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The Cairo International Film Festival is marking a decade of supporting Arab filmmakers with the 10th edition of its Cairo Film Connection (Cfc) funding platform.

Running from November 17- 20, Cfc is a part of the festival’s Cairo Industry Days and features 18 projects either in development or as works-in-progress from 11 Arab countries, including eight from Egypt. They were chosen from a pool of over 200 submissions by a selection committee comprising three Egyptian filmmakers: Yomna Khatab, Ahmed Refaat and Heba Habib.

Scroll down for full line-up

Under the leadership of Rodrigo Brum, the newly appointed director of Cfc, the programme helps...

Saint Rose is a Lebanese short film that tells the story of the titular character who is preparing for her daughter’s engagement ceremony. But with each passing moment, it becomes clear that her abusive husband isn’t content with the arrangements for reasons only known to him. Unable to deal with this situation, she seeks shelter in her bathroom where she smokes away her sorrows. The only person in the palatial house is the Kenyan housekeeper, Becky, who shares her bottle of vodka with her so that they can numb themselves to the pain they’ve to endure. I sat down for a virtual chat with director Zayn Alexandre about Saint Rose, what compelled him to tell this story, and why patriarchal norms are on the rise again.

What’s the story behind the title of the film, Saint Rose?

Anyone who quietly endures for the sake of their...

Two weeks before the cameras were set to roll, everything fell apart.

At that point, “Moondove” director Karim Kassem had spent two years developing his fourth feature and then painstakingly getting the project off the ground. The nonfiction film was supposed to follow a young woman who returns to a small village in Mount Lebanon after years of living abroad, with the central lead helping to connect the various eclectic townsfolk she would encounter.

“Moondove”

The story was locked, sequences were storyboarded and the locals were ready to shoot – and then, 14 days before the big day, both the lead and the cinematographer pulled out.

“I had to burn the script,” says Kassem at the Cairo Film Festival, where “Moondove” is playing in competition. “And then I had two choices: Whether to cry all of August or to improvise a different film.”

Kassem opted for the latter, feverishly writing a brand...

The Cairo International Film Festival (Ciff) has unveiled the line-up for its comeback 45th edition, taking place from November 13-22.

The world premiere of Palestinian filmmaker Rashid Masharawi’s Passing Dreams will open the festival, as part of a focus on Palestinian cinema.

Passing Dreams is a drama about a 12-year-old boy who embarks on a journey across Palestine, while chasing a carrier pigeon, convinced it has returned to its original owner.

The line-up includes three Palestinian feature documentaries competing for the best Arab film awards in the Horizons of Arab Cinema programme, and the best Palestinian film award.

Carol Mansour...

The Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival’s Cinema industry section has announced the 10 film and doc projects from a wide range of Arab countries. These will soon be unveiled to prospective partners under the Cinemed and Aflamuna Professional Encounters initiative in tandem with Beirut-based cultural nonprofit Aflamuna.

The program, supported by France’s National Film Board Cnc, offers feature film professionals from Arab countries the opportunity to meet French and international professionals and decision-makers to stimulate co-productions and other forms of collaboration.

Emerging directors and producers from Egypt, Iraq, Sudan, Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen and Morocco will take part in the Cinemed Meetings Oct.22-23 in Montpellier, France.

“For this third edition of Cinemed and Aflamuna Professional Encounters, we are more than confident of the relevance of our collaboration with Aflamuna,” said Montpellier fest director Christophe Leparc in a statement. Leparc added that the initiative has been bearing fruit with at least...

Aflamuna Connection, formerly known as Beirut Cinema Platform, has selected 14 feature film projects to participate in its eighth edition, which will be the first edition to be held under the new name Aflamuna (Our films).

Reflecting emerging Arab filmmaker voices, the 14 projects range between fiction, docu-fiction and documentaries, and feature 11 projects in development and three in post-production. The selected projects come from Sudan, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Saudi Arabia.

Titles include Moondove, Lebanese filmmaker Karim Kassem’s docu-fiction about a female artist returning to a village outside Beirut after living abroad. Kassem’s documentary Octopus won...

Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut Woman Of The Hour and family drama Mother Couch, starring Ewan McGregor and Ellen Burstyn, are headed to the third edition of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival, running from November 30 to December 9 in the port city of Jeddah.

The titles will play in the Festival Favorites sidebar which was announced on Thursday alongside the event’s Red Sea: Treasures strand.

Kendrick directs and stars in Netflix-acquired drama Woman Of The Hour as a woman whose path crosses notorious serial killer Rodney Alcala, whilst in Niclas Larsson’s first film Mother Couch, McGregor plays a man whose mother squats the family furniture store.

Further films in the line-up – showcasing 21 buzzy festival titles from the last 12 months – include the David Oyelowo produced documentary Allihopa: The Dalkurd Story; Women’s World Cup doc Copa 71, executive produced by Serena and Venus Williams, Jennifer Esposito’s Fresh Kills,...

On Tuesday, on the eve of the opening of Belgrade’s Beldocs Film Festival, festival director Mara Prohaska Markovic sent her condolences to the families of those killed in two mass shootings in Serbia in recent weeks, including one in Belgrade.

After a minute’s silence, Prohaska Markovic presented the films that will screen in the 16th edition of the festival, which runs May 10-17.

The festival opens with Mladen Kovačević’s “Another Spring,” about the 1972 smallpox epidemic in Yugoslavia, and will close with a film about Serbian rapper Dalibor Andonov Gru, “Gru Is Here.”

The program, whose recurrent themes include relationships and the importance of land, has a total of 105 films, among which are nine world and four international premieres, as well 91 Serbian premieres, spread across the two competition programs, and several sidebar sections.

“Like an Island”

Ten films will play in the International Competition Program, which are as...

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Fund has unveiled its latest round of feature film grantees from the Arab world and Africa.

The announcement comes just days after the fund revealed it had boarded French director Maïwenn’s upcoming costume drama Jeanne du Barry starring Johnny Depp, in its first European investment as executive producer.

In its latest funding round for Arab and African filmmakers, it is getting behind 36 productions by Saudi, Arab and African filmmakers, 25 in or on the verge of production, 11 in post-production.

The 25 production grant winners include upcoming films by established directors such as Abderrahmane Sissako’s The Perfumed Hill, Haifaa Al-Mansour’s Miss Camel, Annemarie Jacir, Kaouther Ben Hania’s Mime, Cherien Dabis, and Karim Moussaoui’s The Vanishing.

The fund has also gotten behind buzzy, emerging talents such as Saudi Arabian filmmaker Sara Mesfer, who is gearing up for her first solo feature Habibi And I In Eden.

Following the lineups from Slamdance and Sundance, an early look at 2023 in cinema has come into further focus with the announcement of the competition lineup for the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Taking place January 25 through February 5, the festival will open with Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken’s Munch, an experimental biopic of Norwegian painter Edvard Munch. Along with the Tiger and Big Screen competition, seen below, the festival will also Steve McQueen’s latest artwork Sunshine State, a two-channel video projection.

Check out the lineup below via THR.

Opening Film

Munch, dir. Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken

Tiger Competition

100 Seasons, dir. Giovanni Bucchieri

Gagaland, dir. Teng Yuhan

Geology of Separation, dirs. Yosr Gasmi, Mauro Mazzocchi

Indivision, dir. Leïla Kilani

Letzter Abend, dir. Lukas Nathrath

Mannvirki, dir. Gústav Geir Bollason

Munnel, dir. Visakesa Chandrasekaram

New Strains, dir. Artemis Shaw, Prashanth Kamalakanthan

Notas sobre un verano, dir. Diego Llorente

Numb, dir. Amir Toodehroosta

Nummer achttien, dir.

It will be artistic director Vanja Kaludjercic’s first full physical event since being appointed three years ago.

Norwegian director Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken’s Munch will open the 2023 International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), taking place from January 25-February 5 in the Netherlands. It is the first in-person festival following two online pandemic events and the first physical one for festival director Vanja Kaludjercic since taking over from Bero Beyer after the 2020 event.

