Arab Film Festival Blogs

Elia Suleiman Announces Latest Film Palestinian director Elia Suleiman has announced he will begin filming "Time," the final film in his trilogy that includes "Chronicle of a Disappearance" and "Divine Intervention." He will begin shooting the film in July. Along with European financiers, it is of note that Arab media company MBC, that publicly announced in February its desire to get into the film production business, is also one of the backers. Full Variety article here.

Monday, May 12, 2008 I REMEMBER LEBANON wins Pangea Day Lebanese filmmaker, Zeina Aboul Hosn's short film I REMEMBER LEBANON took the prize for best film from Asia/Australia on Saturday at the first ever Pangea Day. For four hours, twenty-four films "made by the world for the world" were broadcast live around the globe via the Internet and at organized events. In I REMEMBER LEBANON, Aboul Hosn records the daily lives of friends and family in Lebanon. 12-year old Anas wants to be a filmmaker, Zeid's rock band is ready to tour the world, and Marianne's TV career is just taking off. But when the bombs begin to fall, what happens to the dreams and aspirations of a country left in limbo?" More about Pangea Day here.

Friday, May 2, 2008 Rachid Bouchareb's Latest Films Announced Rachid Bouchareb, the French-Algerian filmmaker whose Days of Glory was a 2006 French box office favorite (not to mention nominated for an Oscar), has announced two future projects. The first, London River, is a French-German production about the London terror attacks in 2005. The other, perhaps a bit more exciting for fans of Days of Glory, is the sequel to the story, entitled Outside the Law. "Outside the Law, which Bouchareb will start filming in February, takes the "Days" story forward to the Algerian battles in Paris for independence from France in the wake of WWII." Full Variety article here.

Monday, April 28, 2008 Vet Algerian Director in Cannes' Directors' Fortnight The 2008 Cannes Festival will feature in their Directors' Fortnight section the latest film, Dernier Maquis, from Franco-Algerian filmmaker, Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche. Ameur-Zaimeche's previous films include Wesh Wesh, What's Going On? and Bled Number One (both screened at the Arab Film Festival in past years) and he is recognized as one of France's preeminent Beur filmmakers. Here's the entire Directors' Fortnight line-up. *Image from www.allocine.fr

Wednesday, April 23, 2008 Arab Films Announced at the 2008 Cannes Festival While its a decrease in the number of Arab films featured at 2007 Cannes Festival (it was really a stellar year with Lebanese films 'Caramel' and 'The Lost Man,' among others), the 2008 Cannes line-up features two noteworthy Arab films in the Un Certain Regard section. First up is Je Veux Voir directed by Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige. This is the 2nd feature-length narrative from these two Beirut-based artists/professors who have made a name for themselves as visual artists (photography and installation art), documentarians and academics. Their 1st feature was the 2005 A Perfect Day. Also included this year is the 1st feature-length narrative Salt of this Sea from Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir. Jacir's short film Like Twenty Impossibles received a whole slew of festival awards when it came out in 2003. *Photos taken from CRG Gallery and NY Women in Film and TV websites, respectively. Here's the whole Cannes line-up.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008 The London Palestine Film Festival The London Palestine Film Festival is now entering its second week of screenings (April 18th - May 1st) at London's School of Oriental and Asian Studies (SOAS). Perhaps most notable about this festival are the short films, which represent a great collection of some of the best shorts from/about Palestine from the last 10 years. Here's the whole schedule. There's was also an interesting article about the London Palestine Film Festival in The Guardian last Thursday. Read Guardian Article here. *Photo from short film "Women's Testimonies of the Nakba" by Raneen Geries.

Monday, April 7, 2008 Hiam Abbass and Haaz Sleiman star in THE VISITOR The new feature from director Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent) about "a disillusioned Connecticut economics professor whose life is transformed by a chance encounter in New York City," stars Arab-Israeli actress, Hiam Abbass (Munich, Paradise Now), and Lebanese-American actor, Haaz Sleiman (American Dreamz, '24'). 'The Visitor' will have limited release on April 11th. Here's the trailer. (photo: Sundance Film Festival)

Bahraini FOUR GIRLS to Open First Fest for Gulf Films The Gulf Film Festival kicks off in Dubai on April 13th and will be the first festival of its kind to spotlight Gulf filmmakers. In addition to the Bahraini 'Four Girls,' in competition will be new features from Saudi directors, Abdulla Abu Talib and Mamoun Bonni, and Kuwaiti directors, Hasan Abdal and Faisal Sham. Also included will be a screening of Iraqi director, Mohammed Al-Daradji's 'Ahlaam,' which had its US Premiere at the Arab Film Festival in 2006. For the full Variety article click here. (photo: Human Film)

Wednesday, April 2, 2008 Iraq at the Movies Once again, the New York Times looks at the questions raised when Hollywood makes movies about the war in Iraq. The article in today's Times examines the challenges that studios face when trying to market an Iraq movie to American audiences. Full Article here.

