public — particularly of Christians and the Sufi minority — and he uses his humour and knowledge of the hadiths to snake his way around difficult questions (would the Prophet drive a jeep if he were alive today? Is slavery allowed?). His TV studio audience is hand-picked and the questions pre-approved, but when the beautiful Naswa (Reham Haggag) asks Hatem a potentially explosive question, The Preacher starts to open up as a political thriller.

Perhaps understandably given its scope, The Preacher strikes a few plotting issues, but they are minor quibbles.

Magdy Ahmed Ali takes on a huge task in The Preacher and succeeds, aided by an attractive technical package — lensing is crisp and very light, even inside the religious institutions. There is a real sense of place and some standout sequences include a Sufi ‘dhikr’ religious meeting and a wedding, nicely edited by Soulafa Noureddine.

6 Screen International at Dubai December 12, 2016

ARABIAN NIGHTS GALA Egy. 2016. 129mins Director/screenplay Magdy Ahmed Ali Production company iProductions International sales Cedars Art Production, Sabbah Brothers, sadek@ sabbah.com Producer Amgad Sabry Executive producer Mohamed Al Adl Screenplay Magdy Ahmed Ali, based on the novel by Ibrahim Essa Cinematographer Ahmad Bishari Editor Soulafa Noureddin Music Adel Hakki Main cast Amr Saad, Dorra, Ahmed Magdy, Bayoumi Fouad, Reham Haggag, Ramzi Al Adl

This accomplished second feature from director Deepak Rauniyar (Highway) looks at a Nepali community caught in the clash between tradition and progress. It takes in the internecine divisions that result from the aftermath of the civil war. And it ponders the near impossibility of getting the corpse of a fat man through a small, first-floor window (the dogmatic village elders decree that it would be very inauspicious to take him through the door).

Rauniyar handles the sociopolitical complexities of post-conflict life with a lightness of touch and flashes of absurdist humour. Much more than a photogenic ethnographic postcard from afar, this is a deceptively complex story of muddled allegiances and proscriptive social rules.

The news of his father’s death summons Chandra (Dayahang Rai), an anti-regime Maoist partisan, back to the isolated mountain village of his birth for the first time in nearly a decade. Waiting for him is his ex-wife Durga (Asha Maya Magrati) and a girl, Pooja (Sumi Malla), who believes he might be her father. The seemingly idyllic community bears the scars of war. Children incorporate abandoned ordnance into their play. “It’s all right, there’s no firing pin,” says street orphan Badri breezily, as he brandishes a rusty landmine. Badri too suspects that Chandra might play a role in his paternity, thanks to the chatter of the village gossips.

Chandra arrives at a time of crisis. His father is dead and needs to be carried to the river for cremation. But Durga, who nursed him until his passing, has had the temerity to touch the body. A woman, and lower caste to boot, Durga has tainted the whole house, huffs the local priest. Funeral arrangements are at an impasse — there is a lovely shot of the village elders playing cards in the street, taken from the first-floor window, with the gradually ripening feet of the corpse in the foreground.

The story unfolds at a pace that reflects the gentle, unhurried rhythms of life in the mountains. Music is used sparingly, and usually it fits logically into the narrative — the chants of the funeral procession contrast with riotous songs of a wedding celebration, for example. But the soundtrack is also full of the ambient sounds of village life — the rushing of mountain streams, chiming goat bells, skittering chickens and bird song. Peace is never quite as quiet as you expect it to be.

CINEMA OF THE WORLD Nep-US-Qat-Neth. 2016.

89mins Director Deepak Rauniyar Production companies Aadi Production, Louverture Films International sales The Match Factory, info@matchfactory.de Producers Deepak Rauniyar, Joslyn Barnes, Tsering Rhitar Sherpa, Michel Merkt Screenplay Deepak Rauniyar, David Barker Cinematography Mark O’Fearghail Main cast Dayahang Rai, Asha Maya Magrati, Rabindra Singh Baniya, Sumi Malla, Amrit Pariyar

www.screendaily.com

SCREENINGS, PAGE 12

Only Men Go To The Grave Reviewed by Fionnuala Halligan

Hotel Salvation Reviewed by Wendy Ide After a prophetic dream, 77-year-old Daya (Lalit Behl) decides his time has come and he wants to travel to the sacred ghats of Varanasi in order to achieve salvation when he dies. His browbeaten son Rajiv (Adil Hussain) accompanies his father, and while Daya is as difficult and autocratic in — imminent — death as he has been in life, the son and father gradually make their peace in this gentle drama.

The first feature from Indian director Shubhashish Bhutiani follows his Venice Horizons prize-winning short, Kush (2013), and was developed through the Biennale College Cinema project. The film’s appeal is that it treats ageing and death with sympathy and dignity, shot through with eccentric humour — a bit like an arthouse take on The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

Hotel Salvation also presents an India-set interpretation of the same themes as Alexander Payne’s Nebraska: the film essentially deals with a father and son belatedly coming to know each other. At first, Rajiv is too busy and consumed by the pressure of his work to fully focus on his father. During a family sit-down, when Daya announces his plan to donate a cow and then make the final pilgrimage to Varanasi, Rajiv unconsciously fiddles with his watch throughout. The ticking of a clock is a repeated motif for Rajiv’s (many) moments of stress.

The backdrop to most of the film is the eponymous hotel, an institution that houses elderly people at the end of their lives. Daya settles in immediately, joining the rest of the residents in the evening ritual of watching a hokey television series called Flying Saucer and forming a friendship with widow and long-term resident Vimla (Navnindra Behl), one of the most successful elements of the film.

The film-makers make the most of a tiny budget here: the teeming drama of the city outside is contrasted with the enforced intimacy of the cramped quarters in the very rudimentary hotel, whose interiors are shot with a soft, gauzy light that takes the edge off the sense of imminent death. Less successful is the score, which feels a little too on-the-nose at times, cueing in moments of pathos and humour with a forcefulness at odds with the understated approach of the rest of the film.

www.screendaily.com

CINEMA OF THE WORLD India. 2016. 102mins Director/screenplay Shubhashish Bhutiani Production company Red Carpet Moving Pictures Contact Red Carpet Moving Pictures, sanjay@ redcarpetmovingpictures. com Producers Sajida Sharma, Sanjay Bhutiani Cinematography Michael McSweeney, David Huwiler Main cast Adil Hussain, Lalit Behl, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Palomi Ghosh, Navnindra Behl, Anil K Rastogi

MUHR EMIRATI

Emirati director Abdulla Al Kaabi’s strange Iran-set drama Only Men Go To The Grave is notable in that it tackles — crab-wise — themes of gender identity and homosexuality in Arab society while looking at an Iraqi family that has been torn apart by the Shia/Sunni divide.

Opening like an early-era Almodovar film, its openness soon becomes stilted, however, resulting in a hesitant film that tries to tie up all its issues in a twist which could be seen from afar by a blind man.

The first 15 minutes and its unique hook are probably enough to usher Only Men Go To The Grave into limited festival play on the LGBT circuit, although notices are unlikely to be strong. With a dry sense of humour, Al Kaabi introduces Ghanima (Hebe Sabah), a radio host in Baghdad who receives a phone call from her “auntie” Arfah (Saleema Yaqoub) instructing her to come home urgently as her mother is dying and wants to divest herself of a great secret.

Ghanima and her disliked perfume-spritzing husband Jaber (Abdelreza Nasari) race home — too fast, in Jaber’s case — but the blind mother falls from her roof and dies before she can reveal all. The next three days of mourning see all the family’s tortured secrets being revealed. As the title indicates, only men are allowed to take part in the burial rituals or touch the body of the deceased in this part of the world and the women are mostly confined to the kitchen where they discuss the past, Jaber occasionally running interference.

Al Kaabi has written an interesting piece, even though its execution eventually becomes airless and the budgetary limitations confining. Flashing back to Baghdad during the Iran-Iraq war, we see auntie Arfah as a crossdressing Arab, a counterpart to current-day Jaber and his heavily signalled fondness for female clothing. Mum, it turns out, was a poet and possibly a lesbian, while there is a family secret hiding in the closet (literally, as opposed to figuratively), and another one spray painting the walls.

Al Kaabi’s first film after two shorts, Only Men Go To The Grave should gain respect for its willingness to tackle taboo issues of sexual repression and freedom in Arab society and, even further, to try tie them into a separate story involving Iran’s Sunni/Shia rift.

UAE/Iran. 2016. 80mins Director/screenplay Abdulla Al Kaabi Production company Elbooma Films International sales Elbooma Films, amataralkaabi@gmail. com Producer Farshad Mahoutforoush, Kambiz Safari Cinematographer Peyman Shadmanfar Editor Meysam Molaei Music Peyman Yazdanian Main cast Saleema Yaqoub, Hebe Sabah, Abdelreza Nasari, Anaam Al Rabiei

December 12, 2016 Screen International at Dubai 7

STARS OF TOMORROW ARAB 2016

ARAB 2016

Gareth Cattermole/Getty

Moroccan director Alaa Eddine Aljem founded his own company to produce his first works, and his tenacity has resulted in high-profile support and being named as an Arab Star of Tomorrow 2016

Alaa Eddine Aljem Writer-director (Morocco)

A

laa Eddine Aljem recently completed the Sundance Institute’s 2016 Screenwriters Lab, where he worked on the script for his upcoming debut feature The Unknown Saint (Saint Inconnu). “It really helped me strip down the screenplay and inject some fresh ideas,” says the Moroccan director of the summer workshop, where he was mentored by Oscar-winning writer Charles Randolph (The Big Short), Brazilian writer-director Karim Aïnouz and Canadian-Indian film-maker Deepa Mehta.

His desert-set black comedy is about a thief on the run from the police who hastily buries his loot on a remote hill — only to discover on his return years later that a sacred sanctuary has been built on the spot, which has become a pilgrimage destination. The project was presented at Locarno’s Open Doors section and attended the La Fabrique des Cinémas du Monde initiative at Cannes this year, where the production connected with French producer Alexa Rivero of Paris-based Altamar Films.

Aljem says he first became interested in cinema after failing a competitive exam for a computer-engineering course as a teenager. “I hardly watched the TV or went to the cinema as a child. I wanted to study computer engineering. When I failed the exam, I didn’t have a plan B, “he explains. “I fell into a depression and I ended up watching four, five films a day. It was through that I came to understand the power of film to transport you

8 Screen International at Dubai December 12, 2016

out of everyday life.” Spurred by his newfound passion, Aljem won a place at the fledgling film department of the Marrakech School of Visual Arts (ESAVM), where he gained experience on the ground with local production houses servicing international productions.

From there, he secured a place on a cinema directing, screenwriting and producing Masters course at the prestigious INSAS art school in Brussels, working as a production assistant to fund his studies, collaborating with Portuguese director and producer Tiago Mesquita’s company Crafted Films and Neon Rouge Production.

He returned to Morocco in 2014 to shoot his first non-student short, Desert Fish, about a boy growing up in the southern desert of Morocco who dreams of becoming a fisherman against his land-loving father’s wishes.

Aljem’s progress stalled, however, because he could not convince a local production company to board the project alongside Belgian outfit Neon Rouge, which had secured the support of French state TV station France 3.

“By law, you can’t shoot in Morocco unless you have a local company attached. I soon discovered that Morocco’s established producers had no interest whatsoever in shorts and also realised that many of my former ESAVM classmates were in the same boat,” says Aljem. “So I set up a production company to produce all

the work that no-one else wanted to produce, i.e. the short films.”

So was born Casablanca-based production house Le Moindre Geste, which Aljem set up with producer Francesca Duca. It quickly expanded into creative documentaries after he met a number of young film-makers at Agadir International Documentary Film Festival, who were also facing the same problem.

He finally completed Desert Fish at the end of 2014 and it swept the board in the shorts category at the Moroccan National Film Festival in 2015.

Other Le Moindre Geste productions to date include Hicham Elladdaqi’s documentary The Bread Road (La Route Du Pain), which captures the everyday life of the jobless inhabitants of one of Marrakech’s poorer neighbourhoods. It was a co-production with Neon Rouge and French Tact Production.

Aljem is now focused on The Unknown Saint, which he hopes to shoot next year. “Like Desert Fish, it will be set in the desert and feature a similar aesthetic with lots of wide-angle shots. But the rhythm will be faster, it will be less contemplative,” explains Aljem. “There will be more humour in a more laidback film.”

Melanie Goodfellow Contact Le Moindre Geste alaa.e.aljem@gmail.com

www.screendaily.com

SHAHRBANOO SADAT & DEEPAK RAUNIYAR PROFILE

Animal magic Shahrbanoo Sadat talks to Wendy Mitchell about the challenges of shooting Wolf And Sheep

T

Deepak Rauniyar

A coming of age White Sun director Deepak Rauniyar tells Udita Jhunjhunwala about the renaissance in Nepali cinema following a period of civil war

D

eepak Rauniyar uses his experiences as a journalist and as a citizen of Nepal, a country coming of age after years of civil war (1996-2006), to inform his work. His debut feature, Highway, about a diverse group of passengers trapped on a delayed bus, became the first Nepalese film to screen at a major international film festival when it premiered in Berlin’s Panorama section in 2012. His second feature, White Sun (Seto Surya), premiered at this year’s Venice and won best film in the Silver Screen Awards at Singapore. It screens in DIFF’s Cinema of the World section tomorrow and Wednesday.