Munch, which will screen out of competition, explores the life of the tortured Norwegian artist, celebrated for his painting of ‘The Scream’, and who endured mental turmoil throughout his life.

This year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has unveiled the 16 films selected for its flagship Tiger Competition. Scroll down for the full list.

As always, the competition selection is a global affair, with features from Sweeden to Sri Lanka. The 2023 jury will grant three prizes: the Tiger Award, plus two special jury awards. On the jury are: Alonso Díaz de la Vega, Anisia Uzeyman, Christine Vachon, Lav Diaz, and Sabrina Baracetti.

Running from January 25 to February 5, the fest is set to return for its first full-scale physical edition since the pandemic. The event will open with Munch, an experimental feature biopic of the Norwegian expressionist painter Edvard Munch by Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken (Returning Home).

The honorary Robby Müller Award will go to French cinematographer Hélène Louvart. Louvart is best known for her work with Claire Denis, including the 1999 classic Beau Travail. Louvart has also worked with directors such as Wim Wenders,...

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The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) on Monday unveiled its full line for its 2023 event.

After two all-virtual festivals, the IFFR is finally returning in-person fest, running January 25-February 5 in the Dutch port city. Rotterdam is one of the last major festivals to return post-pandemic, its 2022 event having been forced to go online-only at the last minute when Dutch authorities imposed a new lockdown in December last year, just weeks before the IFFR kicked off.

The resulting revenue shortfall —closed theatres equals zero ticket sales —meant IFFR had to slash its budget, cutting 15 percent of its staff and restructuring.

Festival director Vanja Kaludjercic, who runs the IFFR together with managing director Marjan van der Haar, told The Hollywood Reporter the cuts were made “in order to avoid having to make big changes to the festival.” The 2023 edition, however, will be significantly smaller than the pre-pandemic versions,...

International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) will open on Jan. 25 with “Munch,” Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken’s take on the Norwegian artist behind “The Scream.”

“Bringing to life the inner world of such a complex character has been a very rewarding experience. We are thrilled to show audiences what inspired [Edvard] Munch and what kept his inner flame alive,” noted the helmer.

Produced by The Film Company and sold internationally by Viaplay Content Distribution, it will premiere in Norwegian cinemas on Jan. 27 and on Viaplay on March 24.

IFFR, set to return for its first full-scale physical edition since the pandemic, will present 16 films in its flagship Tiger Competition. Jurors Sabrina Baracetti, Lav Diaz, Anisia Uzeyman, Christine Vachon and Alonso Díaz de la Vega will grant three prizes: the Tiger Award, worth €40,000, and two Special Jury Awards, worth €10,000 each.

Ukraine’s Philip Sotnychenko “La Palisiada,” “New Strains” by Artemis Shaw and Prashanth Kamalakanthan, and...

Haugesund’s New Nordic Films market runs August 23-26.

Haugesund’s New Nordic Films market has unveiled the works in progress presentations for its 2022 edition, running August 23-26.

The line-up includes new films from the likes of Pathfinder director Nils Gaup’s new drama The Riot (Sulis), sold by REinvent and set against a workers revolt in 1907 Lapland; The Worst Person In The World producer Thomas Robsahm, who presents Aurora Gossé’s Norwegian youth film Dancing Queen, sold by Level K; and Berlinale prize-winning director Selma Vilhunen’s new Finnish production, polyamory drama Four Little Adults.

Scroll down for full...

More than 300 industry delegates from top shingles including Warner Bros Discovery, Viaplay, Germany’s Constantin Film, The Match Factory and France’s TF1 Studio are expected on the shores of Haugesund, Norway, over Aug. 23-26, for Scandinavia’s major film showcase, New Nordic Films.

Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winner “Triangle of Sadness” will both open the film confab festivities and screen alongside 18 new Nordic finished films at the market. But for the avid buyers and programmers of Nordic content, the biggest draw will be the 18 works in progress – half of them looking for sales and distribution – and 23 pics in development available for co-production and financing.

