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The wars in Gaza and Ukraine have dominated headlines for the past several years, yet receiving relatively little coverage today is the Syrian civil war, sparked in the wake of 2011’s Arab Spring. It is yet ongoing and stands now at an uneasy stalemate. Over a decade of fighting, horrifying humanitarian and war-time crimes were committed; all the while 13 million Syrians were displaced from their homes. These refugees, lost in foreign countries offering asylum, are still looking for answers and perhaps a reckoning and retribution. Director Jonathan Millet’s debut narrative feature Ghost Trail dives deep into one survivor’s psyche and lays bare the cost of a conflict from which the world seems to have moved on.

In Strasbourg, France, mild-mannered asylum-seeker Hamid (Adam Bessa) is doing odd jobs, moving in Syrian exile circles, looking for a man who he says is his cousin lost during the war. Occasionally...

Entérate de cómo esta película ofrecerá una nueva perspectiva sobre la historia de la infancia de Jesús.

Según informa Deadline, Nicolas Cage (“Cara a Cara”), FKA Twigs (“Honey boy”) y Noah Jupe (“Un Lugar Tranquilo”) protagonizarán “The Carpenter’s Son”, una película del director egipcio-estadounidense Lotfy Nathan (“Harka”), que explora la historia de la infancia de Jesús desde un punto de vista de terror.

Inspirada en el apócrifo Evangelio de la Infancia de Tomás para el guion, un texto que data del siglo II d.C., la película cuenta la oscura historia de una familia que se esconde en el Egipto romano. El hijo, conocido solo como ‘el Niño’, es llevado a la duda por otro niño misterioso y se rebela contra su tutor, el Carpintero, revelando poderes inherentes y un destino más allá de su comprensión. A medida que ejerce su propio poder, el Chico y su familia se...

French director Jonathan Millet riffs on manhunt tropes in “Ghost Trail,” the psychological thriller that will be the Cannes Critics’ Week opener.

Variety has been given an exclusive first-look clip from the film, which is inspired by real-life events.

“Ghost Trail” is the story of a Syrian man named Hamid who is part of a secret group pursuing fugitive leaders that perpetrated horrors in the name of the Syrian regime during the country’s civil war.

His mission takes him to France, on the trail of his former torturer. And he manages to tracks him down, as it appears from the clip.

“But with his judgment clouded by pressure, doubt and revenge, can he be certain of the righteousness of his own actions?” the synopsis reads.

Millet, who previously co-directed doc “Ceuta, Douce Prison” – about five migrants who leave their lands to try their luck in Europe and end up...

Nicolas Cage has a knack for picking interesting films lately. Even if the final product isn’t so great, there’s no denying Cage likes to perform in films that are unique. And his latest, titled ‘The Carpenter’s Son” looks to be no different.

Read More: ‘Arcadian’ Review: Nic Cage-Led Monster Movie Manages Heart & Horror in Equal Measure

According to Deadline, Nicolas Cage is set to star opposite FKA Twigs, Noah Jupe, and Souheila Yacoub in the upcoming supernatural horror film, “The Carpenter’s Son.” The film, directed by Lotfy Nathan takes inspiration from the Bible and Jesus’ childhood to tell the story of a boy who discovers he has powers after rebelling against his guardian.

Continue reading ‘The Carpenter’s Son’: Nicolas Cage, FKA Twigs & More Star In Horror Film Inspired By Jesus’ Childhood at The Playlist.

Can I interest you in a horror movie about Jesus? How about a horror movie about Jesus ... starring Nicolas Cage? The new movie "The Carpenter's Son" will be just that — a horror pic inspired by the unknown childhood years of Jesus H. Christ himself. For those of you not very schooled in a little book called The Bible, just know that after Jesus' birth is recounted, almost nothing is known about his childhood. The traditional story traditionally jump-cuts to his adult years when he's starting out his ministry. However, there are unofficial, uncanonical texts that recount Jesus' youth, including the apocryphal gospel the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. This apocryphal gospel will be the basis for "The Carpenter's Son," which hails from director Lotfy Nathan.