Rauniyar, who is based in Kathmandu and New York, says: “Nepali society is evolving every day and everything is a reflection of the war. As a film-maker, it’s my responsibility to bring the story into film, to also spotlight the silver lining of the war and get people talking about the trauma of those years.”

Starring Dayahang Rai, Asha Magrati, Rabindra Singh Baniya and Sumi Malla, White Sun is a multi-generational story about an anti-regime partisan who returns home to his village to cremate his father. “It’s about Nepal’s past and present,” says Rauniyar. “I wanted to experiment by bringing in three generations — grandparents, parents and the generation born after the war — to explore their different mindsets. The journey down a hill to a river is a metaphorical representation of the process of writing the constitution and the need to make compromises.”

The devastating earthquake that rav-

www.screendaily.com

aged Nepal in 2015 also affected the production of the film, forcing the team to change the schedule and locations.

“The village I was going to shoot in was wiped out. Many of the crew and their families were affected. So we had to reschedule by six months. We filmed in very difficult conditions,” Rauniyar says.

‘The village I was going to shoot in was wiped out. We filmed in very difficult conditions’ Deepak Rauniyar

Highway is considered a pioneering film in the recent new wave of Nepalese cinema. More recently, Min Bahadur Bham’s The Black Hen (2015) won the Fedeora Award for best film in Venice Critics’ Week, and Bibhusan Basnet and Pooja Gurung’s short Dadyaa screened at Venice and Toronto this year.

Rauniyar believes Nepalese films are making a mark now because they reflect reality and no longer blindly follow Bollywood. “I guess we started to make interesting films. The arrival of DSLR cameras, crowdfunding and co-productions has given film-makers encouragement, opportunities and confidence,” he says. “Globally people seem to recognise we’re trying to find our voice in cinema.”

Rauniyar is now developing his next feature, Raja, a drama-thriller set in the towns on the India-Nepal border.

White Sun plays at VOX Cinemas, Mall of the Emirates, on December 13 (18:45) and December 14 (14:30)

o tell a beautifully simple story on screen, the team behind Wolf And Sheep faced a hugely complex offscreen challenge. The debut feature of Shahrbanoo Sadat is inspired by the isolated village in central Afghanistan where she grew up and tells the story of the young boys and girls who act as shepherds for the rural community.

One 11-year-old girl with sight problems is an outsider in the story, which uses local folktales to add a touch of magical realism to proceedings. “It’s about this region and how people see life,” explains Sadat, who splits her time between Kabul and Copenhagen.

The production could not shoot in central Afghanistan for safety reasons — not least because the lead crew was all female — so they scouted in Tajikistan for 14 days before finding a valley convincing enough to satisfy the details-obsessed Sadat. They then built an ‘Afghan village’ there and flew in 38 Afghan villagers. “Every single thing was so hard,” says Sadat. “I had to take all my creativity to make it look like Afghanistan.”

The shoot for Wolf And Sheep was far from smooth: equipment from France arrived a week late; the 37-strong crew were sick after drinking the water in the remote area; and the cast and crew stayed in tents or shared an old guesthouse, where the production had to buy the beds.

There were also 80-plus sheep, cows, donkeys and goats on set.

The film’s young cast give touchingly realistic portrayals. Sadat never gave them a script, instead explaining each scene to them about five minutes before they started to shoot. Sometimes, she would let the camera roll for an hour on a single shot while she gave directions. “They put so much of themselves into it,” she says. “They take it as a game. The rules are that they shouldn’t talk to me, they shouldn’t say anything they don’t say in real life and they shouldn’t look at the camera.”

Wolf And Sheep

‘Every single thing was so hard. I had to take all my creativity to make the set look like Afghanistan’ Shahrbanoo Sadat

The strategy was successful. The film won the Art Cinema Award at Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes (Sadat had developed the project at Cannes’ Cinefondation Residence) and has shown at festivals including Locarno, London, Thessaloniki, Chicago and now Dubai. Alpha Violet handles sales.

Wolf And Sheep’s producer Katja Adomeit of Copenhagen’s Adomeit Film is already planning a 2017 shoot for Sadat’s next film. It is based on the diary of the director’s friend, who is sent from an Afghan village to a Russian orphanage in Kabul.

For now, Sadat is happy that an Afghan story is being shown at major international festivals. She says, “Maybe it will give another view of Afghan cinema and will inspire other film-makers there.”

Wolf And Sheep plays at VOX Cinemas, Mall of the Emirates, on December 11 (18:45) and December 12 (14:45)

Shahrbanoo Sadat (left) with Wolf And Sheep producer Katja Adomeit

December 12, 2016 Screen International at Dubai 9

SPOTLIGHT VoD

Upstream

battle

There has been a stampede in the Middle East as SVoD operators vie for a piece of the region’s potentially lucrative streaming sector. But take-up is slow, and supply of local content even slower. Melanie Goodfellow reports

Netflix acquisition Rattle The Cage (Zinzana)

O

ne of the top industry talking points at last year’s DIFF was the imminent arrival of Netflix in the Middle East. Chief content officer Ted Sarandos told a packed Q&A session at Dubai Film Market, via a live link from the US, that as well as launching in the region the streaming giant would also invest in local content. The Middle East was ripe for a Netflix original series capturing contemporary local life, he declared.

Officially launched in January this year, Netflix joins half a dozen other subscription VoD (SVoD) players that have set up in the region over the past 18 months, eager to tap into a market of roughly 370 million people.

Other platforms trying to gain a foothold include Dubai-based icflix, TV.AE in Abu Dhabi, Starz Play Arabia and ShowMax, while dominant broadcasting players such as premium pay-TV channel OSN and freeto-air satellite operator Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC) also have their own transactional and subscription series.

Malaysia-based iflix — which has some 4 million subscribers across Asia — is also building a network of partners and acquiring content for an imminent launch under the directorship of Nader Sobhan, a former digital strategist at MBC.

10 Screen International at Dubai December 2016

Some local industry professionals hoped Netflix would be an agent for change, modifying the region’s viewing habits and championing original Arabic-language content beyond mainstream Egyptian features, but the platform’s arrival has yet to shake up a scene still dominated by OSN and MBC. In the absence of official Netflix data, anecdotal evidence suggests the streaming giant has yet to make significant inroads locally.

In the UAE and Qatar — key Middle Eastern territories for digital distribution players thanks to their high levels of broadband penetration — the main users appear to be expats and locals with Western tastes. It would seem the streaming service has yet to draw in wider audiences. “The transactional VoD market is growing, with distributors pushing for the premium window,” says Gianluca Chakra, managing director of Dubai-based, pan-Arab distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment. “I still believe it will replace the DVD window — it’s not there yet but it’s going to get there. On the SVoD front, nothing has changed in a year.”

Chakra is one of the region’s digital distribution pioneers. As well as being one of the first pan-Arab distributors in the region to put its own slate on i Tu n e s , Fro n t Very Big Shot Row has also

acted as the official regional aggregator for other independent, Arab and Bollywood distribution companies since 2014. It recently started working with Google Play and brokered a deal with Netflix for award-winning Lebanese comedy Very Big Shot, one of the first Arabic-language feature films to be acquired by the platform.

‘Transactional VoD is growing, with distributors pushing for the premium window. I believe it will replace the DVD window’ Gianluca Chakra, Front Row Filmed Entertainment

Slow build Media analyst Simon Murray of UK-based Digital TV Research says there are multiple reasons for the slow take-up of SVoD services. “The first thing to remember is that Middle East SVoD is only just starting, so any growth will be really impressive,” he says. “One obstacle that SVoD players have to overcome is the rampant piracy in the region — convincing people to pay for something when they have been receiving it for free or for very little,” he adds.

A recent Digital TV Research report suggests there will be 19.59 million SVoD subscribers in the region by 2021, with Netflix taking a 17.2% share. Other key players are predicted to trail behind: icflix is expected to sign up 1.85 million subscribers by 2021 (9.5%), Starz Play Arabia 1.39 million (7.1%) and Showmax 992,000 (5.1%).

“I think Netflix and Starz Play will do well, but their appeal is mainly to expats, despite both platforms providing some content in Arabic,” says Murray. “Other platforms will appeal to other expat communities such as

www.screendaily.com

Indian and Filipino.” He suggests local content is key to drawing in indigenous audiences: “Hollywood fare receives global interest, but local content is also important.”

Home grown Like Murray, Chakra believes original content from the region will be key to SVoD platforms succeeding here, and he expresses disappointment that Netflix has yet to show much commitment to leading the way. Appetite for local mainstream fare exists, he says, citing Emirati theatrical hit Hajwala, set against the backdrop of underworld street car racing in the UAE, which did well across the region in September.

Aside from Very Big Shot, Netflix has only officially acquired one other Arabiclanguage film since its arrival — Emirati film-maker Majid Al Ansari’s prison cellset thriller Rattle The Cage (Zinzana) — although its scouts are reportedly on the hunt for more local titles.

A handful of other SVoD players operating in the region are dipping their toes into the original content sector. Dubaibased icflix has invested in a number of Arabic-language features and original series produced mainly out of Morocco, including Noureddine Lakhmari’s upcoming Burn Out, the TV show Familia and Come Back, a drama about Islamic State and youngsters who are caught up in the organisation.

Local content will also be a strong component of newcomer iflix’s offering, says CEO Sobhan. “Localisation is incredibly important to us at iflix. We don’t just provide international and Hollywood content but also regional content such as pan-Arab, Bollywood and Turkish content and a strong catalogue of hyper-local content,” he says.

“The biggest mistake among foreign services is that they view the Middle East as monolithic. At iflix, we have different cultural content strategies for the Gulf, Levant, Egypt and Maghreb. We

‘The biggest mistake among foreign services is that they view the Middle East as monolithic. We try to be hyper-local’ Nader Sobhan, iflix

do as much as we can be to hyper-local.”

There are also signs that the region’s producers are gearing up for a future SVoD market. Emirati powerhouse Image Nation Abu Dhabi has just completed the high-end drama series Justice, starring local actress Fatima Al Taei as a rookie lawyer struggling to step out of the shadows of her father, a top lawyer in the UAE. “We’re looking into this very seriously and very intensely and spending a lot of time developing series for this new market,” says Image Nation’s head of narrative Ben Ross.

The company is in talks with potential distributors for the series, including payTV operators and streaming platforms.

Image Nation CEO Michael Garin says the company decided to complete Justice before trying to sell it because nothing has ever been done like this out of the Middle East. “There are a lot of people in the region who are testing the temperature, but it’s taking time for someone to take the plunge. I think everyone is afraid to be the first,” says Garin.

In spite of the regional hesitancy, iflix’s Sobhan is convinced the market is set to grow. “We are not denying there is a place and demand for broadcast, but the paradigm is shifting in the SVoD direction. It is an incredibly exciting time in the industry, educating the customer s while learning from their behaviour.” n

THE PLAYERS SVoD IN THE MIDDLE EAST ) Starz Play Arabia Launched in April 2015 by US pay-TV company Starz, Starz Play Arabia was the first US SVoD service in the region. The product focuses on North American fare topped by Starz flagship shows such as Black Sails, Power and Spartacus.

) Netflix Launched regionally in January, the streaming service has focused on its landmark shows and has yet to jump into local content in any big way. The first local acquisitions include Very Big Shot and Rattle The Cage (Zinzana).

) icflix Founded by entrepreneurs Fadi Mehio and Carlos Tibi in 2013, icflix was one of the first newcomers to offer Arabic-language series and invest in original content from the region.

) iflix Malaysia-based iflix is building a network of partners and acquiring content for an imminent launch in the region.

) Vuclip Specialised in delivering content via mobile devices, California-based Vuclip takes pride in its ability to tune in to local tastes.

) MuchTV Launched by the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei in 2015, the MuchTV service offers Hollywood, Bollywood and local Arabiclanguage content as well as films in Urdu, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Farsi.

) Shahid Plus The subscription-on-demand service of regional free-to-air satellite service MBC offers one of the biggest libraries of Arabic-language films and TV shows available.

) OSN Play and Go The premium pay-TV service Orbit Showtime Network offers free-tosubscribers on-demand service Play as well as skinny over-the-top (OTT) TV service GO for non-subscribers.

Image Nation’s legal drama Justice

www.screendaily.com

December 12, 2016 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

11:00 OBLIVIUS

(China) TCL Communication — Alcatel.

3mins. Music, non-fiction, virtual reality. Dir: Romain Levices. Cast: Kevin Pollak, Xi Ning.

In the underworld, where time is precious, two souls meet. They dance to love and death.

With love, they will find each other again.

DIFFerent Reality 05 The du VR Cinema by Samsung Public

13:00 ARE YOU LISTENING?: AMAZON & CONGO

(Brazil, Congo) StoryUP Studios. 9mins. Nonfiction, virtual reality. Dir: Sarah Hill.

