Mohamed Kordofani’s Goodbye Julia and Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters lead the nominations for the 8th Critics Awards for Arab Films, which will be held during the upcoming Cannes Film Festival.
Both features picked up seven nominations apiece for the awards, focused on Arab films that were produced and premiered outside of the Arab world in 2023. Overseen and run by the Cairo-based Arab Cinema Centre (Acc), it was voted on by 209 critics from 72 countries and the winners will be announced during Cannes on May 18.
Scroll down for full list of nominations
This year’s nominees range from Sudan,...
Both features picked up seven nominations apiece for the awards, focused on Arab films that were produced and premiered outside of the Arab world in 2023. Overseen and run by the Cairo-based Arab Cinema Centre (Acc), it was voted on by 209 critics from 72 countries and the winners will be announced during Cannes on May 18.
Scroll down for full list of nominations
This year’s nominees range from Sudan,...
- 4/25/2024
- ScreenDaily
‘Four Daughters’ & ‘Goodbye Julia’ Lead Nominations For 8th Edition Of Critics Awards For Arab Films
Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania’s Oscar-nominated documentary Four Daughters and Sudanese director Mohamed Kordofani’s Lupita Nyong’o-EPed drama Goodbye Julia lead the nominations in the eighth edition of the Critics Awards for Arab Films.
Hybrid work Four Daughters, exploring the story of a real-life Tunisian mother who lost two of her daughters to Isis after they were radicalized by a local preacher, world premiered in Competition in Cannes last year.
The film won Cannes’ Golden Eye for Best Documentary and also went on to be nominated for Best Documentary at the 2024 Academy Awards.
Kordofani’s Khartoum-set drama Goodbye Julia was also at Cannes in 2023, making history as the first Sudanese film to play in the festival across its 76 editions, with a debut in Un Certain Regard. It represented Sudan at in the 2023-24 Oscar race but was not nominated.
Set against the backdrop of the 2011 South Sudan Independence referendum,...
Hybrid work Four Daughters, exploring the story of a real-life Tunisian mother who lost two of her daughters to Isis after they were radicalized by a local preacher, world premiered in Competition in Cannes last year.
The film won Cannes’ Golden Eye for Best Documentary and also went on to be nominated for Best Documentary at the 2024 Academy Awards.
Kordofani’s Khartoum-set drama Goodbye Julia was also at Cannes in 2023, making history as the first Sudanese film to play in the festival across its 76 editions, with a debut in Un Certain Regard. It represented Sudan at in the 2023-24 Oscar race but was not nominated.
Set against the backdrop of the 2011 South Sudan Independence referendum,...
- 4/25/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Last year, the Cannes Film Festival crowds screened its first ever Jordanian film, and simultaneously, the debut of director Amjad Al Rasheed. Inshallah A Boy is about the hypocrisy of vultures in times of grief, the societal constraints of a widow in a tight spot, and the resulting defiant struggle. In modern-day Jordan, Nawal (Mouna Hawa) wakes up to a dead husband. The sympathetic sentiments of those around her come with conditions, mainly, her late husband's brother insisting on an unsettled debt and claiming half the inheritance. It is his lawful right, as Nawal only has one young daughter and no male heirs. Half of the house is Rifqi's (Haitham Alomari). Nawal pushes back against the ridiculousness and injustice of dividing a house; it would...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 1/13/2024
- Screen Anarchy
We don’t want to overwhelm you, but while you’re catching up with our top 50 films of 2023, more cinematic greatness awaits in 2024. Ahead of our 100 most-anticipated films (all of which have yet to premiere), we’re highlighting 30 titles we’ve enjoyed on the festival circuit this last year that either have confirmed 2024 release dates or await a debut date from its distributor. There’s also a handful of films seeking distribution that we hope will arrive in the next 12 months, as can be seen here.
As an additional note, a number of 2023 films that had one-week qualifying runs will also get expanded releases in 2023, including Origin (Jan. 19), Tótem (Jan. 26), Perfect Days (Feb. 7), The Taste of Things (Feb. 9), About Dry Grasses (Feb. 23), Shayda (March 1), La Chimera (March 29), and Robot Dreams.
The Settlers (Felipe Gálvez; Jan. 12)
The barbaric, bloody sins of the past come to define what entities govern certain land today,...
As an additional note, a number of 2023 films that had one-week qualifying runs will also get expanded releases in 2023, including Origin (Jan. 19), Tótem (Jan. 26), Perfect Days (Feb. 7), The Taste of Things (Feb. 9), About Dry Grasses (Feb. 23), Shayda (March 1), La Chimera (March 29), and Robot Dreams.
The Settlers (Felipe Gálvez; Jan. 12)
The barbaric, bloody sins of the past come to define what entities govern certain land today,...
- 1/3/2024
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Happy New Year! As we continue to wrap up 2023 in cinema, we’re also looking toward what awaits in 2024. Ahead of more expansive 2024 previews, we’re taking an in-depth look at this first month of the year. We should also note that a batch of December favorites will continue to expand, including All of Us Strangers, The Zone of Interest, The Sweet East, and American Fiction.
10. Mambar Pierrette (Rosine Mbakam; Jan. 26)
A selection from Cannes, NYFF, and TIFF, Rosine Mbakam’s narrative feature debut will begin its U.S. run at Anthology Film Archives this month. Edward Frumkin said in his NYFF review, “Cameroonian filmmaker Rosine Mbakam uses familiar spaces as microcosms of society. After capturing her subjects in one setting, such as a mall in Chez Jolie Coiffure (2018) and the protagonist’s home in Delphine’s Prayers (2021), her narrative-feature debut Mambar Pierrette foregrounds the eponymous tailor and love for...
10. Mambar Pierrette (Rosine Mbakam; Jan. 26)
A selection from Cannes, NYFF, and TIFF, Rosine Mbakam’s narrative feature debut will begin its U.S. run at Anthology Film Archives this month. Edward Frumkin said in his NYFF review, “Cameroonian filmmaker Rosine Mbakam uses familiar spaces as microcosms of society. After capturing her subjects in one setting, such as a mall in Chez Jolie Coiffure (2018) and the protagonist’s home in Delphine’s Prayers (2021), her narrative-feature debut Mambar Pierrette foregrounds the eponymous tailor and love for...
- 1/2/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
"This is my house and I'm not selling it!" Greenwich Entertainment has revealed an official US trailer for an indie drama from the country of Jordan called Inshallah a Boy, the acclaimed feature directorial debut of Jordanian filmmaker Amjad Al Rasheed. It first premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival in the Critics' Week sidebar, also playing at the TIFF, London, Montclair, Thessaloniki, Stockholm Film Fests. Inshallah a Boy (which translates to "God willing a boy") is about Jordan's inheritance culture under which women are pressured to relinquish their rights to any property to male relatives. A widow named Nawal pretends to be pregnant with a son in order to save her daughter and home from a relative exploiting Jordan's patriarchal inheritance laws. It is also Jordan's official submission for Best International Film at the Academy Awards this year. Mouna Hawa stars as Nawal, joined by Haitham Omari, Yumna Marwan, Salwa Nakkara,...
- 12/17/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
When a man dies, intones the leader of a women’s wake, the light goes from the home. Nawal (Mouna Hawa), who has woken to find her increasingly tired husband Adnan has died in the night, bows her head with her accustomed piety as her very existence is erased by this prolonged eulogy to the man who is gone.
She still is here caring for their daughter, working long hours in a wealthy house as a nurse to an elderly woman with advanced dementia and maintaining a welcoming home in the flat they bought and were paying off together, using her inheritance as a deposit. That life isn’t mentioned, however. Nawal’s primary duty is to “safeguard the reputation” of her husband by staying inside for four months and 10 days. And if that is impossible, not to be outside the house after dark. “The devils roam the world after sunset,...