“We’ve noticed a shift in recent years, with buyers and sellers favouring the Works in Progress and Nordic Coproduction Market over the market screenings. These seem to be more valuable for the industry,” said Gyda Velvin Myklebust, head of New Nordic Films.

True/False, the preeminent non-fiction festival, returned as an in-person event Thursday, drawing documentary notables and fans of their work to a Missouri college town for the first lineup under the artistic direction of Chloe Trayner.

There were 31 features and 19 short non-fiction films at the fest, which had more of an international tilt than usual and concludes March 6. Eight features, including “Fire of Love,” “I Didn’t See You There” and “The Territory,” had previously debuted virtually at Sundance in January, but screened for the first time for public audiences at True/False.

Their respective directors — Sara Dosa (“Fire of Love”), Reid Davenport (“I Didn’t See You There”) Alex Pritz (“The Territory”) – were among the filmmakers making the trek to Columbia for the 19th edition of True/False. Fellow Sundance 2022 doc directors including Isabel Castro (“Mija”) and Joe Hunting (“We Met in Virtual Reality”) also attended.

“Sundance was amazing, but True...

Luxembourgish-Egyptian director’s last film Sawah was acquired by Netflix.

Luxembourgish-Egyptian director Adolf El Assal has signed Lebanese-German actor Kida Khodr Ramadan and pioneering Egypt-born, Germany-raised actress Tua El Fawwal for his new feature Hooped.

It is El Assal’s third feature after 2019 comedy drama Sawah, starring Egyptian actor Karim Kassem as a Cairo-based DJ who loses his papers while on tour in Europe, which was acquired by Netflix for 46 territories in 2020.

Like that film, Hooped will combine a European and Middle East storyline, revolving around an aspiring entrepreneur and basketball whiz whose dreams take him from Luxembourg to Egypt via Canada.

Karim Kassem’s ‘Octopus’ won best film in the Envision Competition.

Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa’s Mr Landsbergis has won the €15,000 best film award of the International Competition at International Documentary Film Fesival Amsterdam (IDFA) tonight (Thursday November 25).

The four-hour documentary is about inspirational Lithuanian political leader Vytautas Landsbergis, who led the country to freedom at the end of the Soviet era.The prize comes just six months after Loznitza’s other film of 2021, Babi Yar. Context, won the the Golden Eye Award.

“It is not easy to bring history to life. It is even more difficult to make it thrilling,...

Karim Kassem’s ‘Octopus’ won best film in the Envision Competition.

Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitza’s Mr Landsbergis has won the €15,000 best film award of the International Competition at International Documentary Film Fesival Amsterdam (IDFA) tonight (Thursday November 25).

The four-hour documentary is about inspirational Lithuanian political leader Vytautas Landsbergis, who led the country to freedom at the end of the Soviet era.The prize comes just six months after Loznitza’s other film of 2021, Babi Yar. Context, won the the Golden Eye Award.

“It is not easy to bring history to life. It is even more difficult to make it thrilling,...

Sergei Loznitsa’s extensive documentary “Mr. Landsbergis,” clocking in at 246 minutes and depicting Lithuania’s “singing revolution” when the country finally broke away from the Soviet Union, has won the Best Film award in the International Competition section, as well as €15,000, at documentary film festival IDFA in Amsterdam.

It marks the second 2021 release for the prolific filmmaker, who has already shown “Babi Yar. Context” at Cannes Film Festival in July. The latter film was also noticed at IDFA and granted the Beeld en Geluid IDFA ReFrame Award for Best Creative Use of Archive’s special mention.

“On every level of craft, the winning film represents a monumental achievement that fully explores the role one man, one nation, and one historical moment can play in the still-unfolding story of the global struggle for freedom and self-determination,” argued jurors Arne Birkenstock, Claire Diao, Elena Fortes, Jessica Kiang and Ryan Krivoshey, admitting that...

The opus of Karim Kassem could be divided in two parts. In the US, where he lives, he is a cameraman that took part in filming titles like “Women Who Kill”, “Patti Cake$” and “Becoming Warren Buffett”. In his home country of Lebanon, he pursues the career of a filmmaker. So far, he directed half a dozen of shorts. “Only the Winds” is his feature-length debut.

