This harrowing documentary follows life among starving Palestinians in the Yarmouk camp as Syria’s civil war raged about them
Abdallah Al-Khatib’s searing documentary was completed two years ago; its arrival now has an awful new significance. The film conveys the day-by-day, moment-by-moment experience of Palestinians living in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, known as “Little Palestine”, while it was under siege by the Assad government from 2013 to 2015. This resulted in 181 people dying of hunger and ended when Islamic State took control of the camp. The terror group were themselves driven out by Russian and Syrian forces in 2018, resulting in most of the camp’s destruction.
The slow death from hunger is horrifying. People eat cactus, and then essentially weeds. Al-Khatib’s camera often poignantly lingers on the brave and even cheerful faces of children, but one of the film’s most disturbing moments comes when a little...
Abdallah Al-Khatib’s searing documentary was completed two years ago; its arrival now has an awful new significance. The film conveys the day-by-day, moment-by-moment experience of Palestinians living in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, known as “Little Palestine”, while it was under siege by the Assad government from 2013 to 2015. This resulted in 181 people dying of hunger and ended when Islamic State took control of the camp. The terror group were themselves driven out by Russian and Syrian forces in 2018, resulting in most of the camp’s destruction.
The slow death from hunger is horrifying. People eat cactus, and then essentially weeds. Al-Khatib’s camera often poignantly lingers on the brave and even cheerful faces of children, but one of the film’s most disturbing moments comes when a little...
- 10/26/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Egyptian director Omar El Zohairy’s absurdist social satire “Feathers,” in which the good-for-nothing husband of a woman with three children is turned into a chicken, is the big winner of the sixth edition of the Critics’ Awards for Arab Films.
The biting black comedy, winner of last year’s Cannes Critics’ Week prize, scooped best film, director and screenplay at the prizes organized by Cairo-based Arab Cinema Centre (Acc) and voted on by 167 film critics from 68 countries, who viewed the films on Festival Scope.
Nominees are chosen among Arab-language films that premiered on the festival circuit outside of the Arab world in 2021. The awards were announced on Sunday in Cannes.
“Feathers,” which took six years to get to the big screen, was produced by Juliette Lepoutre from Still Moving (France), in co-production with Mohamed Hefzy’s Film Clinic (Egypt), Shahinaz Al Akkad from Lagoonie Film (Egypt), Derk-Jan Warrink and...
The biting black comedy, winner of last year’s Cannes Critics’ Week prize, scooped best film, director and screenplay at the prizes organized by Cairo-based Arab Cinema Centre (Acc) and voted on by 167 film critics from 68 countries, who viewed the films on Festival Scope.
Nominees are chosen among Arab-language films that premiered on the festival circuit outside of the Arab world in 2021. The awards were announced on Sunday in Cannes.
“Feathers,” which took six years to get to the big screen, was produced by Juliette Lepoutre from Still Moving (France), in co-production with Mohamed Hefzy’s Film Clinic (Egypt), Shahinaz Al Akkad from Lagoonie Film (Egypt), Derk-Jan Warrink and...
- 5/22/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
167 film critics from 68 countries voted on the awards organised by the Arab Cinema Centre.
Egyptian director Omar El Zohairy’s social satire Feathers, which won the top prize at Cannes Critics’ Week last year, has swept the board at the sixth edition of the Critics’ Awards for Arab Films.
The film, which was nominated in four categories, won best film, director and screenplay.
This year’s edition of the awards, spearheaded by the Cairo-based Arab Cinema Centre (Acc), focuses on Arab-language films that premiered on the festival circuit outside of the Arab world in 2021.
It was voted on by 167 film critics from 68 countries,...
Egyptian director Omar El Zohairy’s social satire Feathers, which won the top prize at Cannes Critics’ Week last year, has swept the board at the sixth edition of the Critics’ Awards for Arab Films.
The film, which was nominated in four categories, won best film, director and screenplay.
This year’s edition of the awards, spearheaded by the Cairo-based Arab Cinema Centre (Acc), focuses on Arab-language films that premiered on the festival circuit outside of the Arab world in 2021.
It was voted on by 167 film critics from 68 countries,...
- 5/22/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Past best film awards from the previous five editions include Wajib, Yomeddine and Gaza Mon Amour.
Jordanian director Bassel Ghandour’s The Alleys and Egyptian director Omar El Zohairy’s Feathers lead the nominations in the sixth edition of the Critics Awards for Arab Films.