She still is here caring for their daughter, working long hours in a wealthy house as a nurse to an elderly woman with advanced dementia and maintaining a welcoming home in the flat they bought and were paying off together, using her inheritance as a deposit. That life isn’t mentioned, however. Nawal’s primary duty is to “safeguard the reputation” of her husband by staying inside for four months and 10 days. And if that is impossible, not to be outside the house after dark. “The devils roam the world after sunset,...
- 12/15/2023
- by Stephanie Bunbury
- Deadline Film + TV
he Red Sea International Film Festival (Red Sea Iff) marked the closing of its third edition with a screening of Micheal Mann's Ferrari, a Red Sea International Film Financing project, and revealed the winners of its highly anticipated Yusr Awards. The festival also welcomed Hollywood icon Nicolas Cage, receiving a Red Sea Honoree award, and joining the 2023 Honoree line-up of Diane Kruger, Ranveer Singh, and Abdullah Al-Sadhan. Kristoffer Borgli's comedy horror Dream Scenario, starring Nicolas Cage, will screen as the Final Festival Gala on Saturday 9th December.
Two juries deliberated to finally select winners across 14 categories; led by Jury President Baz Luhrmann. Seventeen films in competition, as well as 23 shorts, were in the running for the coveted awards.
The festival this year celebrated its biggest year yet in terms of attendance – welcoming almost 6,000 accredited guests and selling more than 40,000 tickets across all screenings and In Conversations.
The Closing Ceremony...
Two juries deliberated to finally select winners across 14 categories; led by Jury President Baz Luhrmann. Seventeen films in competition, as well as 23 shorts, were in the running for the coveted awards.
The festival this year celebrated its biggest year yet in terms of attendance – welcoming almost 6,000 accredited guests and selling more than 40,000 tickets across all screenings and In Conversations.
The Closing Ceremony...
- 12/8/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Oscar winner Nicholas Cage received a Red Sea Honouree award
Zarrar Kahn’s Karachi-set thriller In Flames won the $100,000 Golden Yusr award for best feature film at the 2023 Red Sea International Film Festival, which announced its winners on Thursday evening (December 7).
A Canada-Pakistan co-production and Pakistan’s entry to the Oscars, In Flames is the story of a mother and daughter trying to survive after losing the family patriarch. It world premiered in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight.
Indian production Dear Jassi, directed by Tarsem Singh, won the $30,000 Silver Yusr. Based on the true story of an Indian couple who fell foul of the class system,...
Zarrar Kahn’s Karachi-set thriller In Flames won the $100,000 Golden Yusr award for best feature film at the 2023 Red Sea International Film Festival, which announced its winners on Thursday evening (December 7).
A Canada-Pakistan co-production and Pakistan’s entry to the Oscars, In Flames is the story of a mother and daughter trying to survive after losing the family patriarch. It world premiered in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight.
Indian production Dear Jassi, directed by Tarsem Singh, won the $30,000 Silver Yusr. Based on the true story of an Indian couple who fell foul of the class system,...
- 12/8/2023
- by Mona Sheded
- ScreenDaily
The third annual Red Sea Film Festival handed out its Yusr Awards on Thursday night, with Zarrar Kahn’s In Flames taking Best Feature and Farah Nabulsi’s The Teacher scoring a pair of wins including Best Actor for Saleh Bakri. See the full list below.
Elvis director and two-time Oscar nominee Baz Luhrmann headed the Rea Sea jury, which handed out awards in 17 categories.
The Saudi Arabian fest also gave a Red Sea Honorary Award to Nicolas Cage. The Oscar winner, whose Dream Scenario will close the festival on December 9, joined fellow 2023 honorees Diane Kruger, Ranveer Singh and Abdullah Al-Sadhan.
“Over the past eight days, we have welcomed the world to Jeddah and celebrated this vibrant global film community together – with a goal of bridging cultures and creating new ties,” said Jomana Al-Rashid, Chairwoman of the Red Sea Film Foundation. “We’ve done that with over 125 films from Saudi Arabia,...
Elvis director and two-time Oscar nominee Baz Luhrmann headed the Rea Sea jury, which handed out awards in 17 categories.
The Saudi Arabian fest also gave a Red Sea Honorary Award to Nicolas Cage. The Oscar winner, whose Dream Scenario will close the festival on December 9, joined fellow 2023 honorees Diane Kruger, Ranveer Singh and Abdullah Al-Sadhan.
“Over the past eight days, we have welcomed the world to Jeddah and celebrated this vibrant global film community together – with a goal of bridging cultures and creating new ties,” said Jomana Al-Rashid, Chairwoman of the Red Sea Film Foundation. “We’ve done that with over 125 films from Saudi Arabia,...
- 12/7/2023
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
At the closing ceremony of the 3rd edition of the Red Sea Film Festival Thursday, which took place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in front of an audience that included Hollywood stars Nicolas Cage, Gwyneth Paltrow, Halle Berry, Jason Statham and Adrien Brody, the Golden Yusr for best film and a $100,000 cash prize went to Pakistani-Canadian horror film “In Flames,” directed by Zarrar Kahn.
The director said that the indie movie was shot for “just $300,000 — the size of a Red Sea Fund production grant.” He urged “everyone who gets a grant to go make a movie, because this was made for nothing.”
The Silver Yusr prize for best feature film went to Tarsem Singh for “Dear Jassi.” The film, an India/Canada/U.S. co-production, is based on the true story of a Canadian Punjabi woman who ran afoul of her family’s expectations when she chose to marry a working-class...
The director said that the indie movie was shot for “just $300,000 — the size of a Red Sea Fund production grant.” He urged “everyone who gets a grant to go make a movie, because this was made for nothing.”
The Silver Yusr prize for best feature film went to Tarsem Singh for “Dear Jassi.” The film, an India/Canada/U.S. co-production, is based on the true story of a Canadian Punjabi woman who ran afoul of her family’s expectations when she chose to marry a working-class...
- 12/7/2023
- by Nick Holdsworth
- Variety Film + TV
Zarrar Khan’s In Flames has picked up the Yusr Award for best competition film at the third edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The festival, which attracted such Hollywood stars as Will Smith, Johnny Depp, Chris Hemsworth and Sharon Stone, on Thursday evening unveiled the winners of its Red Sea competition honors, the so-called Yusr awards, as well as other prizes.
Khan’s Pakistani-Canadian horror pic that bowed in Cannes portrays a mother and daughter having to navigate loss, oppression and vulnerability after the death of the family patriarch. The debut feature is rendered as a ghost story as they must find strength in each other if they are to survive the malevolent forces that threaten to engulf them.
The Silver Yusr award for best feature went to Tarsem Singh’s modern day tragic drama Dear Jassi, which bowed in Toronto, where it won the 2023 Platform Prize.
The festival, which attracted such Hollywood stars as Will Smith, Johnny Depp, Chris Hemsworth and Sharon Stone, on Thursday evening unveiled the winners of its Red Sea competition honors, the so-called Yusr awards, as well as other prizes.
Khan’s Pakistani-Canadian horror pic that bowed in Cannes portrays a mother and daughter having to navigate loss, oppression and vulnerability after the death of the family patriarch. The debut feature is rendered as a ghost story as they must find strength in each other if they are to survive the malevolent forces that threaten to engulf them.
The Silver Yusr award for best feature went to Tarsem Singh’s modern day tragic drama Dear Jassi, which bowed in Toronto, where it won the 2023 Platform Prize.
- 12/7/2023
- by Georg Szalai and Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Italy, Scandinavia, Australia-New Zealand all jump in on the film.
Amjad Al Rasheed’s Jordanian drama Inshallah A Boy has sealed several additional territory deals ahead of its Arab premiere in the Red Sea Competition at Red Sea Film Festival today (Saturday December 2).