Only the Winds is screening at International Film Festival Rotterdam

The first controversy about it is its labelling. At Visions du Réel, it was screened as a documentary, while at IFFR, where we had the chance to see it in Harbour section, it was labelled a drama. To be completely on the safe side, let us say it is a docu-fiction / auto-fiction hybrid of sorts.

The filmmaker Karim Kassem, played by himself, comes to Beirut with an idea to make a film about the blind children in the mountains.

Event will include the launch of the festival’s newest and largest programme, Harbour.

International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has unveiled the first titles for its summer event, which has shifted to a hybrid format due as the pandemic continues.

The celebration of the festival’s 50th anniversary was due to run as a physical series of screenings and events from June 2-6, complementing the online-only edition of IFFR that took place in February.

It will now be presented as a hybrid event, with a film programme that will be available online in the Netherlands and physically in Rotterdam, as...

An intriguing comedy drama about a film-maker who falls foul of a taxi driver and a sex worker is atmospheric but muddled

Independent Egyptian director Ahmad Abdalla, whose previous dramatic features found favour on the festival circuit, takes a swerve into comic territory with this compact, bumpy picaresque set over 12 hours or so in Cairo. Although the dialogue touches occasionally on politics and the repressive authoritarian regime currently in power, the narrative engine is driven largely by a more universally relatable subject: the exposure of a smug member of the elite to the cruelties and petty grifts of the underclass. Think After Hours, but in Arabic, and with more police brutality.

Film director Moe (Karim Kassem) is first met having a tough day at work shooting a commercial for money; he is also being guilt tripped by a photographer friend (Donia Maher) who wants him to help champion the cause...

Netflix has acquired Luxembourgish-Egyptian director Adolf El Assal comedy Sawah, starring popular Egyptian actor Karim Kassem as a Cairo-based DJ whose trip to Europe takes an unexpected turn when his identity papers are stolen.

Netflix has acquired Luxembourgish-Egyptian director Adolf El Assal comedy Sawah, starring popular Egyptian actor Karim Kassem as a Cairo-based DJ whose trip to Europe takes an unexpected turn when his identity papers are stolen.

Under the acquisition, the film began screening in 46 countries including the Benelux, Germany, Austria, German-speaking Switzerland, Eastern Europe and the Middle East on Thursday (May 14)

It is a second feature for Alexandria-born...

Stars Karim Kassem as Cairo-based DJ Samir.

Luxembourgish-Egyptian director Adolf El Assal, a former Berlinale Talents alumnus, has touched down at the Efm this year with his second film Sawah, a hi-jinks comedy combining a storyline and talent from the Arab and European film world.

Trilingual Egyptian star Karim Kassem stars as Cairo-based DJ Samir, who is wrongly arrested as an illegal immigrant on route to a contest for DJ’s in Belgium after someone steals his identity papers.

Alexandria-born El Assal – who grew up between Dubai, London and Luxembourg – belongs to a new generation of emerging multi-cultural talent living...

The 17th Marrakech International Film Festival (Nov 30 – Dec 08) has set a jury comprising Suspiria star Dakota Johnson, Indian actress Ileana D’Cruz (Barfi!), Lebanese filmmaker and visual artist Joana Hadjithomas (I Want To See), Brit director Lynne Ramsay (We Need To Talk About Kevin), Moroccan director Tala Hadid (House In The Fields), French director Laurent Cantet (The Class), German actor Daniel Brühl (Rush) and Mexican director Michel Franco (April’s Daughter). As previously revealed, director James Gray will serve as jury president.

A total of 80 films will unspool at the festival, with Julian Schnabel’s Van Gogh biopic At Eternity’s Gate among gala screenings and also the festival’s opener. Other galas include Roma, Green Book and Capernaum while special screenings include Wildlife, Her Smell and Birds Of Passage. The official competition, galas and special screenings are listed below.

The festival will also feature tributes to Robert DeNiro, Robin Wright,...