Filmmaker Jehane Noujaim Announces Int'l Online Film Event Arab-American documentary filmmaker, Jehane Noujaim, announced Tuesday that May 10th will mark "Pangea Day." Noujaim is best known for her 2004 documentary, "Control Room," which offered viewers a glimpse into the working of Al-Jazeera News Channel. Since receiving the Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) conference prize in 2006, Noujaim has the enlisted the support of major entertainment and technology players to host a film event that will allow individuals from across the globe to share short videos about their lives online. Noujaim believes 'that a key to peace is for people to meet each other. Since she can't force people to travel, she wants to "bring the world together" for a day through the power of film.' Read the full article here. (AFP/Getty Images/Zack Seckler)

ArteEast Announces New Quarterly Feature: ArteNews ArteEast (the people who bring us NYC's CinemaEast Festival) has announced its web based magazine ArteNews that will cover, "art and cultural happenings in the US and specific areas of the Middle East." This month they have produced a fascinating collection of articles examining the Golden Era of Cine-clubs in the Arab World.

Interview with Jackie Reem Salloum of SLINGSHOT HIP HOP "Slingshot Hip Hop," the new documentary about Palestinian rap, by Palestinian-American filmmaker Jackie Reem Salloum, is featured in this year's New Directors/New Films at the Lincoln Center this week. The doc had its world premiere at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Here's an interview with the filmmaker from today's indieWIRE. AFF is pleased to be co-sponsoring the California Premiere of "Slingshot Hip Hop" at the Newport Beach Film Festival on April 27th. More details to come.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008 New Directors/New Films screens A LOST MAN In addition to the ND/NF screenings mentioned in 3/26 posting, the New York festival will also screen Lebanese-French director Danielle Arbid's latest film, "A Lost Man" (Un Homme Perdu). Danielle Arbid doesn't exactly fall under the category of "New Director" as this film is her 2nd to direct ("In the Battlefields" was her first full-length), but we're happy to see her included nonetheless. "A Lost Man" premiered at the 2007 Cannes Festival in the Directors' Fortnight section. Information about the NYC screening here. A not-so-kind review of the film from Variety here. And a video about the making of the film here. Labels: Film Festivals, Lebanon

AMERICAN EAST Opens the Noor Film Festival in L.A. The NOOR FILM FESTIVAL, a Los Angeles film festival featuring primarily new Iranian film, will screen AMERICAN EAST as its opening film on April 10th. AMERICAN EAST is a story of Arab-Americans in post-9/11 Southern California and stars Tony Shalhoub, Sayed Badreya, Alfre Woodard, Anthony Azizi, Sarah Shahi, and Erick Avari. It is the first full-length feature from Egyptian director, Hisham Issawi. More information on the film here. Labels: Film Festivals, Los Angeles

Friday, March 28, 2008 RECYCLE Screens at Hot Docs 2008 Jordanian documentary, "Recycle," by Mahmoud al-Massad, has been selected to screen at the preeminent international documentary film festival, Hot Docs. Premiering at Dubai in 2007 and selected for the Sundance Film Fest in 2008, the film will screen in Toronto between April 17th and April 27th. "It tells the story of Abu Amar, an ex-Mujahideen soldier, trying to build a peaceful life after years of fighting in the Soviet-Afghan war. His personal struggle between faith and the difficult political and social realities of life in the Middle East finds Amar, father of eight, forced to collect and recycle cardboard in the streets of Zarqa, Jordan. Zarqa, a hotbed for political Islamists, is also the childhood home of the film’s director and the birthplace of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the late and infamous al-Qaeda leader in Iraq. The director rides shotgun with Amar and his young son as they drive the streets of Zarqa, the same streets and extreme living conditions which led many other young men to choose the violent life of political extremism." Hot Docs website. "Recycle" website. "Recycle" was picked up for worldwide distribution by Wide Entertainment during the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

USA VS AL-ARIAN picked up by Link TV The Norwegian documentary by Line Halvorsen, "USA vs Al-Arian," will be broadcast on television for the first time in the United States on Link TV, Sunday, April 13th at 8:00pm. This powerful film, which had its California Premiere at the 2007 Arab Film Festival, follows the struggle of an Arab-American family when their father, professor Sami Al-Arian, is faced with terrorism charges leveled by the U.S. government. Link TV website USA vs Al-Arian website

Lebanon Bans and then Un-Bans PERSEPOLIS Early this week there were rumors that Lebanese censors would ban French-Iranian Marjane Satapi's animated film "Persepolis." On Wednesday, AFP reported that Lebanese censors had, in fact, officially banned the film. Article here. Then today, met with public outrage and pressure, the authorities lifted the ban on "Persepolis" and it will be released in Lebanon on April 9th. Daily Star article here. *This is not exactly "Arab Film News." More like, "Film News from the Arab World." We still think it's of interest.