The film has sold to Italy (Satine), Scandinavia (Angel Film), Australia-New Zealand (Palace), Benelux (Arti film), Switzerland (Trigon), Eastern Europe (HBO Europe) and Indonesia (Falcon).
Greenwich Entertainment acquired US distribution rights on the film in August; the film had its world premiere in Critics’ Week at Cannes in May and North American launch at Toronto in September.
Amjad Al Rasheed’s Jordanian drama Inshallah A Boy has sealed several additional territory deals ahead of its Arab premiere in the Red Sea Competition at Red Sea Film Festival today (Saturday December 2).
The film has sold to Italy (Satine), Scandinavia (Angel Film), Australia-New Zealand (Palace), Benelux (Arti film), Switzerland (Trigon), Eastern Europe (HBO Europe) and Indonesia (Falcon).
Greenwich Entertainment acquired US distribution rights on the film in August; the film had its world premiere in Critics’ Week at Cannes in May and North American launch at Toronto in September.
- 12/2/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
In Inshallah a Boy, a new film from Jordan, a young mother faces some grueling events. It’s set around the bustling capitol, Amman, a place where temperatures are rarely low. One morning, Nawal (Mouna Hawa) goes to wake her husband but finds him lifeless. She soon learns she is set to inherit their house and his truck, but also four overdue payments for the vehicle. The money is owed to the man’s brother, Rifqi (Haitham Omari), who, benefiting from the country’s Sharia inheritance system, can also claim a slice of Nawal’s home. To make matters worse, it transpires that her husband hasn’t been working in weeks and Nawal’s income won’t come close to cutting it. Our hero has two options: sell the truck and pay the debt or convince them all that she’s pregnant with a boy.
If that all sounds like...
If that all sounds like...
- 11/28/2023
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
Sofia Exarchou’s “Animal” won the Golden Alexander at the 64th Thessaloniki Film Festival on Sunday, marking the first time in 30 years that a Greek film took home the top honors at the country’s longest-running film event.
Exarchou’s sophomore feature, which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival, was praised by Variety’s Jessica Kiang as “a poignant portrait of life amid the sequins and the seediness of a Greek resort.” The film follows a group of entertainers at an all-inclusive island resort preparing for the busy tourist season who are forced to wrestle with the dark reality that the show must go on as the sultry Mediterranean nights turn violent.
Lead actor Dimitra Vlagopoulou, who won the acting award at the prestigious Swiss fest for what Kiang called a “riveting” performance, also shared the award for best actress in Thessaloniki. The awards were handed out by a jury comprised of producer Diana Elbaum,...
Exarchou’s sophomore feature, which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival, was praised by Variety’s Jessica Kiang as “a poignant portrait of life amid the sequins and the seediness of a Greek resort.” The film follows a group of entertainers at an all-inclusive island resort preparing for the busy tourist season who are forced to wrestle with the dark reality that the show must go on as the sultry Mediterranean nights turn violent.
Lead actor Dimitra Vlagopoulou, who won the acting award at the prestigious Swiss fest for what Kiang called a “riveting” performance, also shared the award for best actress in Thessaloniki. The awards were handed out by a jury comprised of producer Diana Elbaum,...
- 11/12/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Winner of the Gan Foundation Award and the Rail d'Or Award for Best Feature Film in Cannes, “Inshallah A Boy” is also Jordan's official submission for the 96th Academy Awards. Rasheed took inspiration from a law in Jordan, where if a woman loses her husband and doesn't have a son, part of the inheritance goes to her in-laws.
“Inshallah A Boy“ is screening at Thessaloniki International Film Festival
This is exactly the situation Nawal, a nurse who takes care of an incapacitated old woman for a living, finds herself in, when her husband dies during his sleep, without leaving a will. Her and her little daughter have to face her husband's brother, Rifqi, who essentially wants to take their home from them and sell it, under the aforementioned law. Her only means to avoid losing her home and even the custody of her daughter is to give birth to a son.
“Inshallah A Boy“ is screening at Thessaloniki International Film Festival
This is exactly the situation Nawal, a nurse who takes care of an incapacitated old woman for a living, finds herself in, when her husband dies during his sleep, without leaving a will. Her and her little daughter have to face her husband's brother, Rifqi, who essentially wants to take their home from them and sell it, under the aforementioned law. Her only means to avoid losing her home and even the custody of her daughter is to give birth to a son.
- 11/8/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Two Japanese films take top honours, while Korean films ’Past Lives’ and ’Riceboy Sleeps’ are also awarded.
Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days took the best film prize at the 16th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa) today (November 3), while Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist won the jury grand prize.
The two Japanese films were honoured in a ceremony held for 250 people from 20 countries at the Home of the Arts on Queensland’s Gold Coast.
Perfect Days, which debuted in competition at Cannes this year, is Japan’s submission to the 2024 Academy Awards. The film, about finding beauty in the everyday world around us,...
Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days took the best film prize at the 16th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa) today (November 3), while Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist won the jury grand prize.
The two Japanese films were honoured in a ceremony held for 250 people from 20 countries at the Home of the Arts on Queensland’s Gold Coast.
Perfect Days, which debuted in competition at Cannes this year, is Japan’s submission to the 2024 Academy Awards. The film, about finding beauty in the everyday world around us,...
- 11/3/2023
- by Sandy George
- ScreenDaily
Japan has dominated this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa), with German filmmaker Wim Wenders’ latest Tokyo-set pic and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car follow-up taking the top prizes.
Wenders’ Cannes competition title Perfect Days won Apsa’s Best Film award, while Hamaguchi’s enigmatic Venice title Evil Does Not Exist nabbed the Jury Grand Prize this evening at the Australian ceremony.
“It is with great pleasure and pride that my Japanese producers Takuma Takasaki and Koji Yanai and myself received the news that our film Perfect Days was awarded Best Picture at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards,” Wenders said, accepting the award via video message.
He added: “Wow, what an honor. Especially for a German director. The film was, in many ways, a dream come true for all of us, especially the fact that nobody less than the great Koji Yakusho played the leading role, the humble public servant,...
Wenders’ Cannes competition title Perfect Days won Apsa’s Best Film award, while Hamaguchi’s enigmatic Venice title Evil Does Not Exist nabbed the Jury Grand Prize this evening at the Australian ceremony.
“It is with great pleasure and pride that my Japanese producers Takuma Takasaki and Koji Yanai and myself received the news that our film Perfect Days was awarded Best Picture at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards,” Wenders said, accepting the award via video message.
He added: “Wow, what an honor. Especially for a German director. The film was, in many ways, a dream come true for all of us, especially the fact that nobody less than the great Koji Yakusho played the leading role, the humble public servant,...
- 11/3/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
At the memorial gathering for her husband Adnan, 30-year-old Nawal (a riveting Mouna Hawa) is offered many empty words of support and so-called comfort by friends and family. “When a woman loses her husband, she loses her lover, her partner, everything in her life,” clucks a commiserating neighbor. What she fails to mention is how much is not lost, but can, under the Jordanian legal system so scathingly exposed in Amjad Al Rasheed’s fluid, gripping “Inshallah a Boy,” be taken. Employment, home, child, dignity – all can be summarily stripped from a widow who has committed the grievous crime of never having borne a son.
Al Rasheed’s precision-tooled movie is a social-realist drama rendered as an escape thriller where the labyrinth that Nawal must navigate is the Jordanian social order itself, a massive bureaucratic, patriarchal maze designed to ensure that any woman trying to evade its clutches will batter...
Al Rasheed’s precision-tooled movie is a social-realist drama rendered as an escape thriller where the labyrinth that Nawal must navigate is the Jordanian social order itself, a massive bureaucratic, patriarchal maze designed to ensure that any woman trying to evade its clutches will batter...
- 10/7/2023
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Japan heads the nominations, followed by China.
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist heads the nominations for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, with nods in four categories including best film, best director, best screenplay and best cinematography.
