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Erige Sehiri’s Under the Fig Trees, Asmae El Moudir’s The Mother of All Lies, Amjad Al Rasheed’s Inshallah a Boy and Scandar Copti’s Happy Holidays are just some of the recent notable films to have benefitted from the Final Cut in Venice. The Venice Film Festival’s industry program supporting works in progress from all African countries and Middle East territories is back for a ninth edition and this year we find the likes of Yemeni-uk director Sara Ishaq‘s The Station and Palestinian-British filmmaker Saeed Taji Farouky‘s Standing at the Ruins.…...

In recent years, Arab cinema has experienced a remarkable evolution, with filmmakers from the region crafting compelling narratives that resonate globally. With Palestine, against all odds, being among the top producers in terms of quality and Lebanon retaining a rather high level, the surprise comes from countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait, which seem to have taken big steps forward recently, a progress having to do with both their rich culture, and the abundance of funding available to them.

Asian Movie Pulse has been at the forefront of reviewing and highlighting such works, particularly this year, since Panos Kotzathanasis was included among the critics deciding The Critics Award for Arab Films. Below is a curated list of notable Arab films from the past few years (2022-2025) that have been featured on the platform.

1. Mediterranean Fever

“Mediterranean Fever” is an excellent film, excelling in acting, script, direction, while combining comedy...

Exclusive: Dubai-based global management and production company 75East has signed Iranian-American filmmaker and animator Liam LoPinto, whose 2023 animated short film The Old Young Crow made waves on the festival circuit.

The work was EP’d by Succession Emmy-nominated actor Arian Moayed and Academy Award-winner Rayka Zehtabchi, who was the first Iranian woman to win an Oscar in 2019 for her short film Period. End of Sentence.

Described by Flee-director Jonas Poher Rasmussen as “playful, poetic, and profound,” the short tells the story of an Iranian-born man who, upon discovering his childhood sketchbook, goes on a kaleidoscopic journey back to a Tokyo graveyard where he befriended an elderly Japanese woman long ago.

LoPinto is currently developing including a feature length adaptation of the film within a slate of other short and feature length projects.

New York-raised LoPinto has recently participated in the second edition of The Pillars Artist Fellowship. Aimed at emerging Muslim artists,...

Exclusive: Dubai-based global management and production company 75East has signed Egyptian writer, director and producer Omar Hilal, director of feel-good drama comedy Voy! Voy! Voy!, which was Egypt’s 2023 Oscar submission.

The picture, which is Hilal’s first feature, is inspired by the true story of a man who fakes blindness to join a team of visually impaired footballers bound for Poland to fulfil his dream of escaping Egypt to live in Europe.

75East Principal and Talent Manager Antone Saliba announced the signing at the Red Sea Film Festival, where he is attending the Red Sea Souk market and joined FilmNation CEO Glen Basner and Mbc Studios General Manager Zeinab Abul Al Samh among others on an industry panel this week.

Voy, Voy, Voy! was Hilal’s first feature after a 20-year career as one of the preeminent advertising directors of the Arab world.

After topping the Egyptian box office...

Screen International has named the five actors and filmmakers selected for Arab Stars of Tomorrow 2024, the eighth edition of the new talent programme for emerging Middle East and North Africa talents.

This year’s line-up includes Moroccan actress Oumaima Barid; Saudi actress Maria Bahrawi; Yemeni producer Mohsen Alkhalfi; Egyptian actor Essam Omar; and Jordanian writer-director Zain Duraie.

Arab Stars of Tomorrow celebrates Arab talent from across the Mena region and highlights the hottest up-and-coming actors, writers and directors who are primed to make their mark in the international industry.

Click on the links below to read the profiles of this year’s stars.

For the first time in more than a decade, the Cairo Film Festival will open for business.

Now kicking off its 45th edition, the Egyptian event has remained a key cultural and artistic showcase for the region and for the wider Middle East and North Africa world – but Cairo has gone without a market since scuppering that component after the country’s 2011 revolution.

Soon, that’s all about to change.

“This is the best time to reintroduce the market, because the whole of the Egyptian industry needs it very much,” says Cairo head of industry Mohamed Sayed Abdel Rehim. “So many of our filmmakers and technicians now find work in Saudi Arabia, so we want to bring more projects to Egypt and to engage more filmmakers from abroad.”

