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“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,...

Filmmaker and journalist Dorothée-Myriam Kellou has announced the creation of a new collective, Rawiyat – Sisters in Film, at the El Gouna Film Festival.

Speaking on the “Women’s Empowerment Through Film” panel at the festival, Kellou said: “The English name is Sisters in Film, and the Arabic name, Rawiyat, is the feminine term for storytellers. There are nine of us who are co-founders of the collective. We had all recently gone through the emotionally wrought and financially draining experience of making our first film. And we realized that it would be very hard to do a second film, without more emotional and financial support.”

The group, which will be headquarters in Paris and Tunis, was founded by Naziha Arebi (Libya/U.K.), Yasmina Chouikh (Algeria), Danielle Davie (Lebanon), Myriam El Hage (Lebanon), Kellou (Algeria/France), Dina Naser (Jordan), Erige Sehiri (Tunisia), Lina Soualem (Palestine/Algeria/France) and Kawthar Younis (Egypt).

They have created a manifesto,...

Leading Arab filmmaker Najwa Najjar has announced that her next film project will be “Kiss of a Stranger,” from an original script she wrote during the lockdown.

“Kiss of a Stranger” is a musical set during the Golden Age of Egyptian cinema in the 1930s. Taking place in the cosmopolitan city of Alexandria, where strangers from all walks of life are searching for richer, more meaningful experiences, the film will take a fun and exciting look at the birth of the Egyptian film industry, using the power of music, dance and cinema.

Recently elected to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Jordanian-Palestinian filmmaker was attending the El Gouna Film Festival to discuss the script for her fourth film with high-profile Egyptian actors and potential heads of department. She is also location scouting as she looks for venues that will capture the magic of pre-war Alexandria.

Speaking at El Gouna,...

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...

Other winners include ’Ghost Tropic’, ‘The Fourth Wall’ and ’A Certain Kind of Silence’.

Immigrant drama I Am No Longer Here, from Mexican director Fernando Frias, has won the Golden Pyramid for best film at the 41st Cairo International Film Festival.

Scroll down for full list of winners

Frias’ timely drama centres on a Mexican teenager forced to move to the Us after getting on the wrong side of a drugs cartel. Its young star, Juan Daniel Garcia Trevino, was feted with best actor.

Also in the international competition, Belgian director Bas Devos won the Silver Pyramid for urban night-time odyssey tale Ghost Tropic.

“I’m No Longer Here,” a drama about immigration and identity by young Mexican director Fernando Frias, was the big winner at the Cairo Film Festival, which wrapped Friday.

“I’m No Longer Here,” which turns on a 17-year-old urban tribe leader forced by conflict with a cartel to leave Mexico for Queens, scooped Cairo’s top prize, the Golden Pyramid, for best film. It also took acting honors for newcomer Juan Daniel Garcia Trevino, who plays Ulises Sampiero, leader of Los Terkos, who are known for their dance moves and extravagant hairstyles. In Queens, Ulises winds up either sparking hostility from other immigrants or being treated as a fashion curiosity. The pic, which launched internationally in Cairo, is generating buzz after recently scoring the top prize at the Morelia fest in Mexico.

The Cairo jury, headed by Oscar-winning U.S. writer-director Stephen Gaghan (“Syriana”), awarded the Silver Pyramid to “Ghost Tropic” by Belgian helmer Bas Devos,...