The Japanese feature premiered at Venice where it picked up both the jury and Fipresci prize, and centres on a father and daughter in a rural village, whose peaceful lives are disrupted by proposals to build a camping site in their area.
Hamaguchi’s latest film, following Oscar-winner Drive My Car, was just ahead of China’s Snow Leopard by the late Tibetan director Pema Tseden,...
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist heads the nominations for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, with nods in four categories including best film, best director, best screenplay and best cinematography.
The Japanese feature premiered at Venice where it picked up both the jury and Fipresci prize, and centres on a father and daughter in a rural village, whose peaceful lives are disrupted by proposals to build a camping site in their area.
Hamaguchi’s latest film, following Oscar-winner Drive My Car, was just ahead of China’s Snow Leopard by the late Tibetan director Pema Tseden,...
- 10/3/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s latest feature, Evil Does Not Exist, leads this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa) with four nods, including the gong for Best Film.
Hamaguchi’s nominations haul includes Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography for Yoshio Kitagawa. The film is Hamaguchi’s first film since his Oscar-winning Drive My Car and debuted at this year’s Venice Film Festival. The pic follows Takumi and his daughter Hana, who live in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. Like generations before them, they live a modest life according to the cycles and order of nature. A plan to construct a glamping site near Takumi’s house, offering city residents a comfortable “escape” to nature, threatens to endanger the ecological balance of the area and the local people’s way of life.
Also nominated in the Best Film category are Wim Wenders’s Perfect Days, Snow Leopard by Pema Tseden,...
Hamaguchi’s nominations haul includes Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography for Yoshio Kitagawa. The film is Hamaguchi’s first film since his Oscar-winning Drive My Car and debuted at this year’s Venice Film Festival. The pic follows Takumi and his daughter Hana, who live in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. Like generations before them, they live a modest life according to the cycles and order of nature. A plan to construct a glamping site near Takumi’s house, offering city residents a comfortable “escape” to nature, threatens to endanger the ecological balance of the area and the local people’s way of life.
Also nominated in the Best Film category are Wim Wenders’s Perfect Days, Snow Leopard by Pema Tseden,...
- 10/3/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Nawal (Mouna Hawa) and Nora (Seleena Rababah). Amjad Al Rasheed: 'I love casting. I love to choose the right actor for the right character' Amjad Al Rasheed’s debut Inshallah A Boy follows mum Nawal (Mouna Hawa) as she find herself stripped of her rights after the sudden death of her husband. As she tries to stay strong for her young daughter Nora (Seleena Rababah), in the face of legal action from his family, she also becomes involved in helping a woman from the rich family where she works as a carer embark on a dangerous plan. The result is a social drama with a strong feminist streak that gradually ratchets up the tension. We caught up with Al Rasheed shortly after the film became the first Jordanian film to Cannes Film Festival to talk about its themes and the challenges of a first feature.
Can you start by...
Can you start by...
- 6/9/2023
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Text written on June 6, 2023 by Jean-Marc Thérouanne
Asia in the juries :
Franco-Afghan writer and director Atiq Rahimi was the only Asian member of the prestigious jury at the 76th Cannes Film Festival
Fench-Cambodian director Davy Chou was the only Asia-related member of the Un Certain Regard jury
Davy Chou
Shlomi Elkabetz was the only member of the short film jury and the Cinef with a connection to geographical Asia.
Asia in the selections:
Asia, from the Near to the Far East, was present with 31 features and 13 shorts in all the official and parallel sections of the 76th Cannes Film Festival.
In compétition :
– China: Youth (Spring) by Wang Bing
– Japan: Monster by Kore-eda Hirokazu,
Kim Dong-ho, Hirokazu Koreeda
– Turkey: About Dry Grasses by Nuri Bilge Ceylan,
and The Pot-au-feu by French-Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung and Wim Wenders' Perfect Days, set in Japan.
Out of compétition :
– Korea: Cobweb by Kim Jee-won,...
Asia in the juries :
Franco-Afghan writer and director Atiq Rahimi was the only Asian member of the prestigious jury at the 76th Cannes Film Festival
Fench-Cambodian director Davy Chou was the only Asia-related member of the Un Certain Regard jury
Davy Chou
Shlomi Elkabetz was the only member of the short film jury and the Cinef with a connection to geographical Asia.
Asia in the selections:
Asia, from the Near to the Far East, was present with 31 features and 13 shorts in all the official and parallel sections of the 76th Cannes Film Festival.
In compétition :
– China: Youth (Spring) by Wang Bing
– Japan: Monster by Kore-eda Hirokazu,
Kim Dong-ho, Hirokazu Koreeda
– Turkey: About Dry Grasses by Nuri Bilge Ceylan,
and The Pot-au-feu by French-Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung and Wim Wenders' Perfect Days, set in Japan.
Out of compétition :
– Korea: Cobweb by Kim Jee-won,...
- 6/7/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Amanda Nell Eu’s debut feature wins sidebar’s €10,000 grand prize.
Malaysian director Amanda Nell Eu’s art horror Tiger Stripes won the top €10,000 grand prize of the 62nd edition of Cannes’ Critics Week sidebar.
Nell Eu’s debut feature explores themes of metamorphosis and rebellion in her film about a teenage girl whose body begins to morph at an alarming rate as she learns to embrace her true self. The film is a multi-territory co-production between Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Indonesia and Qatar.
Screen’s review said the film “truly growls in its depiction of the...
Malaysian director Amanda Nell Eu’s art horror Tiger Stripes won the top €10,000 grand prize of the 62nd edition of Cannes’ Critics Week sidebar.
Nell Eu’s debut feature explores themes of metamorphosis and rebellion in her film about a teenage girl whose body begins to morph at an alarming rate as she learns to embrace her true self. The film is a multi-territory co-production between Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Indonesia and Qatar.
Screen’s review said the film “truly growls in its depiction of the...
- 5/24/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
The injustices of Jordanian’s patriarchal power system are laid bare through this story of a widow, Nawal (Mouna Hawa), and her young daughter Nora (Seleena Rababah). Although this is the first film from Jordan to feature in Cannes, it is the latest of many films from the region - including the likes of The Perfect Candidate, The Salesman and Beauty And The Dogs - to highlight gender inequalities through social drama.
Nawal and her husband Ahmad (Mohammad Al Jizawi) are trying for a second child when disaster strikes and one morning he simply doesn’t wake up. Although everyone initially seems to be sympathetic, it’s not long before cracks begin to show in the concerned facade of Ahmad’s brother Rifqi (Haitham Omari), as he starts to badger Nawal for instalments he was owed by Ahmad for his pickup truck.
This is the thin end of the wedge of Nawal’s problems,...
Nawal and her husband Ahmad (Mohammad Al Jizawi) are trying for a second child when disaster strikes and one morning he simply doesn’t wake up. Although everyone initially seems to be sympathetic, it’s not long before cracks begin to show in the concerned facade of Ahmad’s brother Rifqi (Haitham Omari), as he starts to badger Nawal for instalments he was owed by Ahmad for his pickup truck.
This is the thin end of the wedge of Nawal’s problems,...
- 5/18/2023
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
In “Inshallah a Boy,” selected for Cannes’ Critics Week, women talk about sex and pregnancy. They also address misogyny and social injustice. But most of all, they say no.
“The main idea was to talk about a woman who refuses something that’s considered normal in her society,” points out director Amjad Al Rasheed, celebrating his feature debut.
In the Jordan-set film, Nawal (Mouna Hawa), after her husband’s sudden death, finds out that according to local inheritance law, and because she “only” gave birth to a daughter, his family might be entitled to everything she owns, including her home. Out of options, she pretends to be pregnant again.
Despite its Cannes premiere — and his previous win at Venice’s Final Cut — Al Rasheed remains cautious when discussing the film’s future reception at home.