Held as part of the Cairo Industry Days, and set to open on Nov. 15, Cairo’s streamlined and revamped market will primarily feature Egyptian,...

As the Thessaloniki Film Festival’s industry arm, Agora, celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, organizers are looking to maintain the right balance for an event that continues to grow in stature while retaining its carefully curated, almost intimate feel.

To that end, industry head Angeliki Vergou — an Agora veteran who assumed her current post in 2022 — is pragmatic in her approach to the Thessaloniki event and where it fits into the broader marketplace. While several thousand exhibitors and industry professionals will descend on Las Vegas next week for a whirlwind, new-look AFM, Vergou stresses that the Agora is determined to maintain its “friendly,” personal approach.

“We really want to keep having this scale of a market — not too big, but the right amount of professionals coming and meeting with each other,” Vergou tells Variety. “Our specialty is to nurture talents and offer them their first experience in a market. An...

Exclusive: Dubai-based global management and production company 75East has signed Egyptian director Karim Shaaban, who is currently in production on his new feature 6 Days in Cairo.

He is the latest signing in a growing roster of talent on the 75East books since its launch last December with a focus on Swana (Southwest Asia and North Africa), alongside the likes of Jordanian Oscar-nominee Bassel Ghandour (Theeb) and Egyptian Palme d’Or-nominee Abu Bakr Shawky (Yomeddine).

Shaaban most recently directed the short film I Don’t Care if the World Collapses, starring Egyptian superstar Salma Abu Deif as an ambitious advertizing producer whose path crosses an actor excited about landing his first role in a commercials shoot.

The short premiered this year at the Cleveland International Film Festival, followed by a US Oscar-qualifying festival tour including Palm Springs International ShortFest and Nashville Film Festival. The film was self-produced, written by Wael Hamdy,...

Exclusive: Dubai-based global management and production company 75East has signed Lebanese writer-director Nay Tabbara, whose short film Ebb & Flow won the Student Visionary Award at its Tribeca world premiere in June.

Inspired by real events and the political instabilities of the early 2000s in Lebanon, the short follows 14-year-old Loulwa whose plans for a secret date behind her family’s back take an unexpected turn when a bomb explodes in Beirut.

The short followed its Tribeca success with an impressive Academy-Qualifying festival run, screening in competition at festivals including Palm Springs International ShortFest, IndyShorts International Film Festival, HollyShorts Film Festival, and Nashville Film Festival.

Nay Tabbara is a multi-hyphenate Lebanese filmmaker based between New York City and Beirut.

She gained experience on set, working as an assistant director in her native Lebanon for the likes of Ziad Doueiri and Mounia Akl, before moving to the U.S. to earn a...

Jordan has selected Sareen Hairabedian’s documentary My Sweet Land to represent it in the Best International Feature Film category of the 97th Academy Awards.

The documentary follows 11-year-old Vrej, who dreams of becoming a dentist in his village in Artsakh in the region Nagorno-Karabakh, which has been at the heart of a violent dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia since the 1980s.

When conflict erupts again, Vrej and his family flee, only to return to a devastated homeland after their people lost the war. As Vrej faces the new harsh realities and prepares for future battles, he wrestles with the weight of his hopes and trauma.

The film is New York-based Jordanian-Armenian director Hairabedian’s debut feature and follows her 40-minute doc We Are Not Done Yet for HBO documentary which won several awards.

The Sweet Land premiered at the Sheffield DocFest earlier this year ahead of playing a number...

Exclusive: The Thessaloniki International Film Festival’s industry-focused Agora section has selected 15 projects from 17 countries for this year’s Crossroads Co-production Forum. Scroll down for the full list of projects.

Hailing from across southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean region, the projects are in various stages of development. The selection features debut and sophomore feature films alongside more experienced directors.

Among the notable projects is the latest feature film by prolific Romanian director Adrian Sitaru. There are also sophomore film projects from Yorgos Goussis, Kaltrina Krasniqi, Diego Llorente, Nikola Mijović, Ahu Ozturk, Sonia Liza Kenterman, and Ahmad Ghossein. Debut feature filmmakers are Neritan Zinxhiria and Thelyia Petraki.

The selected projects hail from countries including the Czech Republic, Slovakia, France, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Jordan, Kosovo*, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia, Palestine, Romania, Spain, and Turkey. This year’s selection was co-curated by an advisory committee featuring industry consultant Thibaut Bracq...