Step into the lives of the Virunga park rangers in eastern Congo and the Munduruku tribe in the Amazon rainforest to see how a lack of affordable power is threatening lives and sacred lands.

DIFFerent Reality 01 The du VR Cinema by Samsung Public

14:30 THE CINEMA TRAVELLERS

(India) Submarine Entertainment. 96mins.

Creative documentary.

Dir: Amit Madheshiya, Shirley Abraham. Cast: Mohammed Navrangi, Prakash, Bapu.

Showmen driving cinema lorries have brought the wonder of the movies to faraway villages in India once every year. Seven decades on, as their cinema projectors fall apart and film reels become scarce, their patrons are lured by slick digital technology.

A benevolent showman, a shrewd exhibitor and a maverick projector mechanic bear a beautiful burden — to keep the last travelling cinemas of the world running.

Cinema of the World Vox 13 Public

14:45 MUHR GULF SHORT FILM PACKAGE

Various directors, shorts.

FESTIVAL 15:00 THE DARK WIND (RESEBA)

(Iraq, Germany, Qatar) 92mins. Drama, social, war, fiction. Dir: Hussein Hassan. Cast: Rekesh Shehbaz, Diman Zandi, Maryam Boobani, Imad Lezgin.

Reko and Pero are a Yazidi couple preparing for their wedding, when Isis fighters attack their village. Yazidi girls, including Pero, are sold as slaves and are

tortured and raped.

Reko — who misses the attack as he was working at the time as a security guard at a US oil firm — is devastated. While searching for his family and Pero, Reko witnesses the tragic consequences of the attacks on the Yazidis.

A sweeping narrative of love and courage against the backdrop of one of the most horrific war crimes of our time.

Muhr Feature Vox 17 Public

Biography, non-fiction.

Dir: Hady Zaccak.

Hady follows his grandmother Henriette as she ages and crosses the centenarian milestone to reach 104 years. He witnesses the transformation of her memory, her emigration from Lebanon to Brazil and stories of love, children and suspended time. A journey about ageing, memory and life.

Muhr Feature Vox 14 Public

THE DARK WIND (RESEBA) See box, above

Abraham, A Town Called Theocracy, The Rooster, A Special Guest, The Wedding Dress Muhr Gulf Short 01 Vox 06 Public

WOLF AND SHEEP

(Denmark, France, Sweden, Afghanistan) Alpha Violet. 86mins.

Drama. Dir: Shahrbanoo Sadat. Cast: Ali Khan Ataee, Amina Musavi, Masuma Hussaini.

Rural Afghanistan is filled with storytellers who share mysterious tales that explain the world around them. The shepherd children own the mountains and, although no adults are around, they know the rules: boys and

12 Screen International at Dubai December 12, 2016

girls are not allowed to mingle. The boys practise with their slingshots to fight wolves; the girls smoke secretly and roleplay as brides. They gossip about Sediqa, an 11-yearold outsider, whom the girls believe is cursed. Qodrat, also 11 years old, becomes the subject of conversation when his mother remarries an old man with two wives.

Qodrat roams alone in the most isolated parts of the mountains, until he meets Sediqa and they become friends.

Cinema of the World Vox 05 Public

15:00

WHEN ALL LAND IS LOST, WILL WE EAT COAL?

(India) 7mins. Nonfiction, virtual reality.

Dir: Faiza Ahmad Khan.

Decades of mining has ravaged Korba, a small district in central India. Its air and water are severely contaminated and the people’s lives have been blighted. This film is a telling commentary on the present-day development paradigm.

DIFFerent Reality 02 The du VR Cinema by Samsung Public

15:15

104 WRINKLES (YA OMRI)

FOREIGN BODY (JASSAD GHARIB)

(Lebanon) 83mins.

(France, Tunisia)

Urban Distribution International. 92mins.

Drama. Dir: Raja Amari.

Cast: Hiam Abbass, Salim Kechiouche, Sarra Hannachi.

Like hundreds of illegal immigrants, Samia lands on European shores. Haunted by the fear of being followed by her extremist brother whom she has denounced to the authorities, Samia first finds refuge at the home of Imed, an acquaintance from her village, before ending up working for the rich widow Leila. These new relationships mingle with her headlong flight, where desire enhances tensions.

while the others wait out of hopelessness.

Muhr Feature Vox 03 Public

DIFFerent Reality 03 The du VR Cinema by Samsung Public

WAITING LIST (INTITHAR)

(UAE) 85mins. Drama, romance. Dir: Khalid Ali, Hani Al Shaibani. Cast: Mariam Sultan, Khalid Ali, Adel Ibrahim.

Khalid, Fatima, Ahmad, Shareefa and Bilal experience life-changing moments that shift their lives over different routes. They live in a state of permanent waiting — for dreams and a sense of purpose.

Some of them wait out of hope and optimism,

Muhr Emirati Vox 04 Public

17:00 LAKE BAIKAL: THE SCIENCE AND SPIRITUALITY OF EXTREME WATER — EPISODE 1: WINTER SPIRIT

(Russia, US) 7mins. Nonfiction, virtual reality.

Dir: Georgy Molodtsov, Michael Owen.

Five brief virtual reality scenes introduce viewers to the icy winter landscape around Lake Baikal in Siberia, and some of the strong spiritual traditions that have evolved around the oldest, deepest and most voluminous body of fresh water on the planet.

18:00 THE DISTINGUISHED CITIZEN (EL CIUDADANO ILUSTRE)

(Spain, Argentina) Latido Films. 117mins. Comedy, drama. Dir: Mariano Cohn, Gaston Duprat.

Cast: Oscar Martinez, Dady Brieva, Andrea Frigerio.

Daniel Mantovani has lived in Europe for more than three decades.

Internationally recognised since his acceptance of the www.screendaily.com

FURTHER DIFF COVERAGE, SEE SCREENDAILY.COM

Nobel Prize in Literature, Daniel writes about Salas, the small town in Argentina where he comes from and which he has not visited since he left as a young man. When he receives a letter from the City of Salas wishing to honour him with the distinguished citizen medal, Daniel accepts.

On returning to his town, he confronts the affinities he shares with it and the differences that quickly transform him into a foreigner. The small-town warmth disappears as the controversies multiply, arriving at a place with no return and revealing two irreconcilable ways of viewing the world.

Cinema of the World Madinat Arena Gala

EMBER (KOR) See box, below

KING OF THE BELGIANS

(Belgium, Bulgaria, Netherlands) Be For Films. 94mins. Comedy.

Dir: Jessica Woodworth,

Peter Brosens. Cast: Peter Van Den Begin, Bruno Georis, Titus De Voogdt.

King Nicolas III is a lonely man. While on a state visit to Istanbul, the southern half of Belgium declares its independence.

He must return home at once to save his kingdom but a solar storm shuts down all airspace and communications. With the help of a British filmmaker and a troupe of Bulgarian folk singers, the king and his entourage escape over the border, incognito. So begins an odyssey across the Balkans during which the king discovers the real world — and himself. A quirky mockumentary that sees a dormant ruler, in pursuit of a real home, finally awoken.

Cinema of the World Vox 13 Public

18:15 MUHR SHORT FILM PACKAGE

Various directors, shorts.

Titles featured are Ayny,

FESTIVAL

The Parrot, Five Boys And A Wheel, One Week, Two Days, A Man Returned Muhr Short 01 Vox 05 Public

THE WORTHY

(UAE) IM Global.

FESTIVAL 18:00 EMBER (KOR)

(Turkey, Germany) Ankara Cinema Association. 115mins.

Drama. Dir: Zeki Demirkubuz. Cast: Aslihan Gurbuz, Caner Cindoruk, Taner Birsel.

After a breakdown, Emine’s husband, Cemal, travels to Romania

www.screendaily.com

for work. When he is detained, Emine is alone with a sick child in urgent need of surgery.

At the workshop where she is employed, Emine meets Ziya, her husband’s former boss. Given his past feelings for Emine, Ziya can’t pretend to be indifferent to her plight and he pays for

the surgery. Drawn to each other, Ziya and Emine become fairly intimate. When Cemal returns, he is surprised by the progress made at home until he stumbles across the hospital bill, prompting him to probe events in his absence.

Cinema of the World Vox 17 Public

100mins. Thriller.

Dir: Ali F Mostafa.

Cast: Ali Suliman, Samer Almasri, Rakeen Saad, Mahmoud Al Atrash, Habib Ghuloom, Samer Ismael.

In a dystopian future, when the water supply has been poisoned, a group of survivors has taken refuge in an abandoned hangar. They struggle to stay alive and protect one of the last remaining sources of uncontaminated water.

After a near-deadly altercation with bandits, who want to seize the water, two strangers appear to help fight off the enemy. The survivors’ leader agrees to host the strangers, as long as they conform to the camp’s rules. When one of the strangers betrays the group, the compound descends into madness, leaving only one question: who is worthy to live and to lead?

Muhr Emirati Vox 04 Public

18:30 TAKE ME HOME

(Iran) Iranian Independents. 16mins.

Non-fiction. Dir: Abbas Kiarostami.

From the Iranian master Abbas Kiarostami, a

18:30 VISITING OURS (DE SAS EN SAS)

(France) Wild Bunch.

82mins. Drama.

Dir: Rachida Brakni.

Cast: Zita Hanrot, Samira Brahmia, Fabienne Babe, Judith Caen.

Every month, women go to a prison on the outskirts of Paris to visit their loved ones: sons, fathers, brothers or partners. In the middle of August, Fatma and her daughter Nora,

marvelous short in which he takes his camera to southern Italy and shows us a beautiful and playful video of alleys and stairs.

Cinema of the World Vox 03 Public

VISITING OURS (DE SAS EN SAS) See box, above

18:45 HEDI (INHEBEK HEDI)

(Tunisia, Belgium, UAE, Qatar, France) Luxbox.

89mins. Drama.

Dir: Mohamed Ben Attia.

Cast: Majd Mastoura, Rym Ben Messaoud, Sabah Bouzouita.

Hedi is a quiet young man following the path

Judith and Lola, Hourla, her friends and others wait uncomfortably in the sweltering heat. Shy or extrovert, accomplices or enemies, they must all pass through the many stages that separate them from the visiting room. As they move from security check to security check, relationships are made and broken, tongues loosen, tension mounts… until finally a riot erupts behind bars.

Arabian Nights Vox 14 Public

that has been traced for him. Tunisia is changing, but Hedi does not expect much from the future and lets others make the big decisions for him. The same week his mother is preparing his marriage, his boss sends him to the seaside town of Mahdia to seek out new clients.

At a crossroads, Hedi begins to avoid his professional duties and soon meets Rim, a freespirited globetrotter working as an activity leader at a local resort.

Rim’s lust for life quickly rubs off on Hedi and the two begin a passionate love affair.

With preparations for »

December 12, 2016 Screen International at Dubai 13

SCREENINGS

intimacy and gripping tension that explores the thin lines between love and cruelty, and revenge and redemption.

Cinema of the World Madinat Arena Gala

21:45 HOTEL SALVATION (MUKTI BHAWAN)

Arabian Nights Vox 17 Public

(India) 102mins. Drama.

Dir: Shubhashish Bhutiani. Cast: Lalit Behl, Adil Hussain, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Palomi Ghosh.

Daya, an elderly man, has a premonition that his death is imminent and wants to get to Varanasi, a town sacred to observant Hindus, who believe that dying there is a stairway to salvation. His dutiful son, Rajiv, leaves behind his wife and daughter to make the journey with his stubborn father. The two of them check into Mukti Bhawan (Hotel Salvation), a hotel devoted to people hoping to spend their last days in Varanasi.

NOCTURNAL ANIMALS

Cinema of the World Vox 01 Public

FESTIVAL 18:45 LADY OF THE LAKE (LOKTAK LAIREMBEE)

(India) 71mins.

Drama. Dir: Haobam Paban Kumar.

Cast: Ningthoujam Sanatomba, Sagolsam Thambalsang.

Subtly blends real-life drama with a hint of the supernatural, as director Kumar returns to the Loktak lake region of northern India close to the Myanmar border that served him so well

the wedding in full swing back at home, Hedi is finally forced to make a choice for himself.

Muhr Feature Vox 01 Public

LADY OF THE LAKE (LOKTAK LAIREMBEE) See box, above

NUT$ See box, right

19:00 DEFROST

(US) Circle VR. 5mins. Science fiction, virtual reality. Dir: Randal Kleiser.

Cast: Bruce Davison, Harry Hamlin, Carl Weathers.

After being cryogenically frozen for 30 years, Joan Garrison awakens to meet her aged family.

DIFFerent Reality 04

in his documentary A Floating Life. He uses the real-life government decision to relocate villagers and destroy their homes in 2011 as the powerful backdrop to his gently paced story that focuses on depressed fisherman Tomba, whose life and manner change when he finds a gun and, to his wife’s concern, becomes more confrontational.

Cinema of the World Vox 06 Public

The du VR Cinema by Samsung Public

19:30 THE EAGLE HUNTRESS

(US) Celluloid Dreams.