The films each garnered nominations in four categories, including best film, director and screenplay.
Spearheaded and run by the Cairo-based Arab Cinema Centre (Acc), this edition focused on Arab-language films that premiered on the festival circuit outside of the Arab world in 2021.
It was voted on by 167 film critics from 68 countries, who viewed the films on Festival Scope.
Jordanian director Bassel Ghandour’s The Alleys and Egyptian director Omar El Zohairy’s Feathers lead the nominations in the sixth edition of the Critics Awards for Arab Films.
The films each garnered nominations in four categories, including best film, director and screenplay.
Spearheaded and run by the Cairo-based Arab Cinema Centre (Acc), this edition focused on Arab-language films that premiered on the festival circuit outside of the Arab world in 2021.
It was voted on by 167 film critics from 68 countries, who viewed the films on Festival Scope.
- 5/10/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
At the time of writing, the ongoing conflict in Syria has recently notched up its deadly 11th year, with the Un estimating that well over 350,000 people have been killed. During that time, there has been a steady stream of documentaries outlining the brutal situation in the country but few have been as heartbreaking as this from Abdallah Al-Khatib - made all the more remarkable not only because it was shot from within the siege it documents but because Al-Khatib had never picked up a camera before.
He was one of the residents of the Yarmouk district of Damascus that, until 2018, housed the world's largest Palestinian refuge camp, which, before the conflict, amounted to about 150,000 Palestinians. Then, in 2013, Bashar al-Asad's regime decided the area was a hotbed of radicals and put it under complete siege - a move that would lead to gradual starvation of the populace, with...
He was one of the residents of the Yarmouk district of Damascus that, until 2018, housed the world's largest Palestinian refuge camp, which, before the conflict, amounted to about 150,000 Palestinians. Then, in 2013, Bashar al-Asad's regime decided the area was a hotbed of radicals and put it under complete siege - a move that would lead to gradual starvation of the populace, with...
- 4/30/2022
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Documentaries about the conflict in Ukraine, the Cuban migrant situation and the Palestinian refugee crisis were among top winners at MiradasDoc, Spain’s foremost documentary film festival which wrapped its 15th edition on March 12.
Based in Tenerife, Canary Islands, the festival was an in-person event running March 4-12, while its market (March 8-11) remained virtual for the second consecutive year.
The best international documentary prize went to “Option Zero” (“La Opcion Cero”) by Cuban filmmaker Marcel Beltran while the best debut feature award was extended to “Trenches” by French journalist Loup Bureau who has covered the Arab Spring in Egypt, the Syrian War and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in the Donbas region.
“Trenches” follows the intrepid young men and women who are fighting Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine’s Donbas region. In a video message sent to the festival, Bureau said: “The situation now in Ukraine is still catastrophic and I’ve...
Based in Tenerife, Canary Islands, the festival was an in-person event running March 4-12, while its market (March 8-11) remained virtual for the second consecutive year.
The best international documentary prize went to “Option Zero” (“La Opcion Cero”) by Cuban filmmaker Marcel Beltran while the best debut feature award was extended to “Trenches” by French journalist Loup Bureau who has covered the Arab Spring in Egypt, the Syrian War and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in the Donbas region.
“Trenches” follows the intrepid young men and women who are fighting Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine’s Donbas region. In a video message sent to the festival, Bureau said: “The situation now in Ukraine is still catastrophic and I’ve...
- 3/13/2022
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Our second ever Best West Asian list is a bit smaller than the previous one, which included 20 films, but at least equal in terms of quality and diversity. In that fashion, and although Iran has the lion’s share, movies from Turkey, Georgia, Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, Kazakhstan and Bangladesh are included in a list that also showcases (experimental) documentaries, dramas, comedies, action and everything between.
Without further ado, here are the best West Asian films of 2021, in random order. Some films may have premiered in 2020, but since they mostly circulated in 2021, we decided to include them.
15. Radiograph of A Family
“Radiograph of a Family” is a great documentary that manages to combine artfulness with a very interesting story and a parallel to the history of Iran, through a rather brave approach due to its intimacy. (Panos Kotzathanasis)
14. Hit the Road
Panahi directs his first feature with style and elegance, channeling...
Without further ado, here are the best West Asian films of 2021, in random order. Some films may have premiered in 2020, but since they mostly circulated in 2021, we decided to include them.