Earlier today, Cineuropa’s Fabien Lemercier revealed an alluring-sounding project that we’ll be keeping a close eye on. Heading into production this week, Armenia-born, Lebanese documentary filmmaker Tamara Stepanyan has lassoed Camille Cottin and Zar Amir Ebrahimi for a complex, perhaps investigative portrait about the deception and lies from the deceased with hints of what we might have found in Amjad Al Rasheed’s Inshallah a Boy. Supporting players on Sauver Les Morts include Hovnatan Avédikian and Denis Lavant but the kicker here is that this is cinematographer Claire Mathon’s next project. La Huit Production’s Stéphane Jourdain will produce – with production lasting almost two months.…...

Afsaneh Dehrouyeh in a chadari

The Jury Awards for the inaugural Muslim International Film Festival in London were announced today, with Amjad Al Rasheed's Inshallah A Boy taking top prize. Set in Jordan, the film focuses on a mother fighting for her rights after she is widowed, and it has been a hit at festivals all around the world.

The award for Best Short went to Yellow by Elham Essas, the story of a woman shopping for her first chadari after the return of the Taliban.

The festival's Trailblazer Award went to Asif Kapadia, whose highly acclaimed films include The Warrior, Far North, Senna and Amy.

This year's jury consisted of Claudia Yusef (Head of Development at BBC Films), Leon Oteng (Production Inclusion Manager at BFI Filmmaking Fund), Neila Butt, Tas Brooker, Youssef Kerkour (BAFTA nominated...

The first Muslim International Film Festival (Miff) ended this weekend in London with Amjad Al Rasheed’s debut feature Inshallah A Boy taking the best feature gong while veteran documentarian Asif Kapadia picked up the festival’s honorary Trailblazer Award.

The festival ran from May 30 to June 2 in London. The festival was launched by producer Sajid Varda with a focus on highlighting international Muslim culture and faith through filmmakers of all backgrounds.

This year’s competition jury featured Claudia Yusef (Head of Development at BBC Films), Leon Oteng (Production Inclusion Manager at BFI Filmmaking Fund), Neila Butt, Tas Brooker, actor Youssef Kerkour (Channel 4’s Home).

Accepting the best feature award, Rasheed said: “I’m honored to be competing with these great films and winning Best Feature at the Muslim International Film Festival. Thank you Miff, thank you jury.

Exclusive: Dubai-based management and production company 75East has signed Palestinian director Mahdi Fleifel, whose narrative feature debut To A Land Unknown is playing in Directors’ Fortnight this year.

75East, was launched last December by former Mister Smith sales executive Antone Saliba under the banner Untamed Talent with a focus on the Swana region (South West Asia and North Africa), and has recently rebranded.

The only Palestinian feature in Cannes this year, To A Land Unknown tells the story of the desperate attempts of two Palestinian cousins stranded in Athens to find a way to reach Germany.

Chatila and Reda are saving to pay for fake passports to get out of Athens. When Reda loses their hard-earned cash to his drug addiction, Chatila hatches an extreme plan, which involves them posing as smugglers and taking hostages in an effort to get him and his best friend out of their hopeless environment before it is too late.

Sudanese first-timer Mohamed Kordofani’s “Goodbye Julia,” a timely morality tale that takes place just before the 2011 secession of South Sudan, has won top awards for both fest feature film and best screenplay at the eighth edition of the Critics Awards for Arab Films that will be handed out today at the Plage des Palmes in Cannes.

The first Sudanese film ever to screen in Cannes’ official selection, where it premiered in Un Certain Regard last year, “Goodbye Julia” (pictured) is the story of two women — one from the North, the other from the South — who are brought together by fate in a complex relationship that attempts to reconcile differences between northern and southern Sudanese communities in the war-ravaged country.

Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s hybrid doc-drama “Four Daughters,” about an Arab mother contending with the Islamic radicalization and the sexual desires of her teenage daughters, scored three awards: best director for Ben Hania,...

Mohamed Kordofani’s Goodbye Julia has won best film at the 8th Critics Awards for Arab Films, which will celebrate its winners in Cannes today.

The film, which was the first from Sudan ever selected for Cannes where it premiered in Un Certain Regard last year, also picked up best screenplay for feature debut writer/director Kordofani.