“I can’t predict people’s reactions, but I am going to be honest: there...
“The main idea was to talk about a woman who refuses something that’s considered normal in her society,” points out director Amjad Al Rasheed, celebrating his feature debut.
In the Jordan-set film, Nawal (Mouna Hawa), after her husband’s sudden death, finds out that according to local inheritance law, and because she “only” gave birth to a daughter, his family might be entitled to everything she owns, including her home. Out of options, she pretends to be pregnant again.
Despite its Cannes premiere — and his previous win at Venice’s Final Cut — Al Rasheed remains cautious when discussing the film’s future reception at home.
“I can’t predict people’s reactions, but I am going to be honest: there...
- 5/18/2023
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Part of a large wave of Arab cinema covering all sections of this year’s Cannes Film Festival we find the first-ever Jordanian feature. Set to compete in the Critics’ Week section we find Amjad Al Rasheed‘s Inshallah a Boy – a tale featuring a young mother and new widow named Nawal (Mouna Hawa), who must fight for her part of the inheritance in order to save her daughter and home in a society where having a son would be a game changer. In the featured clip below we find a tricky conversation about what is ethical is the face of a brother-in-law who wants his shared of what he feels is righteously his – the law is there to back his non-negotiable stance.…...
- 5/15/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Cannes Critics’ Week, a parallel film festival sidebar selected by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics, has unveiled its 2023 selection of 11 features, including seven competition titles and four special screenings.
The section focuses on first and second features from emerging directors. The 62nd edition runs alongside the main Cannes festival May 17-25.
This year’s competition lineup includes two Asian horror movies: the Korean horror film Sleep (Jam) from first-time director, and former Bong Joon Ho assistant, Jason Yu, and Tiger Stripes from Malaysian director Amanda Eu. The former features Parasite star Lee Sun-kyun and Train to Busan‘s Jung Yu-mi as newlyweds whose lives descend into horror triggered by the husband’s strange behavior while asleep. Tiger Stripes, which draws inspiration from Southeast Asian folklore, is a coming-of-age tale about a 12-year-old girl whose body starts to change in alarming and horrifying ways as she hits puberty.
Physical changes...
The section focuses on first and second features from emerging directors. The 62nd edition runs alongside the main Cannes festival May 17-25.
This year’s competition lineup includes two Asian horror movies: the Korean horror film Sleep (Jam) from first-time director, and former Bong Joon Ho assistant, Jason Yu, and Tiger Stripes from Malaysian director Amanda Eu. The former features Parasite star Lee Sun-kyun and Train to Busan‘s Jung Yu-mi as newlyweds whose lives descend into horror triggered by the husband’s strange behavior while asleep. Tiger Stripes, which draws inspiration from Southeast Asian folklore, is a coming-of-age tale about a 12-year-old girl whose body starts to change in alarming and horrifying ways as she hits puberty.
Physical changes...
- 4/17/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Sidebar devoted to first and second films runs May 17-25.
Cannes Critics’ Week, the sidebar devoted to first and second films, has unveiled the selection for its 62nd edition running May 17-25.
Scroll down for full list of titles
A selection committee led by Ava Cahen, now in her second year in the position, chose 11 titles from 1,000 films screened and seven were selected for the competition.
All of the films in selection are world premieres. Seven are first films that will vie for the Camera d’Or and six are directed by women, including four of the seven films in competition.
Cannes Critics’ Week, the sidebar devoted to first and second films, has unveiled the selection for its 62nd edition running May 17-25.
Scroll down for full list of titles
A selection committee led by Ava Cahen, now in her second year in the position, chose 11 titles from 1,000 films screened and seven were selected for the competition.
All of the films in selection are world premieres. Seven are first films that will vie for the Camera d’Or and six are directed by women, including four of the seven films in competition.
- 4/17/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
Cannes Critics’ Week has announced the selection for its 62nd edition, running from May 17 to 25.
The parallel Cannes section will screen 11 features, seven in competition, and four as special screenings, selected from 1,000 submissions. Scroll down for the full list.
The section, which is overseen by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics, focuses on first and second features as well as shorts by emerging talents.
Stories of couples, parenthood, family relationships and friendships unfolding against difficult political or societal realities abound in this year’s line-up.
In Competition, Brazilian director Lillah Halla’s Power Alley (Levante) follows a budding teenage volleyball champion who discovers she is pregnant on the eve of an important championship and then comes up against Brazil’s abortion ban.
Blocked in her attempts to seek an illegal termination, the girl’s future seems to be in everyone’s hands but hers, until help comes from an unexpected quarter.
The parallel Cannes section will screen 11 features, seven in competition, and four as special screenings, selected from 1,000 submissions. Scroll down for the full list.
The section, which is overseen by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics, focuses on first and second features as well as shorts by emerging talents.
Stories of couples, parenthood, family relationships and friendships unfolding against difficult political or societal realities abound in this year’s line-up.
In Competition, Brazilian director Lillah Halla’s Power Alley (Levante) follows a budding teenage volleyball champion who discovers she is pregnant on the eve of an important championship and then comes up against Brazil’s abortion ban.
Blocked in her attempts to seek an illegal termination, the girl’s future seems to be in everyone’s hands but hers, until help comes from an unexpected quarter.
- 4/17/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Spring release planned on British-Palestinian filmmaker Basil Khalil’s culture-clash comedy-drama.
Cohen Media Group has acquired US rights to British-Palestinian filmmaker Basil Khalil’s TIFF Discovery premiere A Gaza Weekend.
‘A Gaza Weekend’: Toronto Review
Khalil’s made his feature directorial debut on the culture-clash comedy-drama about a couple stranded amid a deadly virus outbreak which has sealed off Israel and turned the Gaza Strip into the safest place in the region.
A British journalist and his Israeli girlfriend who want to flee Israel must place their faith in two Palestinian street merchants who promise a way out in exchange for cash.
Cohen Media Group has acquired US rights to British-Palestinian filmmaker Basil Khalil’s TIFF Discovery premiere A Gaza Weekend.
‘A Gaza Weekend’: Toronto Review
Khalil’s made his feature directorial debut on the culture-clash comedy-drama about a couple stranded amid a deadly virus outbreak which has sealed off Israel and turned the Gaza Strip into the safest place in the region.
A British journalist and his Israeli girlfriend who want to flee Israel must place their faith in two Palestinian street merchants who promise a way out in exchange for cash.
- 3/23/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Roll up, roll up, it’s our annual list of U.S. and international movies that could have festivals (and audiences) salivating in 2023. As ever, two of our main criteria are that the project is already in production and hasn’t yet been declared for a festival. This isn’t an exhaustive list but a healthy snapshot of some highlights from around the world. Enjoy!
Dune: Part Two
Denis Villeneuve’s anticipated Dune sequel recently wrapped filming. The sci-fi follow-up is currently set for a November 2023 debut and expectations are that it will launch on the Lido like the first film in the series. Pic sees Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgard, Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem returning with new cast members Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, Lea Seydoux and Christopher Walken. Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment’s official synopsis reads: “This follow-up film will explore the mythic...
Dune: Part Two
Denis Villeneuve’s anticipated Dune sequel recently wrapped filming. The sci-fi follow-up is currently set for a November 2023 debut and expectations are that it will launch on the Lido like the first film in the series. Pic sees Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgard, Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem returning with new cast members Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, Lea Seydoux and Christopher Walken. Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment’s official synopsis reads: “This follow-up film will explore the mythic...
- 1/2/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman, Melanie Goodfellow, Zac Ntim, Diana Lodderhose and Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
Fipresci Jury Award-winning “A Gaza Weekend” made a splash at Toronto International Film Festival last week. Public and press alike flocked towards theaters for this film’s premiere weekend; each screening was packed. The film’s release could not have been more timely. Written during the swine flu and released after the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, British-Palestinian Basil Khalil pokes fun at plague paranoia in his narrative feature debut. In this punchy family-friendly comedy of the Gaza Strip, any and all traditional power hierarchies are out the window for the sake of survival.
