Votes were cast by 141 Arab and international critics from 57 territories.
Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman’s It Must Be Heaven has scooped best film and director in the fourth edition of the Critics Awards for Arab Films.
The comedy originally premiered in Cannes Competition in 2019, garnering a special mention, and was Palestine’s submission for the 2020 Academy Awards.
In other awards, Egyptian-Tunisian actress Hend Sabry was feted with best actress for her performance in Tunisian director Hinde Boujemaa’s Noura’s Dream as a woman trying to escape the clutches of a violent husband.
French-Tunisian actor Sami Bouajila was named best actor...
Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman’s It Must Be Heaven has scooped best film and director in the fourth edition of the Critics Awards for Arab Films.
The comedy originally premiered in Cannes Competition in 2019, garnering a special mention, and was Palestine’s submission for the 2020 Academy Awards.
In other awards, Egyptian-Tunisian actress Hend Sabry was feted with best actress for her performance in Tunisian director Hinde Boujemaa’s Noura’s Dream as a woman trying to escape the clutches of a violent husband.
French-Tunisian actor Sami Bouajila was named best actor...
- 6/26/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦69¦
- ScreenDaily
Fourth edition is based on votes of 142 Arab and international critics hailing from 57 countries.
Elia Suleiman’s It Must Be Heaven and Maryam Touzani’s Adam received four nominations each in the first round of voting in this year’s Critics Awards for Arab Films.
A total of 142 Arab and international film critics from 57 countries are participating in the fourth edition of the awards, organised by the Arab Cinema Centre (Acc).
Suleiman’s comedy-drama It Must Be Heaven, which premiered in Cannes Competition in 2019, has been nominated for best film, director, actor (Suleiman) and screenplay.
Moroccan filmmaker Touzani’s feature directorial debut Adam,...
Elia Suleiman’s It Must Be Heaven and Maryam Touzani’s Adam received four nominations each in the first round of voting in this year’s Critics Awards for Arab Films.
A total of 142 Arab and international film critics from 57 countries are participating in the fourth edition of the awards, organised by the Arab Cinema Centre (Acc).
Suleiman’s comedy-drama It Must Be Heaven, which premiered in Cannes Competition in 2019, has been nominated for best film, director, actor (Suleiman) and screenplay.
Moroccan filmmaker Touzani’s feature directorial debut Adam,...
- 6/17/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦69¦
- ScreenDaily
Saudi Arabia’s nascent Red Sea International Film festival has unveiled its inaugural lineup featuring the Middle East premiere of Harvey Weinstein-inspired workplace abuse drama “The Assistant” amid a fresh mix of feature films and docs from Europe, the U.S., Asia, and Africa launching in the region on top of a robust representation of Arab films.
Significantly, the opener will be “The Book of Sun” by debuting Saudi directorial duo Faris and Suhaib Godus, about a teenager named Husam who, prompted by the growing phenomenon of Saudi YouTube content, embarks with a group of geeks on a mission to make a no-budget horror pic. Production of this film was supported by the fest.
Oliver Stone will preside over the competition jury.
Red Sea festival chief Mahmoud Sabbagh in a statement called “Book of Sun” “a testament to the passionate community of pioneering filmmakers who have inspired and drive Saudi cinema culture.
Significantly, the opener will be “The Book of Sun” by debuting Saudi directorial duo Faris and Suhaib Godus, about a teenager named Husam who, prompted by the growing phenomenon of Saudi YouTube content, embarks with a group of geeks on a mission to make a no-budget horror pic. Production of this film was supported by the fest.
Oliver Stone will preside over the competition jury.
Red Sea festival chief Mahmoud Sabbagh in a statement called “Book of Sun” “a testament to the passionate community of pioneering filmmakers who have inspired and drive Saudi cinema culture.
- 2/17/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
In a freewheeling masterclass held at the Marrakech Film Festival on Thursday, director Elia Suleiman offered as concise a mission statement as can be, defining his guiding beliefs in four short words.
“Pleasure is extremely political,” said the Palestinian director, whose films have approached the fraught nature of life in the occupied territories with a comedic bent and an absurdist tone. “The repercussion of a moment of pleasure is extremely political in the positive sense of the word. It’s against those who want to impose on you their own agenda, those who want to program your daily life.”
When asked about his tendency play up the ridiculous nature of soldiers, police officers and other agents of the state, he explained that, “pleasure has the potential to threaten, to crack positions of authority.”
He continued, “If you try to imagine authorities always posed as a force, they’re not easy to crack.
“Pleasure is extremely political,” said the Palestinian director, whose films have approached the fraught nature of life in the occupied territories with a comedic bent and an absurdist tone. “The repercussion of a moment of pleasure is extremely political in the positive sense of the word. It’s against those who want to impose on you their own agenda, those who want to program your daily life.”
When asked about his tendency play up the ridiculous nature of soldiers, police officers and other agents of the state, he explained that, “pleasure has the potential to threaten, to crack positions of authority.”
He continued, “If you try to imagine authorities always posed as a force, they’re not easy to crack.
- 12/7/2019
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
Second prize went to Noura’s Dream, while Giuseppe Battiston and Stefano Fresi were crowned Best Actors, 143 Sahara Street Best International Doc and Fuori tutto Best Italian Doc. A White, White Day, the second work by the Icelandic director Hlynur Pálmason, has been named Best Film of the 37th Turin Film Festival, which drew to a close on Saturday 30 November. The award was handed over by a jury presided over by Cristina Comencini (Italy) and composed of Fabienne Babe (France), Bruce McDonald (Canada), Eran Riklis (Israel) and Teona Strugar Mitevska (Macedonia). The next most important accolade, the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation Award, went to Noura’s Dream by Hinde Boujemaa, while Viktoria Miroshnichenko and Vasilisa Perelygina were named Best Actresses (for Kantemir Balagov’s Beanpole), and Giuseppe Battiston and Stefano Fresi Best Actors (for Antonio Padovan’s Il grande passo). Within the international documentary section, a jury comprising Sara...
In Tunisia, where adultery is a crime and adulterers can go to jail for five years, divorce can be a violent affair poisoned by male ideas of honor, and the stakes are high for all concerned. Noura’s Dream (Noura Tehlam) is set in a working-class environment unusual in Tunisian cinema, and on first sight it feels more related to a Ken Loach tale of struggle on multiple levels than, say, the psychological and legal complexities of a civilized modern smash-up like Marriage Story. Yet on closer inspection, the bottom line is still the clash of a couple’s values ...
- 9/27/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
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