Tunisian documentary-drama hybrid Four Daughters secured three awards: best director for Kaouther Ben Hania, best documentary and best editing for the work of Qutaiba Barhamji. The film also played at last year’s Cannes, winning the Golden Eye for director Ben Hania, and...

The Arab Cinema Center has published this year's “Golden 101”, its annual list of the 101 most influential figures in Arab cinema in its 22nd edition of Arab Cinema Magazine, which is being circulated at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival and can be accessed on the Marché du Film website.

Celebrating individuals and institutions who have made the most significant impact on the Arab film industry over the past twelve months, this year's Golden 101 comprises of 13 directors, 16 producers, 14 actors, five crew members, 18 distributors from 12 institutions, 12 executives from 10 governmental cinema institutions, 11 executives from seven video-on-demand platforms, 11 representatives from seven festivals, and seven executives from film financing institutions.

Commenting on this year's Golden 101 list, Colin Brown, Mad Solutions' Managing Partner for International Operations said; “These are the artists, artisans, and power brokers who have distinguished themselves this past year – and the rest of the world should pay attention to them if...

Untamed Talent, the recently launched Arab world management and production company led by former Mister Smith Entertainment executive Antone Saliba is rebranding as 75East and bringing on board Shams Mohajerani, a former acquisitions executive at Cairo-based Mad Solutions, as manager and producer.

The change in name to 75East of the company, which launched last December with backing from Front Row Productions – a joint venture between leading Middle East distribution companies Front Row Filmed Entertainment and Empire Entertainment – is a geographical reference to the wider Southwest Asian and North African (Swana) region from Morocco to Pakistan, “reflecting the company’s commitment to representing talent beyond Arabic-speaking territories,” according to a statement.

The addition of Mohajerani, an Iranian-American raised in Boston, will expand the company’s reach outside the Arab world and commit to its focus on neighboring territories “including the Persian-speaking world, as well as filmmakers with ties to the region...

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,...

Sudanese first-timer Mohamed Kordofani’s “Goodbye Julia,” a timely morality tale that takes place just before the 2011 secession of South Sudan, and Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s “Four Daughters” lead the way in nominations for the eighth edition of the Critics Awards for Arab films, winners of which will be announced during the Cannes Film Festival.

The first Sudanese film ever to screen in Cannes’ official selection, “Goodbye Julia” (pictured) is the story of two women — one from the North, the other from the South — who are brought together by fate in a complex relationship that attempts to reconcile differences between northern and southern Sudanese communities in the currently war-ravaged country.

The drama, which marked Kordofani’s debut, has scored nominations in seven categories of the Arab film awards, including best feature, director, screenplay, actress, actor and editing.

Ben Hania’s hybrid doc/drama “Four Daughters,” about an Arab...

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,...

Last year the Critics’ Week section introduced us to first and second features from the likes of Vladimir Perišić, Iris Kaltenbäck, Amanda Nell Eu, Amjad Al Rasheed and Marie Amachoukeli. In 2024, Ava Cahen’s team viewed 1050 feature films have loaded up the competition (and Special Screenings section) with eleven features. France is unsurprisingly the dominant representation country with five selections and three co-productions. Opening with Jonathan Millet‘s Les Fantômes (aka Ghost Trail) which was coined as a Cairo Conspiracy meets the surveillance world of The Lives Of Others this stars Adam Bessa, Tawfeek Barhom, Julia Franz Richter, Hala Rajab and unfolds in modern-day Strasbourg.…...

Jordanian Royal Film Commission managing director Mohannad Al-Bakri will be fêted during the Berlin Film Festival by the Arab Cinema Center with its Arab Cinema Personality of the Year Award.

The award honors prominent industry figures who have “helped elevate the Arab film industry in the eyes of the international filmmaking community as a whole,” a statement said. The Arab Cinema Center – which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year – is an umbrella group that serves as a catalyst for the Arab industry at top festivals and film markets around the world.

Al-Bakri started out at Jordan’s Rfc in 2007 as a capacity-building manager and rapidly rose to the role of managing director in 2009. Since then, he has spearheaded the commission’s funding and training programs and built local crew capacity in the leadup to the inauguration of Jordan’s first dedicated film studio complex, Olivewood Film Studios, which in...

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...]...

In a lull for specialty openings early in the new year, three foreign-language films are taking a shot. The Settlers, winner of the Cannes Un Certain Regard Fipresci Prize, and Inshallah A Boy are Cannes alumns and Oscar submissions from, respectively, Chile and Jordan (neither short-listed in a competitive field). Driving Madeleine is a crowd pleasing French film.