According to Deadline, Cage will play the Carpenter, aka Joseph, Jesus' adoptive father. Jesus' mother, Mary, will be played by FKA twigs, and Big J himself,...

The Nicolas Cage resurgence as of late has interestingly mostly found him in more abstract kinds of films as opposed to his more commercially appealing blockbusters of yesteryear. While many have pined for a National Treasure 3, Cage has been partaking in indie films like Pig, Mandy and Dream Scenario. However, he would also mix in a couple mass audience projects like The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and Renfield. Deadline has now reported that Cage is set to star in The Carpenter’s Son, a horror tale that’s based on the rarely-told childhood of Jesus Christ.

The official synopsis for The Carpenter’s Son reads,

“The Carpenter’s Son tells the dark story of a family hiding out in Roman Egypt. The son, known only as ‘the Boy’, is driven to doubt by another mysterious child and rebels against his guardian, the Carpenter, revealing inherent powers and a fate beyond his comprehension.

Exclusive: Nicolas Cage, FKA twigs, Noah Jupe and Souheila Yacoub are set to star in Egyptian-American director Lotfy Nathan’s The Carpenter’s Son exploring the rarely told story of the childhood of Jesus with a horror take.

Paris-based Cinenovo and L.A.-based Spacemaker are producing. Goodfellas is overseeing international sales apart from in North America, which it will co-rep with Anonymous Content and WME.

Nathan has taken inspiration from the apocryphal Infancy Gospel of Thomas for the screenplay. Dating back to the 2nd Century Ad, the text recounts the childhood of Jesus.

Per the official synopsis, “The Carpenter’s Son tells the dark story of a family hiding out in Roman Egypt. The son, known only as ‘the Boy’, is driven to doubt by another mysterious child and rebels against his guardian, the Carpenter, revealing inherent powers and a fate beyond his comprehension. As he exercises his own power,...

Arab distributor Mad Solutions has taken distribution rights for Arab world territories on French director Jonathan Millet’s “Ghost Trail,” ahead of the psychological thriller’s upcoming world premiere as the opening film of Cannes Critics’ Week.

“Ghost Trail” is being sold by French arthouse production and distribution giant MK2.

Inspired by real-life events, “Ghost Trail” is the story of a Syrian man named Hamid who is part of a secret group pursuing fugitive leaders who perpetrated horrors in the name of the Syrian regime during the country’s civil war.

“His mission takes him to France, on the trail of his former torturer whom he must confront. But with his judgment clouded by pressure, doubt and revenge, can he be certain of the righteousness of his own actions?” the provided synopsis reads.

Cannes Critics’ Week artistic director Ava Cahen has described “Ghost Trail” as a “thrilling sensory film in...

The initiative celebrates Arab talent and highlights the hottest up-and-coming actors, writers and directors from the region.

Screen International has unveiled the five emerging Middle East and North Africa talents in the fields of acting and directing selected for the seventh edition of Arab Stars Of Tomorrow.

This year’s line-up comprises Adwa Bader, the actress and poet from Saudi Arabia; Jordan’s Cynthia Madanat Sharaiha, director; Egyptian writer and director Morad Mostafa; Palestinian actor Muhammad Abed El Rahman; and fellow Jordanian actress Noor Taher.

The initiative celebrates Arab talent and highlights the hottest up-and-coming actors, writers and directors who...

This year’s selection of five rising talents will be unveiled on Friday, December 1

The seventh edition of Screen International’s talent-spotting initiative Arab Stars of Tomorrow will once again launch at this year’s Red Sea International Film Festival (November 30-December 9).

This year’s selection of five rising talents will be unveiled on Friday, December 1 in Screen’s second Red Sea print daily and on Screendaily.com.

On Saturday, December 2 the stars will take part in a panel discussion at 2pm Ast at the festival hosted by Screen, following a breakfast reception

Arab Stars of Tomorrow celebrates Arab talent...