A Gaza Weekend is screening at Red Sea International Film Festival
Like many films about Palestine, “A Gaza Weekend” follows the trajectory of a refugee couple – though this time, they’re from Israel. Englishman Michael (Stephen Mangan) and his Israeli partner Keren (Mouna Hawa) are desperate to leave the country after the outbreak...
A Gaza Weekend is screening at Red Sea International Film Festival
Like many films about Palestine, “A Gaza Weekend” follows the trajectory of a refugee couple – though this time, they’re from Israel. Englishman Michael (Stephen Mangan) and his Israeli partner Keren (Mouna Hawa) are desperate to leave the country after the outbreak...
- 12/3/2022
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
Mena-based distributor and producer Front Row Filmed Entertainment has acquired Mena rights for British-Palestinian filmmaker Basil Khalil’s feature debut A Gaza Weekend, ahead of its regional premiere at the Red International Film Festival this December.
The acquisition marks the third collaboration between Khalil and Front Row, as the company previously distributed his 2015 Academy Award and Palme d’Or-nominated short Ave Maria, which debuted in Cannes in 2015 and has also recently boarded Nour Shams, a short film by Saudi filmmaker Faiza Ambah and produced by Khalil.
International sales on the film, which world premiered in Toronto in September, are handled by London-based sales and production company Protagonist Pictures. The feature is produced by U.K.-Emirati producer Amina Dasmal and executive produced by Robin C. Fox.
The comedy-drama is set in a world where Israel is sealed off after a deadly virus outbreak and Gaza has become the safest place in the region.
The acquisition marks the third collaboration between Khalil and Front Row, as the company previously distributed his 2015 Academy Award and Palme d’Or-nominated short Ave Maria, which debuted in Cannes in 2015 and has also recently boarded Nour Shams, a short film by Saudi filmmaker Faiza Ambah and produced by Khalil.
International sales on the film, which world premiered in Toronto in September, are handled by London-based sales and production company Protagonist Pictures. The feature is produced by U.K.-Emirati producer Amina Dasmal and executive produced by Robin C. Fox.
The comedy-drama is set in a world where Israel is sealed off after a deadly virus outbreak and Gaza has become the safest place in the region.
- 11/29/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Dubai-based distributor and producer Front Row Filmed Entertainment has acquired Middle East and North Africa (Mena) rights to British-Palestinian filmmaker Basil Khalil’s action-packed drama “A Gaza Weekend” ahead of its regional premiere at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival.
Front Row, which is a prominent distributor of indie films in Mena region, picked up “Gaza Weekend” from London-based sales and production outfit Protagonist Pictures after it premiered positively at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
Made by British-Emirati producer Amina Dasmal and Robin C. Fox, who executive produced, “Gaza Weekend” is set in a world where Israel is sealed off after a deadly virus outbreak and Gaza has become the safest spot in the region. British journalist (Stephen Mangan) and his Israeli girlfriend (Mouna Hawa) find themselves stuck on the wrong side of the border, needing the help of two Palestinian street merchants who promise them a...
Front Row, which is a prominent distributor of indie films in Mena region, picked up “Gaza Weekend” from London-based sales and production outfit Protagonist Pictures after it premiered positively at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
Made by British-Emirati producer Amina Dasmal and Robin C. Fox, who executive produced, “Gaza Weekend” is set in a world where Israel is sealed off after a deadly virus outbreak and Gaza has become the safest spot in the region. British journalist (Stephen Mangan) and his Israeli girlfriend (Mouna Hawa) find themselves stuck on the wrong side of the border, needing the help of two Palestinian street merchants who promise them a...
- 11/29/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Fipresci Jury Award-winning “A Gaza Weekend” made a splash at Toronto International Film Festival last week. Public and press alike flocked towards theaters for this film’s premiere weekend; each screening was packed. The film’s release could not have been more timely. Written during the swine flu and released after the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, British-Palestinian Basil Khalil pokes fun at plague paranoia in his narrative feature debut. In this punchy family-friendly comedy of the Gaza Strip, any and all traditional power hierarchies are out the window for the sake of survival.
A Gaza Weekend is screening at Toronto International Film Festival
Like many films about Palestine, “A Gaza Weekend” follows the trajectory of a refugee couple – though this time, they’re from Israel. Englishman Michael (Stephen Mangan) and his Israeli partner Keren (Mouna Hawa) are desperate to leave the country after the outbreak of a new deadly Ars virus.
A Gaza Weekend is screening at Toronto International Film Festival
Like many films about Palestine, “A Gaza Weekend” follows the trajectory of a refugee couple – though this time, they’re from Israel. Englishman Michael (Stephen Mangan) and his Israeli partner Keren (Mouna Hawa) are desperate to leave the country after the outbreak of a new deadly Ars virus.
- 9/20/2022
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
Click here to read the full article.
Films can be given life or put to death in Cannes. Many are born from meetings there. But very few are dreamed up in a rush on the beach while trying to impress an industry exec. A Gaza Weekend is a rare exception, beginning its unlikely journey at the 2009 edition of the festival, where Basil Khalil was casually asked by a sales agent what project he was working on next.
“And I had absolutely nothing,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter. Not wanting to admit his creative shortcomings, the British-Palestinian filmmaker quickly came up with a project off the top of his head. “Swine flu had been in the news at the time, so I just said, ‘Ok, so there’s a virus in Israel and the only safe place is Gaza.’ And that’s all I had.” And did it have a name?...
Films can be given life or put to death in Cannes. Many are born from meetings there. But very few are dreamed up in a rush on the beach while trying to impress an industry exec. A Gaza Weekend is a rare exception, beginning its unlikely journey at the 2009 edition of the festival, where Basil Khalil was casually asked by a sales agent what project he was working on next.
“And I had absolutely nothing,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter. Not wanting to admit his creative shortcomings, the British-Palestinian filmmaker quickly came up with a project off the top of his head. “Swine flu had been in the news at the time, so I just said, ‘Ok, so there’s a virus in Israel and the only safe place is Gaza.’ And that’s all I had.” And did it have a name?...
- 9/11/2022
- by Alex Ritman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Amjad Al Rasheed’s feature debut “Inshallah a Boy” – co-produced by Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar – was awarded La Biennale di Venezia Prize at Final Cut, an industry program at the Venice Film Festival dedicated to films from African and Arab countries.
Shot in February, with mostly Jordanian crew, it was lensed by Kanamé Onoyama.
In the story, a mother and a housewife – played by Mouna Hawa, known for “In Between” – has to face the sudden death of her husband. According to the inheritance law, his family is entitled to most of her belongings, including the home she paid for herself – just because she doesn’t have a son. Desperate, she pretends to be pregnant.
“So many people ask us: ‘Is this real? Do you really have this law?!’ It’s inspired by the experience of someone I know, someone close to me. But when we started to develop the story,...
Shot in February, with mostly Jordanian crew, it was lensed by Kanamé Onoyama.
In the story, a mother and a housewife – played by Mouna Hawa, known for “In Between” – has to face the sudden death of her husband. According to the inheritance law, his family is entitled to most of her belongings, including the home she paid for herself – just because she doesn’t have a son. Desperate, she pretends to be pregnant.
“So many people ask us: ‘Is this real? Do you really have this law?!’ It’s inspired by the experience of someone I know, someone close to me. But when we started to develop the story,...
- 9/8/2022
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
In the run-up to Cannes, the British Film Institute and the British Council held the Great8 showcase, which presented eight U.K. films from emerging filmmakers. Here are the films selected:
“Aftersun” (drama)
Director/writer: Charlotte Wells
Cast: Paul Mescal, Frankie Corio, Celia Rowlson-Hall
Sales: Charades
Sophie reflects on the shared joy and private melancholy of a holiday she took with her father 20 years earlier. Memories real and imagined fill the gaps between miniDV footage as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she didn’t.