The Settlers is a western presented by Mubi in limited release at the IFC Center/NY and Laemmle Royal/LA. The debut feature by writer-director Felipe Galvez is a frontier epic set at the turn of the 20th century as three horsemen set out across the Tierra del Fuego archipelago tasked with securing a wealthy landowner’s vast property. Accompanying a reckless British lieutenant and an American mercenary is mestizo marksman Segundo, who comes to realize their true mission is much darker. Stars Mark Stanley, Camillo Arancibia and Benjamin Westfall. Screenplay by Galvez and Antonia Girardi.

Set in Amman and in an unjust, severely outdated legal system where archaic rules are meant to keep in place the gender divide (here the inheritance law forgets that women exist), Inshallah A Boy (which premiered in the Cannes Critics’ Week section in 2023) plays like a social drama but is infused with enough twists and turns that we could easily mistaken it for a thriller. In Amjad Al Rasheed‘s feature debut (it was Jordan’s International Oscar entry for the Oscars – and the first ever selection at Cannes for a film from this country), we find ourselves nearly rendered defenseless and powerless observers in the face of a nuanced and challenging journey undertaken by the film’s focal point—Nawal, a recently widowed woman portrayed with remarkable groundedness by Mouna Hawa.…...

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,...

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...

Inshallah a Boy is the subtle yet deeply affecting feature-length directorial debut from Jordanian filmmaker Amjad Al Rasheed. This drama — which is Jordan's submission for the Academy Awards — follows Nawal, a mother whose husband dies suddenly one night, leaving her unmoored in a society dependent on husbands and fathers. Al Rasheed co-wrote the screenplay with Delphine Agut and Rula Nasser over the course of five years or so, and this meticulous editing paid off. It's clear that a great degree of care has gone into this story, which plays out steadily over the movie's 113-minute runtime.

So many elements of this project are impressive, from its elegant construction to the effortless conveyance of its ideas, it's smooth all the way through. This is not to say it's always an easy watch, several moments are far from it, but it's never forced or overly expositional. Our central character, Nawal, is played...

"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,...

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,...

The third Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia put a spotlight on movies from the Middle East and North Africa region.

It also presented an opportunity to bring together six filmmakers with strong cinematic voices for the first-ever Hollywood Reporter roundtable at the fest, in partnership with Neom.

Among those participating in the roundtable were two past Oscar nominees and four hopefuls for the 2024 best international feature Oscar.

Representing Saudi Arabia was Ali Alkalthami, whose Mandoob, a satirical drama exploring the class divide, screened in the Red Sea festival’s competition. Tunisia’s Kaouther Ben Hania, an Oscar nominee in 2021 for The Man Who Sold His Skin, brought Four Daughters, an experimental documentary-drama hybrid in which professional actors re-enact a family’s devastating experience of loss and that won the doc award in Cannes, to the fest’s Arab Spectacular lineup. It is also Tunisia’s submission...

Every year since its creation in 1956, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) invites the film industries of various countries to submit their best film for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. The category was previously called the Best Foreign Language Film, but this was changed in April 2019 to Best International Feature Film, after the Academy deemed the word “Foreign” to be outdated.

The award is presented annually by the Academy to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-English dialogue. For the 96th Academy Awards, the submitted motion pictures must be first released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline for submissions to the Academy was October 2, 2023, and 92 countries submitted a film. The 15-film shortlist will be announced on December 21, 2023, followed by the official nominations on January 23, 2024.

Here are this edition's Asian Submissions for Best International Feature Film.

Seven films backed by Fund have been submitted to the Academy Awards’ international feature category

One of the targets for the Red Sea Fund when it launched three years ago was to “be part of the Oscars somehow by 2027, according to fund manager Emad Eskander.

“But it happened this year – we have seven films shortlisted for the Oscars,” Eskander told a Red Sea panel session, to loud applause from the audience.

The seven Red Sea-backed films submitted in the international feature category are Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters, submitted by Tunisia, Mohamed Kordofani’s Goodbye Julia (Sudan), Ahmed Yassin Al Daradji...

The moves comes as the leading Mena distributor ramps up activity.

Dubai-based distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment has promoted Nicolas Torloting, Carine Chaiban and Elie Touma to partners as the company increases activity in the region.