87mins. Creative documentary, teens.

Dir: Otto Bell. Cast: Aisholpan Nurgaiv, Nurgaiv Rys, Alma Dalaykhan.

Set against the majestic backdrop of Mongolia’s Altai Mountains, this is the true story of 13-yearold Aisholpan, who will break a 2,000-year-old male-dominated tradition to become the first female eagle hunter. Under the guidance of her father — a master eagle hunter — she will learn the ancient art of hunting foxes on horseback with the help of a wild eagle. Charismatic Aisholpan is a real-life role

14 Screen International at Dubai December 12, 2016

model on an epic journey to compete in the annual Golden Eagle Festival against 70 experienced male eagle hunters.

Cinema of the World The Beach Public

21:30 AFTERIMAGE (POWIDOKI)

(Poland) Films Boutique.

98mins. Drama.

Dir: Andrzej Wajda.

Cast: Boguslaw Linda, Bronislawa Zamachowska, Zofia Wichlacz.

The story of Wladyslaw Strzeminski, an avantgarde painter who did not give in to the socialist realism being ruthlessly enforced by the Communist regime in post-war Poland. The tragic consequences of a struggle for artistic freedom in the totalitarian system unfold at first slowly, but gradually lead a charismatic and defiant man into the abyss. The film is set between 1945 and 1952, during the Stalinist period.

in Germany. They must return to their ancestral village in Iraq to bury their deceased mother next to their father, who was killed in an uprising against Saddam Hussein’s regime.

On their nerve-wracking Kurdistan odyssey, they are confronted by their large Kurdish family but also by having to reconnect with each other, as they have been emotionally separated over time. In this poignant film, Alan, Jan and Liya are forced

to explore their homeland and their identity, all while discovering themselves — and at one point losing their mother’s coffin.

(US) Mark Markline.

116mins. Drama, thriller.

Dir: Tom Ford. Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Aaron Taylor Johnson.

A haunting romantic thriller of shocking

STILL BURNING (NAR MIN NAR)

(Lebanon, UAE) 110mins.

Drama. Dir: Georges Hachem. Cast: Adila Bendimerad, Wajdi Mouawad, Fadi Abi

Cinema of the World Vox 14 Public

HOUSE WITHOUT ROOF (HAUS OHNE DACH)

(Germany, Iraq, Qatar) Mitosfilm. 117mins.

Drama, war. Dir: Soleen Yusef. Cast: Wedad Sabri, Mina Sadic, Sasun Sayan, Murat Seven.

Alan, Jan and Liya are siblings who were born in Kurdish Iraq and raised

FESTIVAL 18:45 NUT$

(Lebanon) Shoreline Entertainment.

107mins. Action. Dir: Henri Barges. Cast: Darine Hamze, Gabriel Yammine, Hassan Mrad.

Jenny and Lana are best friends, despite their different lives. Lana is a housewife who enjoys poker, which leads her to a world inhabited by eccentric characters.

Jenny has another kind

of addiction: men. In this contemporary tale of recklessness, their friendship brings them much excitement and adventure.

Arabian Nights Souk Madinat Theatre Public

www.screendaily.com

DIFF EDITORIAL OFFICE PRESS AND PUBLICITY OFFICE, MADINAT JUMEIRAH CONFERENCE CENTRE DIFF dailies editor and Asia editor Liz Shackleton, lizshackleton@gmail.com Reporter Melanie Goodfellow, melanie. goodfellow@btinternet.com Reviews editor Fionnuala Halligan, finn.halligan@screendaily.com Contributor Colin Brown, colinbrown1@earthlink.net Features editor Louise Tutt, tuttlouise@gmail.com Group head of production and art Mark Mowbray, mark. mowbray@screendaily.com

FESTIVAL 22:00 THE HAPPIEST DAY IN THE LIFE OF OLLI MAKI (HYMYILEVA MIES)

(Finland, Germany, Sweden) Les Films du Losange. 92mins.

Drama, sport. Dir: Juho Kuosmanen. Cast: Oona Airola, Eero Milonoff, Jarkko Lahti.

In the summer of 1962, Olli Maki has a shot at the world championship title in the featherweight Samra, Rodrigue Sleiman, Rami Nihawi.

Andre, a Lebanese filmmaker living and working in France, unexpectedly meets Walid, a dear friend from his youth. When they were together in Beirut during the civil war, Andre and Walid were both driven by the same artistic vocation: cinema, and also by the same woman, Amira. Will their reunion — an all-nighter — awaken supressed demons from their past?

Muhr Feature Vox 03 Public

22:00 GLORY (SLAVA)

(Bulgaria, Greece) Wide Management. 101mins.

Comedy, drama. Dir: Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov. Cast: Stefan Denolyubov, Margita Gosheva.

Tsanko Petrov, a railroad

www.screendaily.com

boxing division. From the Finnish countryside to the bright lights of Helsinki, everything has been prepared for his fame and fortune. All Olli has to do is lose weight and concentrate. But there is a problem — he has fallen in love with Raija and she has become more important to him than sporting glory.

Cinema of the World Vox 05 Public

Kaabi. Cast: Saleema Yaqoub, Hebe Sabah, Abdelreza Nasari.

After the Iraq-Iran war ends in 1988, a mother welcomes her estranged daughters to tell them a secret. Unfortunately, she dies before she can share it. During the funeral, the daughters work to unveil the secret by looking to the visitors for clues. Their own lives continue to unravel during the funeral, giving room for buried family tensions to resurface,

while they struggle to deal with secrets and guilt.

The daughters start to question everything about their mother’s life after a peculiar encounter.

Muhr Emirati Vox 06 Public

TERRA FIRMA (LA TERRE FERME)

(France, Qatar, UAE) 71mins. Non-fiction, creative documentary.

Dir: Laurent Ait Benalla.

In a small harbour in France, two sailors watch

over ferries abandoned by their Moroccan owners.

Young Syrians stop by to load their cattle. African traders prepare a convoy of second-hand vehicles. Men, machines and animals cross this space that opens out to the sea.

Muhr Feature Vox 13 Public

22:30 ALI, THE GOAT, AND IBRAHIM (ALI MEA’ZA WE IBRAHIM) See box, below

worker, finds bundles of Bulgarian currency on the train tracks. He decides to turn the amount over to the police, and the state rewards him with a new wristwatch, which soon stops working. Meanwhile, Julia Staikova, head of the PR department of the Ministry of Transport, loses Petrov’s old watch — and so starts his desperate struggle to find his former timepiece, as well as regain his dignity.

Sales executives Pierre-Louis Manes, pierre-louis.manes@ screendaily.com Gunter Zerbich, gunter. zerbich@screendaily.com Ingrid Hammond, ingridhammond@mac.com Production manager Jonathon Cooke, jonathon. cooke@mb-insight.com

Printer Atlas Group, Street 26, Al Quoz 4, PO Box 14833, Dubai, +971 4 340 9895, admin@atlasgroupme.com

Screen International London 1st floor unit F2/G, Zetland House, 5-25 Scrutton Street, London EC2A 4HJ Tel: +44 20 3033 4267

FESTIVAL

See box, above

ALI, THE GOAT AND IBRAHIM (ALI MEA’ZA WE IBRAHIM)

(UAE, Iran) 80mins.

Drama. Dir: Abdulla Al

Senior sales manager Scott Benfold, scott.benfold@ screendaily.com, +44 7765 257 260

Chief executive, MBI Conor Dignam

THE HAPPIEST DAY IN THE LIFE OF OLLI MAKI (HYMYILEVA MIES)

ONLY MEN GO TO THE GRAVE (AL-RIJAL FAQAT END AL-DAFN)

Publishing director Nadia Romdhani, nadia. romdhani@screendaily.com, +44 7540 100 315

Group commercial director, MBI Alison Pitchford, alison. pitchford@mb-insight.com

Cinema of the World Vox 04 Public

22:15

Sub editors Paul Lindsell, Adam Richmond, Richard Young

22:30

(Egypt, UAE, France, Qatar) 97mins. Drama.

Dir: Sherif El Bendary.

Cast: Ali Sobhi, Ahmed

Magdy, Salwa Mohamed Aly, Nahed El Sebai.

Ali falls in love with a goat, whom he names Nada. Ibrahim works at a recording studio and starts to hear voices. The pair meet a healer who

diagnoses Ali and Ibrahim as cursed and prescribes a solution to break the spell.

They must throw three magic stones into three of Egypt’s bodies of water.

Subscription enquiries Tel: +44 (0) 330 333 9414, help@subscribe.screendaily. com

in association with Chime Consulting

Muhr Feature Souk Madinat Theatre Public

December 12, 2016 Screen International at Dubai 15

‫شاهد اليوم‬

‫األثنني ‪ 12‬ديسمرب‬

‫املهر الطويل‬

‫علي معزة وإبراهيم‬ ‫ ‬

‫‪ 22:30‬‬

‫ ‬

‫نحبك هادي‬

‫مسرح سوق املدينة‬

‫يحب معزة‪ ،‬ويواجه انتقادات كثيرة من مجتمعه بسبب ذلك‪ .‬للتغلب‬ ‫علي ش��اب عشريني ّ‬ ‫عل��ى هذا الوضع تجب��ره أمه على زيارة أحد المعالجي��ن الروحانيين‪ ،‬حيث يلتقي إبراهيم‬ ‫الذي يعاني من حالة اكتئاب حادة‪ ،‬ويسمع في أذنيه أصواتاً غريبة ال يستطيع فك رموزها‪.‬‬ ‫ينطلق علي ومعزته وإبراهيم في رحلة عبر مصر‪ ،‬يحاوالن خاللها مساعدة بعضهما البعض‬ ‫للتغلب على محنتهما والعثور على أمل للتمسك بالحياة ‪.‬‬

‫‪ 18:45‬‬

‫ ‬

‫ ‬

‫مول اإلمارات‪ ،‬فوكس ‪1‬‬

‫هادي؛ ش��اب عادي‪ .‬قليل الكالم ور ّد الفعل‪ ،‬ال ينتظر من الحياة ش��يئاً يُذكر‪ ،‬وغير مبا ٍل بما‬ ‫يحيط به‪ .‬يترك أل ّمه المتسلطة شؤون تنظيم زواجه من خديجة‪ .‬قبل الزواج بيومين‪ ،‬يتع ّرف‬ ‫هادي في المهدية على ريم؛ منش��طة ش��ابة في نزل يكاد يكون مهجورا ً من السياح‪ .‬تشدّه‬ ‫حريتها وال مباالتها‪ ،‬ليجد نفسه مأخوذا ً بهذا العشق الناشئ‪.‬‬

‫الواقع االفرتاضي‬ ‫ ‬

‫‪ 13:00‬‬

‫مدرج املدينة‪ ،‬سينما دو للواقع االفرتاضي بدعم من سامسونغ‬

‫ليال عربية‬

‫سينما العامل‬

‫فالش‬

‫هل تنصتون؟‪ :‬أمازون وكونغو‬

‫جلسات سوق دبي السينمائي احلوارية‬

‫األطفال إىل أين‪:‬‬ ‫اجليل الرقمي‬ ‫بيت بال سقف‬

‫املواطن الفخري‬ ‫ ‬

‫‪18:00‬‬

‫ ‬

‫‪21:30‬‬

‫ ‬

‫مدرج املدينة‬

‫ ‬

‫مول اإلمارات‪ ،‬فوكس ‪17‬‬

‫ ‬

‫قاعة منتدى املهرجان‬ ‫نشرة يومية تصدر باللغة العربية خالل فعاليات الدورة‬ ‫الـ ‪ 13‬من «مهرجان دبي السينمائي الدولي»‬ ‫رئيس التحرير‬

‫بشار إبراهيم‬

‫‪bashar62@gmail.com‬‬ ‫‪ 12‬ديسمرب ‪2016‬‬

‫‪12/11/16 10:10 PM‬‬

‫بالعـــربية‬

‫داني��ال مانتوفاني روائي حصل على إش��ادة‬ ‫كبيرة‪ ،‬وع��اد إلى بلدته األرجنتينية س��االس‪،‬‬ ‫الس��تالم ميدالي��ة «المواطن��ة الفخرية»‪ .‬في‬ ‫البداية يظهر أن الجميع يريدون اقتناص شيء‬ ‫م��ن هذا الكاتب‪ ،‬الذي غاب عن بلدته أربعة‬ ‫عقود‪ ،‬فتتعمق مش��اعر االس��تياء والكراهية‪،‬‬ ‫ويدي��ر الكاتب ظه��ره‪ ،‬في نهاي��ة المطاف‪،‬‬ ‫للبلدة التي نشأ فيها‪ ،‬وأعطته مادة ثمينة‪ ،‬من‬ ‫خالل شخصياتها وتاريخها‪.‬‬