The Blue Caftan by Moroccan director and Cannes 2023 Jury member Maryam Touzani has topped the nominations in the seventh edition of the Critics Awards for Arab Films.

The portrait of marriage and stifled sexuality, starring Saleh Bakri and Lubna Azabal has been nominated in seven categories including best film, actor, actress, director, screenplay, cinematography and music.

The film world premiered in Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2022 and went on to be Morocco’s best international film submission for the 2023 Academy Awards making it as far as the first long list.

The Critics Awards for Arab Films are overseen by the Arab Cinema Centre and judged by 193 critics from 72 countries. The winners will be announced at a ceremony during Cannes.

To qualify for consideration, films need to have premiered at international film festivals outside of the Arab world in 2022; involve at least one Arab world production company, and be feature-length.

Other...

Adam Bessa's career continues to impress with his latest film Harka - which is released in the UK tomorrow (May 5). The French-Tunisian star received critical plaudits for Sofia Djama's Algeria-set drama The Blessed and his multilingual skills saw him go on to reach wider audiences with Matthew Michael Carnahan's Mosul and Netflix's Extraction - the sequel to which will air later this year. In the past year, he's been garnering awards heat for his intense central performance in Lotfy Nathan's Harka, winning the Best Actor award in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes and at the Red Sea Film Festival.

He plays Ali, a Tunisian scraping by as part of the illegal gasoline trade whose dreams of escaping the country for a better life are scuppered after he finds himself trying to look after his...

Dramatising the tragedy of a Tunisian man inspired by street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi, Lotfy Nathan’s film draws on deep sorrow and anger

Lotfy Nathan has drawn from a deep well of sorrow and rage for this anguished drama, leading the audience to its horrible dénouement like a trail of burning petrol: the title itself means “burning”. It is inspired by the story of Mohamed Bouazizi, the Tunisian street vendor who in 2011 ignited the Arab Spring (all too literally) by setting himself on fire outside the governor’s office in the central Tunisian city of Sidi Bouzid – making it the uprising’s Ground Zero – in protest against official corruption and the police who had beaten him when he could no longer pay their bribes.

Adam Bessa plays Ali, a young guy who sells black-market petrol on a street corner, paying off hatchet-faced cops as he does so while dreaming of...

Lotfy Nathan's Tunisian-set drama Harka arrives in cinemas this week after a strong festival run since last year's Cannes and with a raft of awards under its belt. Its star Adam Bessa was named best actor in the French festival's Un Certain Regard section for an intense central performance, that has gone on to win additional accolades elsewhere. He plays Ali - a character inspired by the real life tragedy of Mohamed Bouazizi - who sells illegal gasoline to make ends meet. Nathan's tale follows Ali as he finds himself trying to take care of his younger sisters Alyssa (Salima Maatoug) and Sarra (Ikbal Harbi) following the death of his father while facing an increasing amount of social injustice. We caught up with Nathan to talk about the inspiration for the film and the...

Studio Soho has debuted a new trailer for Lotfy Nathan’s feature directorial debut ‘Harka.’

A modern-day parable about resistance, the film centres on the story of Ali, a young Tunisian who dreams of a better life, making a precarious living selling contraband gas at the local black market. When his father suddenly dies, he’s forced to take charge of his two younger sisters and their impending eviction. What ensues is a fight for dignity. The voice of a generation still trying to be heard 10 years after the Arab Spring.

Directed by Lotfy Nathan, the film received critical acclaim following a wide festival run including Cannes. Adam Bessa stars.

Also in trailers – Teaser flies in for season 2 of AppleTV+ docu-series ‘Prehistoric Planet’

The film hits cinemas on May 5th.

The post Trailer lands for ‘Harka’ appeared first on HeyUGuys.

Exclusive: Anonymous Content is elevating longtime literary managers and producers Ryan Cunningham, David Kanter and Nicole Romano to partner.