The trio joined in early 2019 as part of a revamp of the company, which is one of the leading distributors of independent and genre films in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena). Torloting is Front Row’s COO, with Chaiban heading post-theatrical sales and Touma leading acquisitions and theatrical distribution.

The company, founded by Gianluca Chakra in 2003, handles the release of more than 200 films per year,...

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.

The third edition of the Red Sea Film Festival, taking place in Jeddah between Nov. 30 – Dec. 9, will be the culmination of a highly successful funding cycle for the Red Sea Film Foundation. Created in 2019 following the lifting of Saudi Arabia’s 30-year cinema ban, the foundation aims to support the local and regional film industry through the organizing and championing of the festival, plus a focus on education and grants.

In 2021, the foundation launched the Red Sea Fund, a financing arm focused on supporting emerging filmmakers and established directors from the Arab world and Africa. Grants were distributed between projects in development, production and post-production. The fund supported 94 projects in the first year and over 250 films in the two years since, including films by acclaimed filmmakers such as Abderrahmane Sissako, Haifaa Al-Mansour and Kaouther Ben Hania.

The impact of the fund was felt throughout the biggest festivals in the world...

The drama marks the feature directorial debut of Saudi actress and filmmaker Fatima AlBanawi.

Netflix has boarded upcoming Saudi drama Basma, the feature directorial debut of Saudi actress and filmmaker Fatima AlBanawi, and will exclusively premiere the film on the streaming platform in 2024.

AlBanawi also wrote the script and stars as the title character, a young Saudi woman who returns back to her hometown after studying in the US, only to discover that her family have been hiding her father’s mental illness and broken relationships. A first look at the film can be seen above.

Filmed in Jeddah, it...

Untamed Talent, a management and production company led by former Mister Smith Entertainment executive Antone Saliba, is launching with the backing of Dubai-based Front Row Productions, a joint venture of leading Middle East distribution companies Front Row Filmed Entertainment and Empire Entertainment.

Front Row Productions will provide capital and strategic value to support Untamed Talent’s goals to innovate new business models covering the South West Asia and North Africa region, the fastest-growing entertainment market in the world. The focus will be not only on representing filmmakers from established Middle East industry hubs of Egypt and Saudi, it will also identify, develop and promote talent from traditionally underrepresented countries within the region such as Jordan, Morocco, Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey and Iran.

Untamed will work on a non-exclusive basis with all production and distribution parties in the region, as well as U.S. and international studios and streamers to maximize opportunities for its clients.

‘Hajjan’ director Abu Bakr Shawky and ‘Theeb’ producer’ Bassel Ghandour on initial clint roster.

Untamed Talent, a new management and production company led by former Mister Smith Entertainment executive Antone Saliba, has launched with the backing of Dubai-based Front Row Productions and unveiled its first roster of clients.

The firm will represent filmmakers from the established Middle East industry hubs of Egypt and Saudi as well as promoting talent from more underrepresented countries in South West Asia and North Africa such as Jordan, Morocco, Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey, and Iran.

Front Row Productions, a joint venture of leading Middle East distribution...

Former Mister Smith Entertainment exec Antone Saliba is spearheading a newly launched management and production company focused on the Middle East and the South West Asia and North Africa (Swana) region.

Untamed Entertainment, unveiled from the Red Sea Film Festival in Saudi Arabia, comes with backing from Dubai-based Front Row Productions, the joint venture between distribution companies Front Row Filmed Entertainment and Empire Entertainment.

Alongside representing filmmakers from the established Middle East industry hubs of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Untamed aims to identify, develop, and promote talent from traditionally underrepresented countries within the region, such as Jordan, Morocco, Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey, and Iran. It plans to work on a non-exclusive basis with all production and distribution parties in the region, as well as U.S. and international studios and streamers.

The company’s opening roster of clients includes an impressive mix of critically acclaimed writers and directors, including Palme d...

Former Mister Smith sales executive Antone Saliba has launched management and production company Untamed Talent, with the backing of Dubai-based Front Row Productions.

The latter company, which is a joint venture of leading Middle East distribution companies Front Row Filmed Entertainment and Empire Entertainment, will provide capital and strategic value for the new banner.

Saliba, who was a sales and acquisitions executive under David Garrett at Mister Smith, wants to create new content business models for the fast-growing entertainment sectors of the Swana region, covering Southwest Asia and North Africa.