‫آالن ويان وليا؛ ثالثة أش��قاء‪ُ ،‬ولدوا في كردستان‬ ‫العراق وترعرعوا في ألماني��ا‪ .‬عليهم أن يعودوا‬ ‫إلى قريتهم في العراق لدفن والدتهم إلى جانب‬ ‫والدهم‪ ،‬فيواجهون‪ ،‬في ملحمتهم الكردس��تانية‬ ‫المتلف��ة لألعص��اب‪ ،‬عائلتهم الكردي��ة الكبيرة‪،‬‬ ‫ويكتش��فون أنه ينبغ��ي وصل م��ا انقطع فيما‬ ‫بينهم‪ ،‬حيث تباعدوا عاطفياً بمرور الوقت‪ ،‬مما‬ ‫يقودهم إلى استكش��اف وطنهم وهويتهم‪ ،‬في‬ ‫الوقت الذي يكتشفون فيه أنفسهم‪.‬‬

‫ ‬

‫‪15:30‬‬

‫يف دبي ‪9‬‬

‫‪Screen Issue 5.indd 9‬‬

‫«نار من نار»‪..‬‬

‫عن الهوس واحلياة املوازية والذاكرة امللتهبة‬

‫كما ف��ي «رصاص��ة طايش��ة» (‪« – 2010‬المهر‬ ‫ألفضل فيل��م روائي طويل عرب��ي»‪ ،‬في الدورة‬ ‫السابعة من «مهرجان دبي السينمائي الدولي»)‪،‬‬ ‫يستوحي اللبناني جورج هاشم مناخات الحرب‬ ‫األهليّة‪ ،‬لنسج مثلث عالقات مأزوم بين زوجين‬ ‫وصديقهما المش��ترك‪ .‬هذا‬ ‫ال يعن��ي أ ّن صاح��ب‬ ‫الروائي القصير «قدّاس‬ ‫عشيّة» (‪ ،)2009‬يقطع‬ ‫الطرق��ات نفس��ها نحو‬ ‫ق��ول الكثير ع��ن هويّة‬ ‫بالده‪ ،‬وبعض ناس��ها‪ ،‬بل‬ ‫يتكّ��ئ عل��ى زم��ن حرب‬ ‫ثمانين��ي م��وا ٍز للحاض��ر‪،‬‬ ‫لخلق حياة ُمشتهاة لمن ال‬ ‫يمتلكه��ا‪« .‬أندريه» (وجدي‬ ‫مع�� ّوض) س��ينمائي لبناني‬ ‫مقيم في باريس‪ .‬يصنع روائياً‬ ‫أوتوبيوغرافي��ا بعنوان «نار»‪،‬‬ ‫الحرب‪،‬‬ ‫ع ّما يُفت َرض أنّه عايش��ه خالل‬ ‫تحت اسم «محمد»‪ .‬عشيقته «نادين» أنا فيلميّة‬ ‫لـ«أميرة»‪ ،‬تلعبه��ا الممثّلة «كاميل» (عديلة بن‬ ‫ديمراد)‪ .‬ه��ي زوجة صديقه «وليد» (فادي أبي‬ ‫سمرا)‪ .‬هذا األخير يحمل اسم «إيلي» (رودريغ‬ ‫سليمان) في الشريط‪ ،‬الذي يحمل عنوان «نار»‪.‬‬ ‫نح��ن في مطلع األلفي��ة‪ .‬يُع�� َرض الفيلم ضمن‬

‫‪ 8‬‬

‫‪12/11/16 10:10 PM‬‬

‫«بينال��ي الس��ينما العربيّة» ف��ي «معهد العالم‬ ‫العرب��ي بباريس» (توقف الح��دث عام ‪،)2008‬‬ ‫ليظه��ر الصدي��ق القدي��م دون س��ابق إن��ذار‪.‬‬ ‫يحصل اللقاء المرتقب‪ .‬نعلم أ ّن س��رطان الرحم‬ ‫أودى بأمي��رة‪ ،‬فهاج��ر ولي��د إل��ى‬ ‫مونتريال‪ ،‬ليرأس تحرير مجلة تُعنى‬ ‫بالفرانكفونيّة‪ .‬المخرج يستفيد من‬ ‫من��اخ الحريّة في فرنس��ا‪ ،‬للعمل‬ ‫وكس��ر تابوه��ات ل��ن تم ّرره��ا‬ ‫الرقابات العربيّة‪.‬‬ ‫نعم‪ ،‬الخريطة ليست بسيطة‪.‬‬ ‫بين الحاض��ر والماضي‪ ،‬وبنية‬ ‫«فيلم داخل فيلم»‪ ،‬ال يس��لّم‬ ‫الس��رد مفاتيح��ه بس��هولة‪.‬‬ ‫يمع��ن في توري��ط المتف ّرج‬ ‫ضم��ن لعب��ة جنونيّ��ة من‬ ‫الواق��ع الحقيق��ي واآلخ��ر‬ ‫المتخيّل‪ /‬ال ُمش��تهى‪ .‬يتحدّاه‬ ‫كل منهما إلى سيرته‬ ‫للتفريق بينهما‪ ،‬وتفكيك ّ‬ ‫األول��ى‪ ،‬تمهيدا ً لتركيبهما كقط��ع البازل‪ .‬ث ّمة‬ ‫جحيم مستعر داخل النفوس‪ ،‬منذ أيام السهر‬ ‫ي��رج القصف‬ ‫ف��ي مله��ى «فيرتيغ��و»‪ ،‬بينما ّ‬ ‫المقس��مة في الخارج‪ .‬لقاءات خاطفة‬ ‫بيروت‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫مع عش��يق‪ ،‬وميليش��يات توق��ف ال ّناس في‬ ‫الطريق‪ ،‬عناصر تحيل على «رصاصة طايشة»‪،‬‬ ‫قبل أن تبتعد إلى مس��ارها الخاص‪ .‬في «نار»‪،‬‬

‫«حب نادين‪ /‬أميرة» لـ«محمد‪ /‬أندريه»‪،‬‬ ‫نرى ّ‬ ‫ومدى اش��تهائها له‪ .‬نرصد الجف��اء مع زوجها‬ ‫«إيل��ي‪ /‬وليد»‪ ،‬ال��ذي يظهر أناني��اً‪ ،‬خائناً‪ ،‬ال‬ ‫يمانع رؤي��ة صديقه يُعتقَل أم��ام عينيه‪ .‬في‬ ‫الحقيقة‪ ،‬ال شيء كما يبدو عليه‪ .‬ال أحد كذلك‪.‬‬ ‫لق��اء الصديقي��ن العاش��قين للس��ينما يف ّجر‬ ‫الحمم‪ .‬يؤكّد أ ّن الحرب مس��تم ّرة بشكل آخر‪.‬‬ ‫يس��تدرج مكاشف ًة تقش��عر لها األبدان‪ .‬يفرد‬ ‫حمول ًة عن األنا المتعدّدة والهويّة المضط ّربة‪،‬‬ ‫عن ضحايا تائهين لم يلمس��وا أحالماً تاقوا لها‬ ‫طويالً‪ ،‬عن عاش��ق مرفوض يراه��ا هانئ ًة في‬ ‫حضن زوجها المبدع‪.‬‬ ‫لحب الصداقة‪ ،‬فيق ّرر‬ ‫هذا يؤ ّجج حق��دا ً مجاورا ً ّ‬ ‫التح ّول إلى س��ينمائي‪ /‬خال��ق‪ ،‬يتخّذ من فيلمه‬ ‫وس��يطاً خيالي��اً‪ ،‬لصن��ع حي��اة موازية‬ ‫عج��ز ع��ن تحقيقها عل��ى األرض‬ ‫(الوسيط الحقيقي)‪ ،‬مع تغيير‬ ‫كل فرد وفق مشتهاه‪.‬‬ ‫سمات ّ‬ ‫تزوي��ر يذكّرن��ا بش��يء من‬ ‫«الس��يّد ريبل��ي الموهوب»‬ ‫(‪ )1999‬ألنتون��ي مينغي�لا‪،‬‬ ‫م��ع تح�� ّول القتل م��ن فعل‬ ‫حقيق��ي إل��ى مج��از فيلمي‪.‬‬ ‫هو الخطوة الس��ابقة لمراحل‬ ‫المكاشفة (التجاهل‬

‫– التحريض واالس��تفزاز– االنفج��ار– المطاردة‬ ‫– البوح في مش��هد خلاّ ب– االعت��راف)‪« .‬نار»‬ ‫شريط جاء من «نار» الذاكرة والحرب‪.‬‬ ‫جورج هاش��م يصنع تحف ًة مظلم�� ًة عن األنا‬ ‫المتع��دّدة‪ ،‬واغتراب الفرد داخل نفس��ه أوالً‪.‬‬ ‫يضعنا بقس��وة أمام سؤال الهويّة المشروخة‪،‬‬ ‫ضم��ن بالد حائرة‪ ،‬مليئة بعقد النقص‪ .‬يباغتنا‬ ‫بمدى التهتّك الداخلي‪ ،‬وقابلية الحقد والكره‬ ‫للتغ�� ّول والس��يطرة‪ .‬ال ج��دوى من الس��عي‬ ‫إل��ى الخالص‪ .‬ه��ذه أرواح ملعونة إلى األبد‪.‬‬ ‫هل ث ّم��ة نا ٍج وحيد مثل «ربي��ع» في روائي‬ ‫فاتشي بولغورجيان‪ ،‬الذي ينافس على «المهر‬ ‫الطويل» أيضاً؟ ال‪.‬‬ ‫سينماتوغرافيا كابوسيّة ألندرياس سينانوس‪،‬‬ ‫الذي عمل مع أنغلوبولوس طويالً‪ .‬هناك‬ ‫درس ف��ي االش��تغال عل��ى األبع��اد‬ ‫والتش��كيل بالض��وء‪ .‬أداء خ�ّل�اّ ب‬ ‫عموماً‪ ،‬خصوصاً فادي أبي س��مرا‬ ‫ووج��دي مع�� ّوض‪ .‬موس��يقا زاد‬ ‫ملتق��ى تخترق النخاع الش��وكي‪.‬‬ ‫إيق��اع ثقي��ل يع�� ّزز الميالنكوليا‬ ‫والتأزّم (توليف‪ :‬إلياس ش��اهين)‪.‬‬ ‫المحصل��ة ق��د تك��ون مه��را ً ثانياً‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫لجورج هاشم‪ ،‬فهو أحد المرشّ حين‬ ‫الشرسين القتناصه‪.‬‬

‫يف دبي ‪ 12‬ديسمرب ‪2016‬‬

‫‪Screen Issue 5.indd 8‬‬

‫‪ ‬علي وجيه‬

‫طف��ل يق��ف ببدل��ة الفت�� ّوة (م��ادة التربية‬ ‫العس��كريّة) ذات الل��ون الخاك��ي المراف��ق‬ ‫وطلب المدارس السوريّة حتى عام‬ ‫للعس��كر اّ‬ ‫‪ .2003‬يحدّق في العدس��ة مباش��رةً‪ ،‬غير آبه‬ ‫بالمطر المتساقط فوقه‪ .‬يتح ّول الماء إلى دم‬ ‫لدى مروره به نحو أرض المدرس��ة المهجورة‪،‬‬ ‫التي يقف في س��احتها‪ .‬فج��أة‪ ،‬يدوي صوت‬ ‫رصاصة قبل اإلعتام‪ .‬بهذا التأس��يس الصريح‪،‬‬ ‫يفتت��ح الف��وز طنج��ور (‪ )1975‬جديده غير‬ ‫الروائي «ذاك��رة باللون الخاك��ي» (‪ 110‬د‪،).‬‬ ‫منافساً ضمن مس��ابقة «المهر الطويل»‪ ،‬في‬ ‫ال��دورة الـ‪ 13‬من «مهرجان دبي الس��ينمائي‬ ‫الدولي»‪ .‬طال��ب المرحلة اإلعداديّة هو «أنا»‬ ‫السينمائي السوري نفس��ه‪ ،‬الذي تفتّح وعيه‬ ‫في أوج سطوة حزب البعث‪ ،‬إثر حسم الصراع‬ ‫مع حركة اإلخوان المسلمين‪.‬‬ ‫هكذا‪ ،‬يشغّل الوثائقي غير المهادن آلة الزمن‬ ‫منذ الثمانين��ات حتى اليوم‪ ،‬م��رورا ً بمراحل‬ ‫وحكوم��ات وس��فر ومتغيّرات‪ ،‬ل��م يكن من‬ ‫مؤسس��اته الراس��خة‪.‬‬ ‫ضمنها نظام الحكم‪ ،‬أو ّ‬ ‫وتعسفي أفضى النفجار‬ ‫يعرض لتراكم شمولي ّ‬ ‫ع��ام ‪ ،2011‬بع��د اس��تقاء األمل م��ن ثورتي‬ ‫«الياس��مين» في تون��س‪ ،‬ويناير ف��ي مصر‪.‬‬ ‫بتعليق ذاتي مائل إلى الشعريّة‪ ،‬يخبر طنجور‬ ‫قصته ابتدا ًء من نشأته في مدينة «السلميّة»‪.‬‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫يتذكّر هروبه من حصص القوميّة إلى س��ينما‬ ‫الزه��راء‪ ،‬وكتابة الوظائف أمام «نوس��تالجيا»‬ ‫(‪ )1983‬تاركوفس��كي‪ .‬يتألّم لرحيله القسري‬ ‫إل��ى بيروت بس��بب موقفه بع��د الحرب‪ ،‬ث ّم‬ ‫هجرته إلى النمس��ا‪ ،‬ليصبح «بعيد قريب من‬ ‫تخوم الوطن»‪.‬‬ ‫بين س��وريا واألردن والنمس��ا وفنلندا وفرنسا‬ ‫واليون��ان‪ ،‬ترتحل الكاميرا خل��ف تغريبة غير‬ ‫اختياريّة‪ .‬يبحث الفوز عن أشباهه‪ ،‬راوياً تاريخ‬ ‫معرفته بهم‪ .‬يح ّرض ذاك��رة الخاكي داخلهم‪،‬‬ ‫فيش��رحون ما يرافقه من تدجين وقمع وهلع‬ ‫موروث‪ .‬يس��تحضر كل م��ن الكاتب إبراهيم‬ ‫صموئيل‪ ،‬والسينمائي شادي أبو فخر‪ ،‬تفاصيل‬ ‫االعتقال القاسية‪ .‬يتلو التشكيلي خالد الخاني‬