Cunningham joined Anonymous Content in 2019 from Madhouse Entertainment where he had been a manager and producer for a decade. On the management side, his clients include filmmakers Scott Beck & Bryan Woods (65), Derek Tsang (The Three Body Problem), Daniel Goldhaber and Isa Mazzei (How to Blow Up a Pipeline); showrunners and writers Steven DeKnight (Spartacus), Jewel Coronel (The Chi), Seamus Fahey (Walker: Independence) and Sonya Winton & Jonathan Kidd (Lovecraft Country), Darnell Metayer and Josh Peters (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts), Neil Uliano and Bryan Schulz (The Peanuts Movie), and Ben Queen (The Addams Family 2). Cunningham most recently produced the Sky/Relativity feature The Independent, and executive-produced Stephen King adaptation The Boogeyman, which will be released in June by 20th Century Studios and Disney.

Kanter is a producer and manager at Anonymous...

It was approximately 11:30am on the 17th of Decmber, 2010, when Mohamed Bouazizi – better known to his friends as Basbousa – set himself on fire. He would die two weeks later in hospital. By then his desperate action would have inspired thousands to join the Tunisian revolution and contributed to the broader movemnent which became known as the Arab Spring. Major political changes have occurred in his country since – for good or ill – but the poverty which appears to have motivated him is still widespread. The world at large continues to turn a blind eye to such suffering.

One man who took notice of Basbousa’s act was US filmmaker Lotfy Nathan, who was inspired to explore that kind of poverty and the despair it causes in this film. Here we follow Ali (Adam Bessa), who makes his living, as many people do, by selling gasoline without a permit....

Robert Pattinson’s production company Icki Eneo Arlo and LA-based independent production company Spacemaker Productions have joined the filmmaking team for Sebastian Silva’s outrageous black comedy Rotting In The Sun, starring Silva and comedian Jordan Firstman.

Rotting In The Sun, produced by Hidden Content, The Lift, and in association with Caffeine Post, will have its world premiere at Sundance 2023 in the Premieres section. This is Silva’s fifth time back at Sundance, where he’s previously won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize and Directing Award. Range Select is handling domestic sales.

In the film, frustrated Ketamine-addled artist Sebastian Silva crosses paths with ingratiating comedian-influencer Jordan Firstman on a nude beach in Mexico. When Firstman goes to visit him in Mexico City, he finds his new collaborator has mysteriously disappeared, and his put-upon housekeeper Vero is acting suspicious.

“We’re beyond...

Dominik Moll’s The Night of The 12th has won best film at the 28th edition of France’s Lumière Awards in Paris on Monday evening.

The investigative drama, which was nominated in six categories, also won Best Screenplay.

The film, which debuted in the Cannes Film Festival’s non-competitive Cannes Première section, stars Bastien Bouillon as a police detective who becomes obsessed with a case involving a complex female murder victim.

Best director went to Albert Serra for French Polynesia-set drama Pacification. The feature also clinched two other prizes: Best Actor for Benoît Magimal and Best Cinematography for Artur Tort.

Virginie Efira won Best Actress for her performance in Rebecca Zlotowski’s Other People’s Children about the challenge of navigating the stepmother role.

Nadia Tereszkiewicz won Best Female Revelation for her performance in Forever Young and Dimitri Doré, Best Male Revelation for Bruno Reidal.

Alice Diop clinched best documentary category for We,...

Dominik Moll’s The Night of The 12th, which world premiered in Cannes in May, has topped the nominations for the 28th edition of France’s Lumière Awards.

The awards are voted on by members of the international press corp hailing from 36 countries based in France.

The Night Of The 12th was nominated in six categories including best film, director and screenplay. The film debuted in the Cannes Film Festival’s non competitive Cannes Première section.

The investigative drama is Moll’s seventh feature. It stars Bastien Bouillon, with support from Bouli Lanners, as a police detective who becomes obsessed with a case involving a complex female murder victim.

Other multi-nominated titles include Albert Serra’s French Polynesia-set drama Pacification five nominations.