“Birchanger Green” (sci-fi)
Director/writer: Moin Hussain
Cast: Faraz Ayub, Natalie Gavin, Claire Rushbrook, Simon Nagra
Sales: Bankside Films
Adam lives a solitary life. Upon hearing that his estranged father has died, he finds himself in search of answers. Piecing together a complicated image of a man he never knew, Adam starts to become convinced he is descended from an alien race.
“Aftersun” (drama)
Director/writer: Charlotte Wells
Cast: Paul Mescal, Frankie Corio, Celia Rowlson-Hall
Sales: Charades
Sophie reflects on the shared joy and private melancholy of a holiday she took with her father 20 years earlier. Memories real and imagined fill the gaps between miniDV footage as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she didn’t.
“Birchanger Green” (sci-fi)
Director/writer: Moin Hussain
Cast: Faraz Ayub, Natalie Gavin, Claire Rushbrook, Simon Nagra
Sales: Bankside Films
Adam lives a solitary life. Upon hearing that his estranged father has died, he finds himself in search of answers. Piecing together a complicated image of a man he never knew, Adam starts to become convinced he is descended from an alien race.
- 5/21/2022
- by K.J. Yossman
- Variety Film + TV
Titles include ’Aftersun’, ’Enys Men’, ‘Birchanger Green’ and ‘A Gaza Weekend’.
Cannes premieres Aftersun, sold by Charades, and Enys Men, sold by Protagonist Pictures, are among the titles selected for year’s Great 8, the annual Cannes buyers’ showcase of UK films from emerging directors.
The other six titles are all in post-production.
Now in its fifth edition, the 2022 Great 8 showcase is funded and run by the BFI and the British Council, in partnership with BBC Film and Film4.
Unseen footage from all of the titles will be introduced by their filmmakers and screened on May 12 exclusively to buyers and festival programmers during the online-only showcase,...
Cannes premieres Aftersun, sold by Charades, and Enys Men, sold by Protagonist Pictures, are among the titles selected for year’s Great 8, the annual Cannes buyers’ showcase of UK films from emerging directors.
The other six titles are all in post-production.
Now in its fifth edition, the 2022 Great 8 showcase is funded and run by the BFI and the British Council, in partnership with BBC Film and Film4.
Unseen footage from all of the titles will be introduced by their filmmakers and screened on May 12 exclusively to buyers and festival programmers during the online-only showcase,...
- 5/5/2022
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
The BFI and British Council have revealed the line-up for this year’s Great8 showcase, which allows international distributors and festival programmers to get an early look at eight releases from emerging U.K. filmmakers in the run-up to Cannes Marché.
Now in its fifth year, the showcase on May 12 will allow filmmakers to screen unseen footage from the films, which will be available to buy during the market, which runs from May 17-28.
Of the eight films selected for the showcase, one has also been selected for the official Directors’ Fortnight and another for the Critics’ Week line-up. The remaining six films are in post-production.
The Great8 showcase is funded and organized by the BFI and the British Council, in partnership with BBC Film and Film4. It has previously presented films including “I Am Not A Witch” and “Calm with Horses.”
Neil Peplow, the BFI’s Director of Industry and International Affairs,...
Now in its fifth year, the showcase on May 12 will allow filmmakers to screen unseen footage from the films, which will be available to buy during the market, which runs from May 17-28.
Of the eight films selected for the showcase, one has also been selected for the official Directors’ Fortnight and another for the Critics’ Week line-up. The remaining six films are in post-production.
The Great8 showcase is funded and organized by the BFI and the British Council, in partnership with BBC Film and Film4. It has previously presented films including “I Am Not A Witch” and “Calm with Horses.”
Neil Peplow, the BFI’s Director of Industry and International Affairs,...
- 5/4/2022
- by K.J. Yossman
- Variety Film + TV
Najwa Najjar charts an uneven course in her latest film as a road trip takes a couple on a journey into their families' past, as her attempts to underpin her relationship drama with a history lesson become confusing in the end.
Even before they set foot in the elderly car they will use to make the trip, it seems the relationship between Palestinians Salma (Mouna Hawa) and Tamer (Firas Nassar) may well have reached the end of the road. After five years of marriage, Salma wants a divorce and the pair are heading from the West Bank to Israel to complete the paperwork. The power play between the two is indicated economically by Tamer's insistence that he drives the car, even though he knows he will have to give the keys to Salma at the checkpoint as she is the only one authorised to drive a car with Israeli plates.
Even before they set foot in the elderly car they will use to make the trip, it seems the relationship between Palestinians Salma (Mouna Hawa) and Tamer (Firas Nassar) may well have reached the end of the road. After five years of marriage, Salma wants a divorce and the pair are heading from the West Bank to Israel to complete the paperwork. The power play between the two is indicated economically by Tamer's insistence that he drives the car, even though he knows he will have to give the keys to Salma at the checkpoint as she is the only one authorised to drive a car with Israeli plates.
- 4/28/2021
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
“Between Heaven and Earth” by the Palestinian filmmaker Najwa Najjar is structured like a road movie with an unusual pair setting off on a journey and of course, meeting various colorful characters on their way. However, nothing can be easy in a conflict-torn territory, so do not expect a joyride. An ironic dramedy with time gives room to a psychological drama and even bits of a mystery thriller. Middle East politics, which was present also in the backdrop of the previous films of the director, is like a ghost, hunting the everyday life and preoccupying troubled hearts and souls of the protagonists.
“Between Heaven and Earth” is screening at the London Palestine Film festival.
Salma (Mouna Hawa) and Tamer (Firas Nassar), residents of Ramallah in the West Bank, want to divorce, and to deal with court proceedings they need to visit Israel. Salma is a Palestinian from Nazareth holding Israeli citizenship,...
“Between Heaven and Earth” is screening at the London Palestine Film festival.
Salma (Mouna Hawa) and Tamer (Firas Nassar), residents of Ramallah in the West Bank, want to divorce, and to deal with court proceedings they need to visit Israel. Salma is a Palestinian from Nazareth holding Israeli citizenship,...
- 11/14/2020
- by Joanna Kończak
- AsianMoviePulse
The film received a 10-minute standing ovation at its world premiere.
In the opening scene of Palestinian director Najwa Najjar’s new film Between Heaven And Earth, a sassy looking young woman rocks up at her former marital home in Ramallah in a vintage blue Mercedes with red-leather seats, music blaring.
Inside, she finds the place in disarray and her estranged husband idling in the outdoor pool.
The romantic road movie, marks a departure in terms of tone and register, if not political intent, for Najjar after hard-hitting West Bank-set dramas Pomegranates And Myrrh and Eyes Of A Thief.
The...
In the opening scene of Palestinian director Najwa Najjar’s new film Between Heaven And Earth, a sassy looking young woman rocks up at her former marital home in Ramallah in a vintage blue Mercedes with red-leather seats, music blaring.
Inside, she finds the place in disarray and her estranged husband idling in the outdoor pool.
The romantic road movie, marks a departure in terms of tone and register, if not political intent, for Najjar after hard-hitting West Bank-set dramas Pomegranates And Myrrh and Eyes Of A Thief.
The...
- 12/6/2019
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Celebrate the Lunar New Year with The Monkey King 3, Monster Hunt 2, and more International Cinema titles this weekend!Celebrate the Lunar New Year with The Monkey King 3, Monster Hunt 2, and more International Cinema titles this weekend!Adriana Floridia2/15/2018 2:07:00 PMEvery week, select Cineplex theatres feature some of the most popular and exciting films from all around the world, from countries like China, India, Korea, The Philippines and more. If you want to try something different at the movies, or simply celebrate your own or a new culture on the big screen, we’re highlighting the International Cinema titles out this weekend that you’ll surely enjoy!