‫ش��هاد ًة عن أحداث حم��اة‪ .‬تس��ترجع خالة‬ ‫المخرج «أماثل» س��نوات التخفّي واألس��ماء‬

‫المستعارة في حي الشيخ محي الدين‪ ،‬بسبب‬ ‫انتس��ابها إلى حزب مع��ارض‪ .‬األحمر مرافق‬

‫«ذاكرة باللون‬ ‫اخلاكي»‬ ‫نبوءات اخلراب‬

‫لبوحهم‪ ،‬س��وا ًء في اللباس أو األكل‪ ،‬في تالزم‬ ‫بين العسف و«الثورة»‪.‬‬ ‫هكذا‪ ،‬تتقاطع السيرة الذاتية مع سير آخرين‬ ‫(الس��يناريو لطنج��ور مع لؤي حفّ��ار)‪ .‬يُفتح‬ ‫الس��جال على مفاهيم كبيرة بتفاصيل شائكة‪:‬‬ ‫الدكتاتوريّة والحكم الش��مولي‪ ،‬وتف ّرد الحزب‬ ‫الواحد‪ ،‬وقناع األيديولوجيا‪ ،‬ومساحة المعتقل‬ ‫األصغر من إس��طبل األبقار‪ ،‬ومصي��ر «الثورة‬ ‫السوريّة»‪ ،‬ومآلها‪ ،‬وتأث ّرها بالمصالح الدوليّة‪.‬‬ ‫في تص ّد ناجح للمه ّمة الصعبة‪ ،‬يعادل الفوز‬ ‫طنج��ور ذلك ببصريّات تنوس بي��ن البانوراما‬ ‫والمنمنمات‪ ،‬مس�� ّخرا ً «سينماتوغرافيا القبح»‬ ‫(تصوير أحم��د دكروب) في التق��اط الدمار‪،‬‬ ‫ورهاف��ة التفاصي��ل ف��ي تصوي��ر «دمش��ق‬ ‫س��يمفونية مدين��ة»‪ ،‬والش��وارع والغاب��ات‬ ‫والمطارات والمخيّمات‪ .‬ينجذب خلف «نهاية‬ ‫بال��ون أحمر» في س��وق الحميدية وس��ماء‬ ‫الش��ام‪ ،‬وأس��ماك معلّقة في طري��ق اللجوء‪.‬‬ ‫كل ذلك‪ ،‬ال ينس��ى ترك مساحة للتأ ّمل‬ ‫وسط ّ‬ ‫الصامت‪ ،‬أو على وقع موسيقا كنان العظمة‪.‬‬ ‫هذا وثائقي حاد‪ ،‬مغامر‪ ،‬مضاد لسطوة اللون‬ ‫الواحد‪ ،‬أيّ��ا يكن‪ .‬يتف ّرد عن موجة الوثائقيات‬ ‫الس��وريّة ما بعد الحرب‪ ،‬ببحث��ه في الجذور‬ ‫الفكريّ��ة والعقائديّة لم��ا حصل‪ .‬يتعالى على‬ ‫الش��تم والعويل لحس��اب األفلمة‪ .‬يسير على‬ ‫خط��ى العناوي��ن الها ّمة عام ‪ 2014‬اش��تغاالً‬ ‫وجودةً‪« :‬الع��ودة إلى حمص» لطالل ديركي‪،‬‬ ‫و«ماء الفضة» ألس��امة محمد ووئام سيماف‬ ‫بدرخ��ان‪ ،‬و«الرقي��ب الخالد» لزي��اد كلثوم‪.‬‬ ‫يُؤخ��ذ علي��ه بعض االنج��رار خل��ف ثرثرات‬ ‫تصب في خدمة‬ ‫جانبيّة‪ ،‬وتف ّرعات مكرورة‪ ،‬ال ّ‬ ‫اختالفه (تخاذل المجتمع الدولي‪ ،‬مبدأ حمل‬ ‫السالح‪ .)...‬كذلك‪ ،‬يركن إلى تكرار أفكار حول‬ ‫الخاك��ي‪ ،‬على ألس��نة الرواة (تولي��ف‪ :‬الفوز‬ ‫طنجور)‪« .‬ك ّنا نش��م رائحة الخراب»‪ .‬يتحدّث‬ ‫طنجور عن نبوءات الثمانينات والتس��عينات‪،‬‬ ‫قب��ل أن يتلق��ى الطفل الراكض ف��ي المروج‬ ‫الخضراء رصاصة ق ّناص متربّص‪ .‬مجدّدا ً‪ ،‬صوت‬ ‫رصاصة ما قبل إعتام أخير‪ ،‬يغلق القوس على‬ ‫تاريخ من اغتراب الفرد داخل بلده‪.‬‬ ‫‪ 12‬ديسمرب ‪2016‬‬

‫‪12/11/16 10:10 PM‬‬

‫يف دبي ‪7‬‬

‫‪Screen Issue 5.indd 7‬‬

‫«انشاهلل استفدت»‪..‬‬

‫ضحك يضيء القلب يف وحشة السجن‬ ‫‪ ‬طارق الشناوي‬

‫إذا كنت تريد أن تش��اهد فيلماً سينمائياً من‬ ‫أجل أن تحصل من��ه على جرعة من الحكمة‬ ‫والموعظة الحسنة‪ ،‬ويحذرك من خالل أحداثه‬ ‫ب��أن تتجنب طريق الندام��ة‪ .‬إذا كان هدفك‬ ‫هو تل��ك المباش��رة فأنا بالتأكيد س��أنصحك‬ ‫مخلص��اً أال ت��رى الفيل��م األردني «انش��الله‬ ‫أس��تفدت»‪ ،‬للمخ��رج محمود المس��اد‪ ،‬فهو‬ ‫ال يتبنى بأس��لوب مباش��ر المقولة التقليدية‬ ‫الشهيرة «الجريمة ال تفيد»‪.‬‬ ‫إذا كن��ت ترى أن الجدي��ة تتناقض تماماً مع‬ ‫الضح��ك‪ ،‬وأن علي��ك إذا أردت توجيه الناس‬ ‫وتقديم رس��الة إيجابي��ة أن تتحلى بالجدية‪،‬‬ ‫على اعتبار أن الضحك هو المفس��دة الكبرى‪،‬‬ ‫فأنا أيضاً أنصحك مخلصاً أال تشاهد «انشالله‬ ‫أستفدت»‪ ،‬أما إذا كنت مثلي ترى أن السينما‬ ‫كسينما تملك في داخلها سرها وسحرها‪ ،‬وأن‬ ‫الضحك الذي يطهر القلب ويمسح كل أحزان‬ ‫الدنيا‪ ،‬هو هدف أسمى‪ ،‬وال يتناقض مطلقاً مع‬ ‫الجدية‪ ،‬وأنك لو امتلكت قوة التعبير بس�لاح‬ ‫الكوميدي��ا وبرعت في التحك��م بكل أدواته‪،‬‬ ‫فإن الرسالة س��تصل أعمق وأمتع‪ ،‬وتستطيع‬ ‫أن تخترق «التابوهات» التي عادة ما تفرضها‬ ‫الرقاب��ة ف��ي عالمن��ا العربي‪ ،‬فأن��ا في هذه‬ ‫الحالة أؤكد لك أنك س��وف تخس��ر الكثير لو‬ ‫لم تس��تطع أن تلحق بهذا الفيلم الذي يعرض‬ ‫في إطار المس��ابقة الرسمية لـ«المهر العربي‬ ‫لألف�لام الطويلة»‪ .‬المخ��رج األردني محمود‬ ‫المس��اد يقدم فيلماً خاصاً بقدر ما هو حميم‬ ‫ودافئ وينضح في كل تفاصيله بروح س��اخرة‬ ‫تتس��لل إليك بنعومة‪ .‬يأت��ي الفيلم ليؤكد أن‬ ‫المملكة األردنية في الس��نوات األخيرة باتت‬ ‫تُقدم لنا كعرب بين الحين واآلخر فيلماً نفخر‬ ‫ونتوق دائماً إلى مش��اهدته وآخرها «ذيب»‬ ‫لناج��ي أبو ن��وار‪ ،‬الذي مثّلنا ع��ام ‪ 2015‬في‬ ‫األوس��كار ألفض��ل فيلم أجنب��ي‪ ،‬ووصل إلى‬ ‫قائمة الخمسة أفالم المرشحة‪.‬‬ ‫كثيرة هي األفالم التي اختارت الس��جن لكي‬ ‫يُصبح المس��رح الرئيسي لألحداث‪ ،‬حيث أن‬ ‫ضيق المكان ومحدوديته يخلق على الجانب‬ ‫اآلخ��ر تحديات أمام المخرج لكي يقفز فوق‬ ‫الس��ور ويحطم القضب��ان الحديدية ليرى ما‬ ‫بداخلها بشفافية ونقاء‪.‬‬ ‫والحقيق��ة أن الس��جون ف��ي كل العالم لها‬ ‫قانونها‪ ،‬مهما اش��تدت الرقاب��ة‪ ،‬دائماً هناك‬

‫‪6‬‬ ‫ ‬

‫‪12/11/16 10:10 PM‬‬

‫مف��ردات تتكرر‪ :‬زعيم ف��ي العنبر يخضع له‬ ‫الجمي��ع‪ ،‬وفي الع��ادة نرى التم��رد الكامن‬ ‫في الص��دور‪ ،‬يقوده مس��جون‪ ،‬وينضم إليه‬ ‫آخ��رون‪ ،‬وه��و ما ح��دث أيضاً ف��ي الفيلم‪،‬‬ ‫كم��ا أن كثي��ر من الزعم��اء نكتش��ف أنهم‬ ‫ال يفكرون س��وى ف��ي مصالحه��م الصغيرة‪،‬‬ ‫ويرفعون ش��عارات كاذبة يدّ عون فيها حماية‬ ‫الجموع‪ ،‬بينما ال يعنيهم س��وى الحفاظ على‬ ‫مصالحهم‪ ،‬هكذا ش��اهدنا الزعيم في س��جن‬ ‫المخ��رج محمود المس��اد‪ .‬الفيلم الس��اخر‬ ‫يفضح فس��اد الش��رطة والقضاء والمحامين‪،‬‬ ‫ويختار لقطات مع ّبرة‪ ،‬ولكن في نفس الوقت‬ ‫ال تغادر ش��اطئ الكوميديا‪ .‬صحيح أن البطل‬ ‫مذن��ب‪ ،‬ودخل الس��جن في قضي��ة احتيال‪،‬‬ ‫ألنه لم ينفذ االتفاق كعامل بناء‪ ،‬واس��تحوذ‬ ‫عل��ى المال بدون وجه ح��ق‪ ،‬ولكنه ليس‬ ‫محت��رف إج��رام‪ ،‬وهكذا يب��دو داخل‬ ‫الس��جن حالة خاصة قابلة للسخرية‬ ‫من المس��جونين العتاولة‪ .‬الس��جن‬ ‫عالم خاص‪ ،‬في��ه التحدي والحرمان‪،‬‬ ‫وكان المخرج من خالل اختياره زوايا‬ ‫التصوي��ر‪ ،‬كأنه يتس��لل ويتنص��ت على هذا‬

‫العالم‪ .‬محمود المس��اد ف��ي الحقيقة ينزع‬ ‫ع��ن أبطاله أي مس��حة م��ن األداء الدرامي‪،‬‬ ‫بمنهج��ه التقليدي‪ ،‬فتش��عر بطبيعتهم أمام‬ ‫الكاميرا‪ .‬وحافظ على تلقائيتهم‪ ،‬فهم ليس��وا‬ ‫ممثلين ي��ؤدون أدواراً‪ ،‬بقدر ما يتعايش��ون‬ ‫معها‪ .‬الواق��ع يفرض س��يطرته تماماً عليهم‪،‬‬ ‫وهم يحافظون على تلك الروح‪ ،‬وظل االتفاق‬ ‫قائماً حت��ى اللقطات األخي��رة‪ ،‬بين المخرج‬ ‫والمشاهد‪ ،‬وهو يتلقى كل ذلك في قالب من‬ ‫الضحك والبهجة‪ ،‬واالنتقاد الالذع الذي يدخل‬ ‫القلب ويُنعش الروح!‬