Four films received four nominations each: Alice Diop’s Saint-Omer; Rebecca Zlotowski’s Other People’s Children; Louis Garrel’s The Innocent and Gaspar Noé’s Vortex.

Diop,...

The compelling contemporary drama “Harka” takes place more than a decade after the start of Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution, yet its frustrated outsider protagonist must try to make his way in circumstances resembling those of Mohamed Bouazizi, the 27-year-old street vendor whose self-immolation sparked that revolution and brought a fresh focus on the country’s corrupt officials and lack of opportunity. Following the well-received documentary “12 O’Clock Boys,” U.K.-born, U.S.-based helmer-writer Lotfy Nathan makes a blistering feature debut that highlights the daily indignities apt to drive a human to an act of desperation. The film world premiered in Cannes, where Adam Bessa’s superlative, all-in lead performance collected the actor prize in Un Certain Regard; six months later, it nabbed the directing nod at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea fest.

Quiet, lanky twentysomething Ali left his family home in Sidi Bouzid as a teenager and is...

Lotfy Nathan receives best director award for ‘Harka’.

Iraqi director Ahmed Yassin Al Daradji’s Baghdad-set feature Hanging Gardens took home the best film award at the 2022 Red Sea International Film Festival, which announced its Yusr award winners on Thursday, December 8.

Hanging Gardens follows a young boy living as a rubbish picker in the dumps of Baghdad, nicknamed the ‘hanging gardens’, who hits the jackpot when he finds discarded US sex doll.

Scroll down for the full list of winners

The Arabic-language film is a Iraq-Palestine-Egypt-uk-Saudi Arabia co-production. The UK producer is Margaret Glover, who also wrote the script with...

The Red Sea Film Festival awarded Ahmed Yassin Al Daradji’s “Hanging Gardens” the Golden Yusr for Best Feature Film, the top prize of the festival’s main competition. The film, which was also awarded the Silver Yusr for Best Cinematic Achievement for Duraid Munajim, was selected by a jury led by director Oliver Stone, who was not present at the ceremony but recorded a video introduction where he thanked the festival for the opportunity, calling the movies in competition “eye-opening.”

Other winners include Silver Yusr for Best Actor for Adam Bessa in “Harka,” Silver Yusr for Best Actress for Adila Bendimerad in “The Last Queen,” and Silver Yusr for Best Screenplay to Reza Jamali for “The Childless Village.”

“So many new and good friends! This year it’s my 60th in the film business and I want to share this award with all my fans,” said Academy Award-winning actor Jackie Chan,...

Iraqi filmmaker Ahmed Yassin Al Daradji picked up the Golden Yusr for Best Feature Film and the Yusr Award for Best Cinematic Achievement at the Red International Sea Film Festival with his debut feature Hanging Gardens on Thursday evening.

Co-written by Al Daradji with Margaret Glover, the film follows As’ad, a 12-year-old rubbish picker, who adopts an American sex doll from the Baghdad dumps, and crosses into a perilous red zone, finding himself caught in the crossfire.

The film won Venice’s 2021 edition of Final Cut for the best film in post-production and debuted in the festival’s Horizons Extra sidebar this year.

The award was handed out at a ceremony on Thursday evening by Red Sea Festival Execs Mohammed Al Turki, Jomana Al-Rashid, and Egyptian actress Yousra.

In other top prizes, American filmmaker Lotfy Nathan won the Yusr Award for Best Director for his Tunisia-set debut feature Harka,...

The Red Sea Souk, the four-day industry market of the Red Sea Film Festival, is positioning itself as the principal film market for the Middle East and North Africa.

This year’s second edition includes two development competitions, a work-in-progress competition, and the Red Sea 360º event, held in association with Winston Baker, with 13 industry panels.

The projects selected for the development and pic-in-post competitions are competing for 400,000 in Red Sea Fund awards, plus sponsor awards worth 430,000 in cash and 126,000 in kind.

Last year’s first edition had over 3,500 accredited industry professionals and organizers expect an even larger turnout this year, with execs from 46 countries.