This Friday is the Lunar New Year, and we have three titles that are being released to coincide with this holiday: Detective Chinatown 2, Monster Hunt 2 and The Monkey King 3! Find out all about these films and more international releases this weekend below!
This Friday is the Lunar New Year, and we have three titles that are being released to coincide with this holiday: Detective Chinatown 2, Monster Hunt 2 and The Monkey King 3! Find out all about these films and more international releases this weekend below!
- 2/15/2018
- by Adriana Floridia
- Cineplex
Author: Competitions
To mark the release of In Between on 29th January, we’ve been given a copy to give away on DVD.
In Between follows the lives of three strong, independent minded Israeli-Palestinian women sharing an apartment in Tel Aviv. Away from the constraints of their families and enforced tradition, they find themselves in between the free and unfettered lives they’re aspiring to lead and the restrictions still imposed on them by a blinkered society.
Laila (Mouna Hawa), a successful lawyer, craves the love of a good man who she thinks she s found in the apparently open-minded and handsome Ziad (Mahmood Shalabi). Salma (Sana Jammallieh) works at menial jobs in restaurants and bars hoping her long-held dream of being a DJ becomes a reality. In the meantime she falls for the beautiful trainee doctor Dounia but is forced to keep their lesbian relationship secret from her family.
To mark the release of In Between on 29th January, we’ve been given a copy to give away on DVD.
In Between follows the lives of three strong, independent minded Israeli-Palestinian women sharing an apartment in Tel Aviv. Away from the constraints of their families and enforced tradition, they find themselves in between the free and unfettered lives they’re aspiring to lead and the restrictions still imposed on them by a blinkered society.
Laila (Mouna Hawa), a successful lawyer, craves the love of a good man who she thinks she s found in the apparently open-minded and handsome Ziad (Mahmood Shalabi). Salma (Sana Jammallieh) works at menial jobs in restaurants and bars hoping her long-held dream of being a DJ becomes a reality. In the meantime she falls for the beautiful trainee doctor Dounia but is forced to keep their lesbian relationship secret from her family.
- 1/22/2018
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Well here we are, the first release weekend of the new year. The dumping ground for everything from studio horror cast offs like the latest in the Insidious franchise to art films continuing to make the rounds as they make their way to a hopeful Oscar nomination of some sort, this is one of the year’s more interesting portions of the calendar. Sure, for every ditched genre film you get an expanding prestige picture, but you also get the chance to see some genuinely interesting, if less buzzed about, independent films from around the world.
For example, there are films like In Between. Following a fruitful run on the 2017 film festival circuit, director Maysaloun Hamoud’s feature film directing debut begins its theatrical run in New York via Film Movement, and is a superbly made and emotionally resonant look at three young women caught in the middle of traditionalism and modernity in Tel Aviv.
For example, there are films like In Between. Following a fruitful run on the 2017 film festival circuit, director Maysaloun Hamoud’s feature film directing debut begins its theatrical run in New York via Film Movement, and is a superbly made and emotionally resonant look at three young women caught in the middle of traditionalism and modernity in Tel Aviv.
- 1/5/2018
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
To whom does the title of Maysaloun Hamoud’s assured, empathetic debut “In Between” refer? To her characters, of course, who are stuck in between their conservative cultures and their liberal desires. But also to Hamoud herself, who has been both widely praised and roundly condemned for her blunt take on the lives of young Arab-Israeli women. The fictional friends who’ve earned such disapproval are Laila (vibrant standout Mouna Hawa), Salma (Sana Jammelieh) and Nour (Shaden Kanboura), 20-something roommates in Tel Aviv. Laila is the rebel, a chain-smoking, hard-partying Palestinian lawyer. And Nour is her obvious opposite, a pious Muslim student.
- 1/5/2018
- by Elizabeth Weitzman
- The Wrap
wide
Molly’s Game [my review]
Jessica Chastain stars in the based-on-fact story of Molly Bloom and the glamorous high-stakes poker games she ran in Los Angeles and New York. (male writer and director)
Insidious: The Last Key [IMDb] pictured
Lin Shaye returns as parapsychologist Elise Rainier, investigating hauntings past and present in the house she grew up in. (male writer and director)
limited
The Strange Ones [IMDb]
Lauren Wolkstein cowrites and codirects a suspense tale of two (male) travelers in remote America.
Goldbuster [IMDb]
Sandra Kwan Yue Ng directs this Hong Kong supernatural comedy about a ghost hunter.
In Between [IMDb]
Maysaloun Hamoud writes and directs this drama about Palestinian women sharing an apartment in Tel Aviv, starring Mouna Hawa, Sana Jammelieh, and Shaden Kanboura.
Project Eden [IMDb]
Ashlee Jensen cowrites and codirects a sci-fi thriller about a woman on the run from a global conspiracy, starring Anna McGahan.
In the Land of Pomegranates [IMDb]
Hava Kohav Beller...
Molly’s Game [my review]
Jessica Chastain stars in the based-on-fact story of Molly Bloom and the glamorous high-stakes poker games she ran in Los Angeles and New York. (male writer and director)
Insidious: The Last Key [IMDb] pictured
Lin Shaye returns as parapsychologist Elise Rainier, investigating hauntings past and present in the house she grew up in. (male writer and director)
limited
The Strange Ones [IMDb]
Lauren Wolkstein cowrites and codirects a suspense tale of two (male) travelers in remote America.
Goldbuster [IMDb]
Sandra Kwan Yue Ng directs this Hong Kong supernatural comedy about a ghost hunter.
In Between [IMDb]
Maysaloun Hamoud writes and directs this drama about Palestinian women sharing an apartment in Tel Aviv, starring Mouna Hawa, Sana Jammelieh, and Shaden Kanboura.
Project Eden [IMDb]
Ashlee Jensen cowrites and codirects a sci-fi thriller about a woman on the run from a global conspiracy, starring Anna McGahan.
In the Land of Pomegranates [IMDb]
Hava Kohav Beller...
- 1/5/2018
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
by Murtada
In Between, Arab-Israeli director Maysaloun Hamoud’s debut feature, is about three young, independent-minded Palestinian women who share an apartment in Tel Aviv. Laila (Mouna Hawa) is a criminal lawyer who loves to burn off stress in the underground club scene. Her roommate Salma (Sana Jammelieh,) is an aspiring DJ and bartender who falls in love with a female medical intern. Their new roommate Nur (Shaden Kanboura, Sand Storm) is a reserved, religious university student with a conservative fiancé.
Away from the constraints of their families and tradition, they find themselves “in between” the unfettered lives they are trying to lead and the restrictions imposed on them by their conservative culture. The film has already won several awards including honors at the San Sebastian Film Festival and the 2017 Women in Motion's Young Talents Award at the Cannes Film festival, presented to her by none other than Isabelle Huppert!
In Between, Arab-Israeli director Maysaloun Hamoud’s debut feature, is about three young, independent-minded Palestinian women who share an apartment in Tel Aviv. Laila (Mouna Hawa) is a criminal lawyer who loves to burn off stress in the underground club scene. Her roommate Salma (Sana Jammelieh,) is an aspiring DJ and bartender who falls in love with a female medical intern. Their new roommate Nur (Shaden Kanboura, Sand Storm) is a reserved, religious university student with a conservative fiancé.
Away from the constraints of their families and tradition, they find themselves “in between” the unfettered lives they are trying to lead and the restrictions imposed on them by their conservative culture. The film has already won several awards including honors at the San Sebastian Film Festival and the 2017 Women in Motion's Young Talents Award at the Cannes Film festival, presented to her by none other than Isabelle Huppert!
- 1/5/2018
- by Murtada Elfadl
- FilmExperience
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