‫يف دبي ‪ 12‬ديسمرب ‪2016‬‬

‫‪Screen Issue 5.indd 6‬‬

‫جنوم كبار يف أفالم قصرية‬ ‫‪ُ ‬عال الشيخ‬

‫تشهد مس��ابقة «المهر القصير»‪ ،‬حضور ممثلين‬ ‫عرب من كبار النجوم‪ ،‬في أدوار الفتة خالل أفالم‬ ‫روائي��ة قصيرة‪ .‬بعضهم ظهر في أدوار ال تتعدى‬ ‫المش��هدين‪ ،‬تأكيدا ً عل��ى أن الفنان الحقيقي ال‬ ‫يه ّمه طول مدة الفيلم‪ ،‬بقدر أهمية ما س��يترك‬ ‫السيناريو والدور المرسوم من أثر لدى المتلقي‪.‬‬ ‫وال ش��ك‪ ،‬من جهة أخرى‪ ،‬ف��ي أن قيمة الممثل‬ ‫فني��اً وتاريخه‪ ،‬تعطي دفع ًة مهم��ة وحافزا ً قوياً‬ ‫لص ّناع األفالم القصيرة‪.‬‬ ‫هذا ما حدث في الفيلم الروائي القصير األردني‬ ‫«الببغاء» للمخرجة دارين س�لام وأمجد الرشيد‪،‬‬ ‫وبطولة هند صبري وأش��رف برهوم‪ .‬هذا الفيلم‬ ‫ال��ذي اختصر ح��ال القضي��ة الفلس��طينية في‬ ‫‪ 18‬دقيقة‪ ،‬اس��تطاع أن يقدم نفس��ه بعيدا ً عن‬ ‫الس��يناريوهات الت��ي باتت متداول��ة عن حق‬ ‫العودة‪ ،‬في شكل س��ينمائي متماسك وسيناريو‬ ‫بس��يط‪ .‬ال ير ّح��ب الببغاء الذي ينط��ق اللهجة‬ ‫الفلس��طينية بعائل��ة تونس��ية يهودي��ة‪ ،‬جاءت‬ ‫الى فلس��طين بعد ‪ ،1948‬لتس��توطن منزالً خال‬ ‫م��ن أصحابه‪ ،‬ول��م يخل من ص��ور معلقة على‬ ‫الجدران‪ ،‬ورسومات طفل كان يحب الحياة‪.‬‬ ‫هذا الفيلم يس��تحق المش��اهدة والتمعن بكل‬ ‫لقطة فيه‪ ،‬وبكل ردة فعل ألش��رف برهوم وهند‬ ‫صبري‪ ،‬التي من الواض��ح أنها تعرف ضمنياً أنها‬ ‫س��تظل عربية‪ ،‬ف��ي مجتمع صهيون��ي عنصري‪،‬‬ ‫مهما حاولت أن تصبح اسرائيلية‪.‬‬ ‫تطل ياسمين رئيس وعمر صالح‪ ،‬في‬ ‫في المقابل ّ‬ ‫فيلم المخرجة الس��ودانية مروى زين «أس��بوع‬ ‫ويومين»‪ .‬زين اس��تطاعت أن تقدم قصة جرئية‬ ‫ف��ي دقائق ل��م تتعد الـ‪ 17‬دقيق��ة‪ ،‬حول عالقة‬ ‫بين ش��اب وفتاة‪ ،‬يريدان أن يظلاّ كما هما دون‬

‫تغيير‪ ،‬الذي يمكن أن يحدث إثر والدة طفل‪ ،‬أو‬ ‫والدة قيد‪ ،‬حسب مفهوميهما‪ .‬اللقطات الجريئة‬ ‫ف��ي الفيلم‪ ،‬مع الحوار األكثر جرأة‪ ،‬تماش��يا مع‬ ‫إدارة المخرجة‪ ،‬س��يجعل ال ُمشاهد مترقباً‬ ‫لفكرة زي��ن التي اختصرت معنى القيد‬ ‫المرتب��ط بأوراق ثبوتي��ة‪ ،‬بعد خوف‬ ‫بطل��ة الفيل��م من أن تك��ون حامالً‪،‬‬ ‫وعندم��ا تنتظ��ر أس��بوعاً ويومي��ن‬ ‫بقل��ق‪ ،‬يتصاحب مع كل المعوقات‬ ‫التي قد تعيشها فتاة في المجتمع‬ ‫الشرقي‪.‬‬ ‫ف��ي الفيلم األردني الفلس��طيني‬ ‫«خمس أوالد وعج��ل»‪ ،‬للمخرج‬ ‫س��عيد زاغة‪ ،‬يلعب دور البطولة‬ ‫الممث��ل عل��ي س��ليمان‪،‬‬

‫«الببغاء»‪..‬‬

‫والممثلة نادرة عمران‪ .‬سليمان استطاع كعادته‬ ‫أن يحم��ل الفيل��م بمجرد حضوره‪ .‬ه��ذا الفنان‬ ‫المتم��رس كان��ت الخيوط بين‬ ‫يدي��ه‪ ،‬وعلى م��ا يبدو‬ ‫أن مخ��رج العم��ل‬ ‫كان ي��درك ذل��ك‪،‬‬ ‫فج��اءت إدارت��ه‬ ‫ل��ه ولباق��ي‬ ‫الممثلي��ن ف��ي‬ ‫الفيل��م جدي��رة‬ ‫بقامته��م‪ .‬الفيلم‬ ‫يتحدث عن أستاذ‬ ‫مدرس��ة يحاول أن‬ ‫يبني مس��تقبل ابنه‬ ‫بطريق��ة أخالقية‪ ،‬لكن‬ ‫تدن��ي أخالق من حوله‬

‫م��ن جيران وط�لاب مدرس��ة تجعل م��ن هذا‬ ‫األمر شبه مس��تحيل‪ ،‬في حضرة لغة السكاكين‬ ‫والقناوي واستغالل سلطة المال‪.‬‬ ‫أم��ا الفيلم القصير المفاجئ له��ذا العام‪ ،‬من‬ ‫جمي��ع النواحي فهو الفيلم التونس��ي «خلينا‬ ‫هكا خير»‪ ،‬للمخرج مهدي البرصاوي‪ ،‬فكانت‬ ‫المفاج��أة حاضرة بإطاللة المخرج التونس��ي‬ ‫الكبير نوري بوزيد‪ ،‬بطالً للفيلم في ش��خصية‬ ‫«باب��ا عزي��زي»‪ ،‬ذل��ك العجوز ال��ذي يدعي‬ ‫إصابته بالزهايمر‪ ،‬وقت ما يش��اء‪ ،‬ويعلن عن‬ ‫س��تحب بابا عزيزي جدا ً‪،‬‬ ‫صحوه‪ ،‬وقت يريد‪.‬‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫وس��تفهم معنى ألمه من أبنائه على ما يبدو‪،‬‬ ‫وحيلته التي يكش��فها حفي��ده ويتواطأ معه‪،‬‬ ‫مقاب��ل س��يجارة يدخنونها س��وية بعيدا ً عن‬ ‫صخب النواهي‪ .‬مثل ه��ذه القامة التاريخية‬ ‫ف��ي الس��ينما‪ ،‬ووجوده��ا ف��ي فيل��م قصير‬ ‫لمخرج ش��اب‪ ،‬ما هي إال دالل��ة على أهمية‬ ‫األفالم القصيرة التي ما زالت بعيد عن تقبّل‬ ‫الجمه��ور العربي لها ج��زءا ً مهماً في عالم‬ ‫السينما ونتاجاته‪.‬‬

‫‪ ‬إسراء الردايدة‬

‫والفروقات بين يهود الغرب والمشرق‪.‬‬

‫الهوي��ة الفلس��طينية باقية رغ��م كل ش��يء؛ أو «نحن‬ ‫باقون حتى النهاية‪ ،‬وأنتم لن تس��تيطعوا أن تس��يطروا‬ ‫عل��ى المكان أبدا ً‪ ،‬كما يقول لن��ا الفيلم الروائي القصير‬ ‫«الببغاء»‪ ،‬بإخراج مشترك دراين ج‪ .‬سالم‪ ،‬وأمجد الرشيد‪.‬‬

‫األول؛ تظه��ر تفاصيله من��ذ أول لقط��ة للبيت الجميل‬ ‫األني��ق‪ ،‬وصور العائلة التي تزيّ��ن الجدران‪ ،‬عدد مقاعد‬ ‫طاول��ة تناول الطعام‪ ،‬وزن وثقل كل ش��يء‪ ...‬حتى ذلك‬ ‫الببغاء الناطق بالعربية وكلماته التي يرددها بين الفينة‬ ‫واألخ��رى‪ .‬فمهم��ا تح��اول العائلة اليهودية أن تس��كن‬ ‫وتمحي أثر العائلة الفلس��طينية‪ ،‬تجد أثرا ً آخر يبرز لهم‬ ‫امتداد الجذور‪ ،‬التي ال يملكون مثلها‪.‬‬

‫في ‪ 18‬دقيقة‪ ،‬ال تخلو من الرمزية والمفارقات البصرية‬ ‫المرتبطة بتواجد العائلة الفلسطينية التي احتلت مكانها‬ ‫وبيتها عائلة يهودية مزراحية صغيرة‪ ،‬قدمت من تونس‪،‬‬ ‫لتس��كن بيت عائلة ارستقراطية رحلت مخلفة بيتاً يعبّر‬ ‫رقي وجمال وارتباط وثيق بالمكان واألرض‪.‬‬ ‫عن ّ‬ ‫«الببغاء»‪ ،‬ال��ذي تجده تلك العائلة المرزاحية اليهودية‪،‬‬ ‫يحم��ل الكثي��ر من ال��دالالت الت��ي تعبّر ع��ن الهوية‪،‬‬ ‫والج��ذور‪ ،‬واألصل‪ ،‬الس��اكن الحقيقي وال��روح للمكان‪،‬‬ ‫ال��ذي ال يمك��ن أن تنمحي آثاره��ا مهما تغير س��اكنو‬ ‫المكان‪ ،‬فالجذور الممتدة من الصعب اقتالعها‪.‬‬ ‫ف��ي الفيلم ثمة م��ن اإلش��ارات البصرية م��ا يعبر عن‬ ‫خطين أساسيين‪ :‬األول منها يعبر عن عالقة الفلسطينين‬ ‫واليه��ود‪ ،‬والثان��ي يمثل نظرة اليه��ود لبعضهم البعض‪،‬‬

‫فيم��ا التفصيل��ة الثانية تلف��ت النظ��ر للعنصرية التي‬ ‫جس��دها مش��هد دخ��ول العائل��ة اليهودية المش��رقية‬ ‫للمن��زل‪ ،‬بمرافقة الجندي اإلس��رائيلي‪ ،‬ال��ذي قال لهم‬ ‫إنه��م محظوظون ج��دا ً ف��ي الحصول عل��ى مثل هذا‬ ‫المنزل‪ ،‬الذي يُمنح عادة بامتيازات لليهود القادمين من‬ ‫الغ��رب‪ .‬وتتوالى المفارقات بين يهود الغرب والش��رق‪،‬‬ ‫لسلوكيات ظاهرية‪ ،‬بمشاهد تعبّر عن االحتقار المباشر‬ ‫ليهود الش��رق‪« .‬الببغاء»‪ ،‬روائ��ي قصير‪ ،‬من بطولة هند‬ ‫صبري وأشرف برهوم‪ ،‬يحفل جماليات وتفاصيل دقيقة‪،‬‬ ‫تحكي الكثي��ر عن الغربة واالحت�لال والترحيل وتهجير‬ ‫الفلس��طينيين قس��را ً‪ ،‬لكنها تمتلئ بأم��ل «نحن باقون‬ ‫وأنتم راحلون»‪.‬‬