Attendees include international sales agents, distributors, festival programmers and a 30-person team from Netflix, with the streamer participating in two industry panels.

The Red Sea Souk is integrated within the Red Sea Film Festival Foundation’s wide strategy to create an eco-system for the development,...

The main competition of the 2nd edition of the Red Sea Film Festival – the Red Sea: Features Competition – underlines the fest’s ambition to celebrate pioneering works from filmmakers in the Arab region, Asia and Africa.

Oliver Stone presides the jury, whose other members include Palestinian actor Ali Suleiman (“Paradise Now”), Egyptian star Nelly Karim (“The Blue Elephant”), Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania (Oscar nominee “The Man Who Sold His Skin”), and Georgian director Levan Koguashvili (“Blind Dates”).

The 15 titles include nine films from the Middle East and North Africa region (of which six are from Middle East and three from North Africa), two films from Sub-Saharan Africa, and four films from Asia. They are directed by four women and 11 men. The competition includes two world premieres, four Mena premieres and one Arab premiere.

“Before Now and Then” – Indonesian helmer Kamila Andini’s third feature set in 1960s Indonesia, where the influential Mr.

The festival runs December 1-10

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival has unveiled its International and Arab Spectacular programmes.

Scroll down for full line-ups

Among the nine-strong international selection is Luca Guadagnino’s Bones And All and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.

Guadagnino’s cannibal romance starring Timothee Chalamet and Taylor Russell had its world premiere at Venice where it won best director and best young actor for Russell.

Pinocchio, co-directed by Mark Gustafson, world premiered at BFI London Film Festival last month and will be released globally by Netflix in December.

Other International Spectacular titles include Martin McDonagh...

Oliver Stone will preside over the main competition jury for the second edition of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival, honoring a promise to attend in that role dating back to 2020.

The Oscar-winning Born on the Fourth of July and Natural Born Killers director was previously announced as jury president for the festival’s inaugural 2020 edition, which was postponed to 2021 due to the Covid pandemic.

The festival, running December 1-10 in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, unveiled most of the lineup for its sophomore edition Monday. As of now, the event will showcase 131 feature-length and short films from 61 countries in total, 34 of them world premieres, 17 regional premieres, and 47 Mena premieres.

The main competition focuses on works by Arab, African and Asian directors and will showcase 15 films, with potential additions to come. They include the world premiere of Moroccan and French director Omar Mouldouira’s A Summer in Boujad,...

Oliver Stone to head features competition jury.

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival (Rsiff) has unveiled the programme for its second edition (December 1-10), with Studiocanal and Working Title’s romantic comedy What’s Love Got To Do With It? playing as the opening night gala.

Directed by Shekhar Kapur and written by Jemima Khan, What’s Love Got To Do With It? stars Lily James and Shazad Latif in the story of two people from different cultures who fall in love. It launched at the Toronto International FIlm Festival in September.

Rsiff will close with the world...

Marrakech has the indispensable Atlas Ateliers market as part of their festivities and the new kid on the block in the Red Sea Intl. Film Festival (second edition is held from December 1st to the 10th) has its own three-pronged Red Souk platform. Comprised of the Project Market, the Red Sea Lodge, and the Work-In-Progress, this 2022 showcase will promote 23 feature projects and 6 in-progress films including some titles that we’ve been tracking as major film fest offerings for a 2023 splash and newer items from established auteurs. Some names that jump out of the batch include Meryem Benm’Barek who saw her 2018 film Sofia win Best Screenplay award in the Un Certain Regard section and also a recent Ucr participant we find Lotfy Nathan of just preemed Harka in Cannes.…...

The second edition of the industry platform also includes a Work-In-Progress showcase.

Projects from US filmmaker Lotfy Nathan and Italian-Iraqi director Haider Rashid are among the 23 titles selected for the project market of the Red Sea Souk, the industry platform of the Red Sea International Film Festival.

The project market is split into two sections: 12 projects in the market alone, with a further 11 market projects that have been developed in the Red Sea Lodge throughout the year, in workshops in partnership with the TorinoFilmLab.