15. Radiograph of A Family
“Radiograph of a Family” is a great documentary that manages to combine artfulness with a very interesting story and a parallel to the history of Iran, through a rather brave approach due to its intimacy. (Panos Kotzathanasis)
14. Hit the Road
Panahi directs his first feature with style and elegance, channeling...
- 1/6/2022
- by AMP Group
- AsianMoviePulse
Jury prizes returned this year following a hiatus in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Prize money totalling €125,000 was handed out to 10 films screening in this year’s Filmfest Hamburg (September 30-October 9), which saw jury prizes return following a hiatus in 2020 due to the pandemic.
On Friday evening (October 8) at Hamburg’s producer awards, the jury comprising producer Martina Haubrich and directors Julian Pörksen and Arman T. Riahi presented the producers award for German cinema productions, worth €25,000, to Jonas Weydemann of Weydemann Bros for Sabrina Sarabi’s No One’s With The Calves, which had been screened in the Grosse Freiheit section.
Sarabi...
Prize money totalling €125,000 was handed out to 10 films screening in this year’s Filmfest Hamburg (September 30-October 9), which saw jury prizes return following a hiatus in 2020 due to the pandemic.
On Friday evening (October 8) at Hamburg’s producer awards, the jury comprising producer Martina Haubrich and directors Julian Pörksen and Arman T. Riahi presented the producers award for German cinema productions, worth €25,000, to Jonas Weydemann of Weydemann Bros for Sabrina Sarabi’s No One’s With The Calves, which had been screened in the Grosse Freiheit section.
Sarabi...
- 10/11/2021
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
A movie could be made out of the making of Abdallah Al-Khatib’s heartbreakingly poetic Little Palestine (Diary of a Siege), screening in the Acid program at this year’s Cannes. The film’s title refers to Yarmouk, a district in Damascus that served as the largest Palestinian refugee camp in the world from 1957 until its destruction in 2018. In 2013 the Al-Assad regime set up a siege, depriving Yarmouk’s residents of food, medicine and electricity while haphazardly dropping barrel bombs on what it deemed a rebel stronghold. An accidental filmmaker, Al-Khatib—born and bred in Yarmouk until Isis expelled him in 2015—was a […]
The post “What is Our Duty Today as Viewers?”: Abdallah Al-Khatib on Cannes (Acid program)-Selected Documentary Little Palestine (Diary of a Siege) first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “What is Our Duty Today as Viewers?”: Abdallah Al-Khatib on Cannes (Acid program)-Selected Documentary Little Palestine (Diary of a Siege) first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 7/12/2021
- by Lauren Wissot
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
A movie could be made out of the making of Abdallah Al-Khatib’s heartbreakingly poetic Little Palestine (Diary of a Siege), screening in the Acid program at this year’s Cannes. The film’s title refers to Yarmouk, a district in Damascus that served as the largest Palestinian refugee camp in the world from 1957 until its destruction in 2018. In 2013 the Al-Assad regime set up a siege, depriving Yarmouk’s residents of food, medicine and electricity while haphazardly dropping barrel bombs on what it deemed a rebel stronghold. An accidental filmmaker, Al-Khatib—born and bred in Yarmouk until Isis expelled him in 2015—was a […]
The post “What is Our Duty Today as Viewers?”: Abdallah Al-Khatib on Cannes (Acid program)-Selected Documentary Little Palestine (Diary of a Siege) first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “What is Our Duty Today as Viewers?”: Abdallah Al-Khatib on Cannes (Acid program)-Selected Documentary Little Palestine (Diary of a Siege) first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 7/12/2021
- by Lauren Wissot
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
In one of the biggest deals on titles at this year’s Visions du Réel, Switzerland’s premier documentary festival, Radio Télévision Suisse (Rts), the public broadcasting organization for the French-speaking part of the country, has acquired eleven titles from Visions du Réel’s 2021 selection.
The deal is part of a longstanding partnership between the Swiss doc festival and Rts, which selects around a dozen VdR titles every year.
Some are co-productions under the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation’s pact with the audiovisual industry to increase subsidies for independent Swiss production, including “Radiograph of a Family” by Iranian director Firouzeh Khosrovani.
An IDFA best feature winner, it tells the story of Tayi, who, on her wedding day, marries the photo of Hossein. Joining him in Switzerland, the distance that separates them persists from one country to the other, deepening over the years, and invades the smallest corners of their home.
“The...