‫‪ 12‬ديسمرب ‪2016‬‬

‫‪12/11/16 10:10 PM‬‬

‫يف دبي ‪5‬‬

‫‪Screen Issue 5.indd 5‬‬

‫«حمبس»‪ ..‬اللبناين والسوري يف مقالة احلب والبغض‬ ‫‪ ‬بشار إبراهيم‬

‫أي من العروسين أصبعه في «محبس»‬ ‫قبل أن ّ‬ ‫يدس ّ‬ ‫الخطوب��ة‪ ،‬كان فيل��م «محب��س»‪ ،‬للمخرج��ة صوفي‬ ‫الش��ق المؤل��م من العالقات‬ ‫يدس أنفه في‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫بط��رس‪ّ ،‬‬ ‫اللبناني��ة الس��ورية‪ ،‬فيتناولها ما بي��ن الجدّ واللعب‪.‬‬ ‫الرصانة والهزل‪ .‬التف ّحص والتهكّم‪ .‬في كوميديا سوداء‬ ‫الذع��ة حيناً‪ ،‬وتراجيديا م ّرة ُمفجع��ة حيناً آخر‪ .‬كأنما‬ ‫يري��د أن نصدّ قه‪ ،‬فنأخذه على محم��ل «المزح»‪ ،‬أو‬ ‫نعبث معه فنراه بـ«الجد» يدخل في حقل المسكوت‬ ‫عنه‪ ،‬ليق��ول نصف ال��كالم‪ ،‬بنصف إيماءة‪ ،‬إش��ارة‪،‬‬ ‫وطرفة عين‪.‬‬ ‫ذريعة درامية مناس��بة‪ ،‬تتأثث في شكل غير تقليدي‪،‬‬ ‫لينعقد القران ما بين ش��اب س��وري‪ ،‬وفت��اة لبنانية‪،‬‬ ‫م��ا يتح�� ّول إلى ضوء كاش��ف يس��لّط عل��ى دواخل‬ ‫الش��خصيات اللبنانية والس��ورية‪ ،‬وموقفها المتك ّون‬ ‫ل��دى بعضه��ا تجاه بعضه��ا اآلخر؛ لي��س فقط بفعل‬ ‫وس��ائل اإلعالم‪ ،‬وما يش��كّل الرأي العام ويك ّونه‪ ،‬وال‬ ‫بتأثي��ر ما يخلق الص��ورة النمطي��ة ويع ّززها‪ ،‬بل أوالً‬ ‫وتالياً بفعل تاريخ إش��كالي جدلي لم يبق فيه مكان‬ ‫لنصلٍ جدي��د‪ ،‬وال محاججة ممكن��ة‪ .‬وعلى رغم أنها‬ ‫كانت األكث��ر تأثيراً في السياس��ة واالقتصاد والثقافة‬ ‫واالجتماع‪ ،‬وفي مآالت المنطقة‪ ،‬ومصيرها التراجيدي‪،‬‬ ‫في النصف الثاني من القرن العشرين‪ ،‬ومطالع القرن‬ ‫الحادي والعشرين‪ ،‬إال أن العالقات اللبنانية السورية‬ ‫األقل دراسة‪ ،‬وفحصاً‪ ،‬وتمحيصاً‪ ،‬إلى درجة أنها‬ ‫بقيت ّ‬ ‫بقيت ضمن المس��كوت عنه عقوداً من الزمان‪ ،‬خلف‬ ‫ستار سميك من الشعارات المضللة‪ ،‬من طراز «شعب‬ ‫واحد ف��ي بلدين»‪ ،‬و«س��وا ربينا»‪ .‬التن��اول النقدي‬ ‫للعالقات اللبنانية الس��ورية نادر‪ ،‬إن لم نش��أ القول‬ ‫ش��ق منه بالحب‪ .‬الحلفاء‬ ‫إنه منعدم‪ .‬ثمة اكتفاء في ّ‬ ‫الذي��ن يخوضون معارك الوج��ود والمصير‪ .‬الحياة أو‬ ‫الموت‪ .‬مواجهة االحتالل‪ ،‬ومقارعة العدوان‪ .‬التحالف‬ ‫المصي��ري على قاعدة المقاوم��ة ال يتيح رفاهية نقد‬ ‫العالق��ات‪ ،‬وال التفتيش فيها‪ .‬المطاردة من حرب إلى‬

‫غيرها‪ ،‬واالشتباكات الدامية داخلياً وخارجياً تستغرق‬ ‫ش��ق بالبغض‪ .‬العداوات‬ ‫الوقت كله‪ .‬وثمة امتالء في ّ‬ ‫التاريخية المنقولة من قرن إلى آخر‪ .‬من زمان ومكان‪،‬‬ ‫إلى أزمنة الحقة وأمكنة متجولة‪ ،‬س��رعان ما ترتس��م‬ ‫فيه��ا خط��وط مواجهة‪ ،‬واش��تباك‪ ،‬وخ��رق ثم وقف‬ ‫إطالق نار‪ .‬اكتفاء وامتالء‪ ،‬وفي ما بينهما يأتي الفيلم‬ ‫الروائي الطويل «محب��س»‪ ،‬للمخرجة صوفي بطرس‪،‬‬ ‫ليأخذ من الحب والبغض مزيجه غير الس��ام‪ ،‬فيح ّول‬ ‫الصرخة نكتة‪ ،‬والوجع طرفة‪ ،‬والمأس��اة ملهاة‪ .‬يع ّززه‬ ‫األداء المتمكّن لنجومه مع بسام كوسا‪ ،‬وجوليا قصار‪،‬‬ ‫ونادي��ن‪ ،‬وجابر جوخ��دار‪ ،‬وعلي الخلي��ل‪ ...‬ال تهتم‬ ‫بط��رس بالتفتيش بطبيعة العالق��ة التي بدت ناجزة‪،‬‬ ‫وبات تاريخها خلفها‪ .‬الش��اب والفتاة لم يتعارفا في‬ ‫لبنان‪ ،‬بل في دبي‪ .‬انتقال مكاني بعيد‪ ،‬وغير متوقع‪،‬‬ ‫لم يكس��ر قدرية اللق��اء وحتمية العالقة‪ .‬الس��وري‬ ‫واللبناني��ة محكوم��ان بثناي��ات؛ الذك��ورة واألنوثة‪.‬‬ ‫الجالفة والرقّة‪ .‬التحضّ ر والتخلّف‪ .‬هو وهي‪ .‬هل كان‬ ‫يمك��ن أن يك��ون الثاني معكوس��اً؟ ال نظن‪ ،‬فطبيعة‬ ‫الرؤي��ة التي يقدمها الفيلم تنس��ل م��ن ثنايا الصورة‬ ‫النمطية ذاتها‪ .‬وس��لوكيات العائلة الس��ورية على ما‬ ‫فيه��ا من طرافات‪ ،‬يتواله��ا األب‪ ،‬بلوازمه اللفظية أو‬ ‫الحركية‪ ،‬تع ّزز الصورة النمطية‪ ،‬ال تكسرها‪ ،‬بل وحتى‬ ‫ال تساءلها أو تناقشها‪.‬‬ ‫لدس‬ ‫أي محاولة ّ‬ ‫لي��س ثمة ضغينة ف��ي الفيل��م‪ .‬وال ّ‬ ‫السم في العس��ل‪ .‬صحيح أن السوريين ضيوف على‬ ‫الفيلم‪ ،‬كما هم ضيوف على المكان‪ .‬لكن من المؤكد‬ ‫أنهم خارج النص الس��ينمائي‪ ،‬وداخله كذلك‪ ،‬ضيوف‬ ‫ُمرحب بهم‪ .‬وال حيلة لدى الست تيريزا إلظهار المزيد‬ ‫م��ن البغض‪ ،‬لتبدو عل��ى حافة الخب��ل‪ ،‬أحياناً‪ ،‬وهم‬ ‫تح��دث أخيها المقتول بفعلة س��ورية‪ ،‬لم يكن مهماً‬ ‫معرفة طبيعتها‪ .‬ال يريد فيلم «محبس» المحاكمة‪ ،‬بل‬ ‫يريد قول الحكاية‪ ،‬االستشفاء بالقول مقدم ًة للخروج‬ ‫من الـ«محبس» الحقيقي‪ ،‬الذي يعلق فيه السوريون‬ ‫واللبناني��ون منذ قرون من الزم��ان‪ ،‬ولم يعرفوا حتى‬ ‫اآلن درباً للفكاك منه‪.‬‬

‫خمس مشاريع تفوز بجوائز «ملتقى دبي السينمائي»‬ ‫ف��ازت خمس مش��اريع س��ينمائية عربي��ة بجوائز‬ ‫«ملتقى دبي الس��ينمائي»؛ منص��ة «مهرجان دبي‬ ‫الس��ينمائي الدولي» لإلنتاج المش��ترك‪ ،‬التي تقدّر‬ ‫جوائزها اإلجمالية بـ‪ 50‬ألف دوالر‪ ،‬لدعم مشاريعهم‬ ‫الس��ينمائية‪ ،‬وتكوين ش��بكات للتواصل مع الخبراء‬ ‫العالميي��ن في القطاع الس��ينمائي‪ ،‬ولمس��اعدتهم‬ ‫ف��ي إيصال أعمالهم إلى الشاش��ة الكبي��رة‪ .‬اختار‬ ‫«ملتقى دبي الس��ينمائي» خمس��ة من ص ّناع أفالم‬ ‫عرب‪ ،‬من المش��اركين ف��ي الملتقى‪ ،‬للحصول على‬ ‫اعتم��اد مجاني في ش��بكة المنتجين في «مهرجان‬ ‫كان السينمائي»‪ ،‬الفائزون هم‪ :‬المنتجة ديمة عازر‬ ‫عن فيلم «فرحة»‪ ،‬والمنتجة والرا أبو س��عيفان عن‬ ‫فيلم «العائلة الكبرى»‪ ،‬والمنتجة هال الس��لمان عن‬ ‫فيلم «ش��ارع حيف��ا»‪ ،‬والمنتج��ة كارول عبود عن‬ ‫فيلم «الحياة = شوائب س��ينمائية»‪ ،‬والمنتج خالد‬ ‫المحم��ود عن فيل��م «مطلع الش��مس» وهو أيضاً‬ ‫منتج مشروع «آي دبليو سي»‪.‬‬ ‫جوائز «ملتقى دبي السينمائي» ‪2016‬‬ ‫جائ��زة «مهرج��ان دب��ي الس��ينمائي الدولي»‪،‬‬ ‫بقيمة ‪ 12,500‬ألف دوالر‪:‬‬ ‫ •المشروع الفائز‪« :‬العائلة الكبرى»‬ ‫‪4‬‬ ‫ ‬

‫‪12/11/16 10:09 PM‬‬

‫ •المخرج‪ :‬إليان الراهب‬ ‫ •المنتج‪ :‬الرا أبو سعيفان‬ ‫جائ��زة «مهرج��ان دب��ي الس��ينمائي الدولي»‪،‬‬ ‫بقيمة ‪ 12,500‬ألف دوالر‪:‬‬ ‫ •المشروع الفائز‪« :‬ما زالت الجزائر بعيدة»‬ ‫ •المخرج‪ :‬عمر هفاف‬ ‫ •المنتج‪ :‬ماري بلدوشي‬ ‫جائزة «ش��بكة راديو وتلفزيون العرب» (إيه آر‬ ‫تي) بقيمة ‪ 10‬آالف دوالر‪:‬‬ ‫ •المشروع الفائز‪« :‬فرحة»‬

‫ •المخرج‪ :‬دارين ج‪ .‬سالّم‬ ‫ •المنتج‪ :‬ديمة عازر‬ ‫«سيني سكيب»‪ /‬جائزة الصف األول‪ ،‬بقيمة ‪10‬‬ ‫آالف دوالر‪:‬‬ ‫ •المشروع الفائز‪« :‬شارع حيفا»‬ ‫ •المخرج‪ :‬مهند حيال‬ ‫ •المنتج‪ :‬هال السلمان‬ ‫جائ��زة «المنظمة الدولية للفرنكوفونية» بقيمة‬ ‫‪ 5000‬يورو‪:‬‬ ‫ •المشروع الفائز‪« :‬تودا»‬

‫ •المخرج‪ :‬داود أوالد السيد‬ ‫ •المنتج‪ :‬لمياء الشرايبي‬ ‫جائزة الشراكة مع «ترابيكا»‪:‬‬ ‫ •المشروع الفائز‪« :‬شارع حيفا»‬ ‫ •المخرج‪ :‬مهند حيال‬ ‫ •المنتج‪ :‬هال السلمان‬ ‫جائزة «سوفوند»‪:‬‬ ‫ •المشروع الفائز‪« :‬غبار الطفولة»‬ ‫ •المخرج‪ :‬هيام عباس‬ ‫ •المنتج‪ :‬سابين صيداوي‬

‫يف دبي ‪ 12‬ديسمرب ‪2016‬‬

‫‪Screen Issue 5.indd 4‬‬

‫ا‬ ‫خلام‬ ‫س‬

2016 ‫ ديسمرب‬12 ‫اإلثنني‬

‫الي‬ ‫وم‬

‫بالعـــربية‬

‫فـي مهـرجـــان دبــــي السـينـمائي الـدويل‬ www.ScreenDaily.com Editorial lizshackleton@gmail.com

Screen Issue 5.indd 3

Advertising scott.benfold@screendaily.com

12/11/16 10:10 PM

‫الي‬ ‫وم‬ Screen Issue 5.indd 2

12/11/16 10:09 PM

‫ا‬ ‫خلام‬ ‫س‬

2016 ‫ ديسمرب‬12 ‫اإلثنني‬

‫الي‬ ‫وم‬

‫بالعـــربية‬

‫فـي مهـرجـــان دبــــي السـينـمائي الـدويل‬ www.ScreenDaily.com Editorial lizshackleton@gmail.com

Screen Issue 5.indd 1

Advertising scott.benfold@screendaily.com

12/11/16 10:09 PM