Scroll down for the full list of projects

All market projects will compete for three cash prizes,...

Festival runs November 9-20.

The Stockholm International Film Festival will present 130 films from 50 countries, opening on November 9 with Sweden’s international Oscar submission, Boy From Heaven by Tarik Saleh.

Political thriller Boy From Heaven premiered in competition at Cannes where it was awarded best screenplay.

Actor Fares Fares will receive the Stockholm Achievement Award on opening night. His credits include Easy Money, Safe House, Westworld and Chernobyl.

The Stockholm Visionary Award will go to Sam Mendes who will present the Nordic premiere of Empire Of Light.

Other notable selections include Luca Guadagnino’s Bones And All; Gina Prince-Bythewood’s The Woman King...

Production, finance and sales company Film Constellation has boarded sales on the upcoming romantic thriller “Haunted Heart” by Academy Award winning director Fernando Trueba.

The film stars Academy Award nominee Matt Dillon (“The House That Jack Built”), Goya-nominated Aida Folch (“The Artist and the Model”), and Juan Pablo Urrego (“Memoria”). The English-language film is set to start shooting in Greece in September.

The film is set on a beautiful remote island in Greece, where young and spirited Alex joins the team of a boutique seaside restaurant as their new waitress. Despite her femme-fatale charm quickly winning the heart of the charismatic Enrico, she instead falls for the enigmatic restaurant manager Max, a reclusive American, who settled on the island decades ago.

As the seasons pass, sexual tensions rise, and tourists come and go, Enrico begins to unearth disturbing clues about Max’s dark and mysterious past. Blinded by her feelings,...

Film Constellation is handling world sales on the Sky Original title.

Principal photography has wrapped on James Marsh’s UK film Dance First which stars Irish actor Gabriel Byrne as Samuel Beckett.

The Sky Original film charts the Irish writer’s life, from his time as a fighter for the French Resistance during the Second World War to his literary rise to winning the Nobel Prize for literature in 1969.

The film will premiere in cinemas and on Sky Cinema in 2023.

Byrne, whose credits include The Usual Suspects and Miller’s Crossing, is joined in the cast by Aidan Gillen, Sandrine Bonnaire,...

Exclusive: Fresh off multiple rave reviews last night, we can reveal that Altitude has secured UK and Ireland distribution rights to writer-director Georgia Oakley’s buzzy Venice, Toronto and London Film Festival-bound drama Blue Jean from London and Paris-based Film Constellation.

Starring rising Brit actress Rosy McEwen (Vesper), the debut film will premiere tomorrow [Saturday September 3] in the Venice Days competition, before playing at Toronto and then getting its UK premiere at the London Film Festival where it will compete for the Sutherland Award for Directorial Debut.

The feature is set against the backdrop of late 1980s England with Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government about to pass a law stigmatizing gays and lesbians. The climate forces Jean, a Pe teacher, to live a double life. As pressure mounts from all sides, the arrival of a new girl at school catalyses a crisis that will challenge Jean to her core. Earlier this week we debuted first footage.

Th 47th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival has selected its Industry Selects, a section of ten audience friendly films up for global acquisition. In addition it was announced that Jason Reitman’s Live Read is returning to the Festival for an all-star event featuring a surprise cast; the filmmaker presenting a surprise screenplay in honor of his late father, Ivan Reitman.

“We’ve worked to build a selection that will appeal to buyers as well as audiences,’’ said Norm Wilner, Programmer, Digital Releasing and Industry Selects. “We aim to celebrate new voices and showcase international talent, in line with the Festival’s global spirit.”

“We’re delighted to present these director-driven and audience-engaging sales titles from around the world to international buyers who rely on our festival to strengthen their upcoming film slate,” added Geoff Macnaughton, Senior Director, Industry and Theatrical. “Fostering sales at the Festival is a key part of our mandate,...