The deal is part of a longstanding partnership between the Swiss doc festival and Rts, which selects around a dozen VdR titles every year.
Some are co-productions under the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation’s pact with the audiovisual industry to increase subsidies for independent Swiss production, including “Radiograph of a Family” by Iranian director Firouzeh Khosrovani.
An IDFA best feature winner, it tells the story of Tayi, who, on her wedding day, marries the photo of Hossein. Joining him in Switzerland, the distance that separates them persists from one country to the other, deepening over the years, and invades the smallest corners of their home.
“The...
- 6/14/2021
- by Lise Pedersen
- Variety Film + TV
The lineup for the 2021 Cannes Acid has been announced. See also the full lineups of the Official Selection, Directors' Fortnight and Critics’ Week.AyaFEATURE FILMSAya (Simon Coulibaly Gillard)The Candidate (Thomas Paulot)A Corsican Summer (Pascal Tagnati)Down With The King (Diego Ongaro)Ghost Town (Nicolas Peduzzi)Little Palestine, Diary Of A Siege (Abdallah Al-Khatib)Soy Libre (Laure Portier)Vedette (Claudine Bories, Patrice Chagnard)Venus By The Water (Lin Wan)...
- 6/8/2021
- MUBI
A full picture of the Cannes Film Festival is now coming into focus with the unveiling of the Directors’ Fortnight lineup. Following the Official Selection and the Critics’ Week lineups, this sidebar features Joanna Hogg’s highly-anticipated sequel The Souvenir Part II, as well as new films by Miguel Gomes, Jonas Carpignano, Clio Barnard, Pietro Marcello, Alice Rohrwacher, Matías Piñeiro, and more.
See below.
Features
A Chiara (Jonas Carpignano)
Ali & Ava (Clio Barnard)
Between Two Worlds (Emmanuel Carrère)
The Braves (Anaïs Volpé)
A Brighter Tomorrow (Yassine Qnia)
Clara Sola (Nathalie Álvarez Mesen)
The Employer and the Employee (Manuel Nieto)
Europa (Haider Rashid)
Futura
Întregalde (Radu Muntean)
The Hill where Lionesses Roar (Luàna Bajrami)
Hit the Road (Panah Panahi)
Magnetic Beats (Vincent Cardona)
Medusa (Anita Rocha da Silveira)
Murina (Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović)
Neptune Frost
A Night of Knowing Nothing (Payal Kapadia)
Our Men (Rachel Lang)
Returning to Reims (Fragments) (Jean-Gabriel Périot...
See below.
Features
A Chiara (Jonas Carpignano)
Ali & Ava (Clio Barnard)
Between Two Worlds (Emmanuel Carrère)
The Braves (Anaïs Volpé)
A Brighter Tomorrow (Yassine Qnia)
Clara Sola (Nathalie Álvarez Mesen)
The Employer and the Employee (Manuel Nieto)
Europa (Haider Rashid)
Futura
Întregalde (Radu Muntean)
The Hill where Lionesses Roar (Luàna Bajrami)
Hit the Road (Panah Panahi)
Magnetic Beats (Vincent Cardona)
Medusa (Anita Rocha da Silveira)
Murina (Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović)
Neptune Frost
A Night of Knowing Nothing (Payal Kapadia)
Our Men (Rachel Lang)
Returning to Reims (Fragments) (Jean-Gabriel Périot...
- 6/8/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Past attendees include Oscar-nominated Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, Berlinale Golden Bear winner Radu Jude.
France’s Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema (Acid) has unveiled the nine independent features it will be showcasing in its parallel Cannes section this July.
International features include Belgium-based director Simon Coulibaly Gillard’s debut feature Aya. It revolves around a young girl whose life in a coastal village in the southern Ivory Coast is threatened by rising sea waters.
The selection also features Syria-born Palestinian filmmaker Abdullah Al Khateeb’s documentary Little Palestine, Diary Of A Siege about life in the Palestinian...
France’s Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema (Acid) has unveiled the nine independent features it will be showcasing in its parallel Cannes section this July.
International features include Belgium-based director Simon Coulibaly Gillard’s debut feature Aya. It revolves around a young girl whose life in a coastal village in the southern Ivory Coast is threatened by rising sea waters.
The selection also features Syria-born Palestinian filmmaker Abdullah Al Khateeb’s documentary Little Palestine, Diary Of A Siege about life in the Palestinian...
- 6/8/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.