As well as representing filmmakers from the established Mena industry hubs of Egypt and Saudi, the new company will also identify, develop, and promote talent from traditionally underrepresented countries within the region such as Jordan, Morocco, Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey and Iran.

The company will work on a non-exclusive basis with production and distribution parties in the region, as well as U.

Saudi event has become a magnet for international execs and talent

As the third edition Red Sea International Film Festival kicks off today, the fledgling Saudi event has fast become a magnet for an international industry looking to access funding, talent and stories from the Middle East.

A significant number of international sales agents, distributors, financiers, producers and festival chiefs are travelling to Jeddah for Red Sea for the first time this year, making the trip despite regional tensions caused by Israel-Hamas war and an anticipated post-strike scaling up of production in the US and Europe.

At a time...

Anne-Cécile Rolland has been appointed to the role and start in February.

Anne-Cécile Rolland has been named head of acquisitions for France’s Pyramide Distribution and Pyramide International, taking over for Christine Ravet who will step down from her position at the end of the year.

Ravet is retiring after a more than 40-year career in auteur cinema. Before joining Pyramide, she was director of acquisitions at mk2 Films and a member of the selection committee for Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight.

She was notably behind Pyramide’s acquisitions of Laura Poitras’ Venice-winning All The Beauty And The Bloodshed, Amjad Al Rasheed...

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...

Legendary Hollywood director Martin Scorsese will not attend Marrakech Film Festival’s Atlas Workshops due to personal reasons. The Oscar-winning filmmaker was slated to serve as an artistic mentor for Marrakech’s industry arm, which spotlights development titles and works-in-progress from dynamic new talents from across the Mena (Middle East and North Africa) world’s filmmaking ventures.

As he was supposed to be the trainer for its 2023 lessons, Scorsese planned to mentor certain select filmmakers, offering one-on-one artistic and strategic advice for each and every project, according to Deadline.

However, on last notice, the director said he is unable to travel. While not disclosing the reasons for not travelling, Scorsese, wanting to engage with the workshop members on a face-to-face basis, refused to do online lessons.

Instead, he decided to call it off for the moment and promised to return the moment his matters were resolved.

Regarding the reasons, neither...

Legendary Hollywood director Martin Scorsese will not attend Marrakech Film Festival’s Atlas Workshops due to personal reasons. The Oscar-winning filmmaker was slated to serve as an artistic mentor for Marrakech’s industry arm, which spotlights development titles and works-in-progress from dynamic new talents from across the Mena (Middle East and North Africa) world’s filmmaking ventures.

As he was supposed to be the trainer for its 2023 lessons, Scorsese planned to mentor certain select filmmakers, offering one-on-one artistic and strategic advice for each and every project, according to Deadline.

However, on last notice, the director said he is unable to travel. While not disclosing the reasons for not travelling, Scorsese, wanting to engage with the workshop members on a face-to-face basis, refused to do online lessons.

Instead, he decided to call it off for the moment and promised to return the moment his matters were resolved.

Regarding the reasons, neither...

Martin Scorsese will no longer attend nor participate in the Marrakech Film Festival’s Atlas Workshops, citing personal reasons.

The award-winning filmmaker was slated to serve as artistic godfather for Marrakech’s industry arm, which spotlights development titles and works-in-progress from dynamic new talents from across the Mena world. Lending his name to this year’s class, Scorsese planned to mentor the selected filmmakers, offering one-on-one artistic and strategic advice for each and every project.

Unable to travel due to personal reasons, and preferring to engage with workshop participants in a more direct way, the filmmaker will take a rain check, promising to return, in person, for a subsequent edition. News broke from sources close to the Atlas team, while neither festival nor filmmaker are expected to make a formal statement.

Despite this recent turn, event organizers promise no further changes to a program that has quickly become a leading incubator for eye-turning fare.

Yorgos Lanthimos drama ‘Poor Things’ won two prizes.

Warwick Thornton was awarded the Golden Frog at Poland’s Camerimage International Film Festival on Saturday (November 18) for drama The New Boy.

The Australian Indigenous filmmaker received the festival’s top prize at a ceremony in the Polish town of Torun, where the director was recognised for his role as cinematographer on the film. Accepting the award, Thornton paid tribute to his fellow filmmakers and said: “I’ve had tears in my eyes the whole week and it’s not because of the alcohol or the cold weather. It’s the love of cinematography,...