The 10 “audience friendly” films will be screened in-person to accredited buyers and industry professionals

Neil Maskell’s comedy Klokkenluider and Bill Pohlad’s musical biopic Dreamin’ Wild are among the line-up for the Toronto International Film Festival Industry Selects programme.

The 10 ”audience friendly” films will be screened in-person to accredited buyers and industry professionals during the festival and are available for worldwide acquisition.

Klokkenluider is the feature directing debut of UK filmmaker and actor Neil Maskell, best known for roles in Kill List and TV series Utopia. Tom Burke and Jenna Coleman star as a whistleblower and his wife who...

Cannes 2022: Europe is an Oasis of CultureCannes International Film Festival, the largest press event in the world except for the Olympics (which this year was a disaster — or was that last year?), is filled with excitement and contradictions.

As Ukraine is mercilessly bombarded by a mad man named Putin, the warriors and worriers for the Seventh Art gather to celebrate another year of creative passion. Aside from the dazzling array of talent, people, film and intense discussions, the idea that we are warriors for culture takes a shape in my mind and hence this blog.

Contradictions define the human race. In spite of Covid rates rising, people not wearing masks gather together to watch movies and share ideas. Aren’t Covid and social mixing contraindicative of health and safety? And yet we dive in…will this event further our futures or curtail them as individuals? Therein lies another contradiction: Individuals would be better named dividuals, especially in our own minds. We are very divided, not indivisable and not independent. We are living together within a universal unity of oneness and are totally divided within and without our selves.

We have in our minds that it takes democratic free speech to support artists. And free speech is getting more expensive by the day. Even the film Markets themselves (The Cannes Marche, EFM and AFM) are more worried about making money than about how to best support filmmakers’ buyers and sellers.

Dividing an indivisible world into geo-political pods, Europe stands out as a cultural oasis. To further elucidate this, I interviewed Doreen Boonekamp, formerly Director of The Netherlands Film Fund (one of Europe’s smallest countries but one with the farthest reach in many ways). Doreen is now Chair of the Open Method of Coordination (Omc) of the European Union Member States’ Experts on Coproductions. Co-productions that Shine shows that the commitment of Europe to continuing cultural development is unique among all national alliances.

(for discussions, stats, and author profiles for their publication go here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/359137163 ).

Wishing to put together a dialogue between two seemingly opposite camps, I also spoke with Shivani Pandya Malhotra, Managing Director of the Red Sea International Festival who, in my opinion, is the only spokesperson for culture (i.e., film) in the Middle East as she has gone from 15 years as head of the Dubai Film Festival to the now most impressive, showiest of showcases of Arab and African films, the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Shivani herself, India born and raised, is an example of crossing culture and is a rare woman leading a world class event (in spite of Iris Knobloch being named titular head of the Cannes Film Festival, a largely ceremonial position but the first time held for a woman and a non-French one at that). Equally notable is Mrs. Fatma Al Remaihi, Chief Executive Officer of Doha Film Institute in Qatar who has maintained her position since the longest standing such institute’s inception.

The dialogue will have to wait, but regarding Saudia Arabia: we do not have to put into the words the arguments for and against giving support to the country as they are repeated in every discussion, but on the warrior for culture front: the youth of the Islamic Middle East and Africa are hopeful and filled with their as-yet-untold-stories now waiting at the gate to be released to the world. This, to me, represents the democratization of media and of free speech.

Culture in the Middle East, while ancient, has never been widely disseminated or even spoken of as if its existence mattered to its leaders. Now, just perhaps, this is changing…

So to begin this rambling blog: beginning at the end, the awards have been handed out, Cannes is over for another year during which many as yet unknown events will occur either further dividing or further uniting us in the film world.

Of the approximately 130 films in the Festival and its sidebars, of course the majority were European…we are in Europe, after all, and film is a largely European invention; but here are the “others” whose themes are so often individual and group rights, indeed one can rightly call the filmmakers warriors for culture as the films make their cases heard. Very few are such elegiac slice-of-life sonatas as is Mia Hanson Love’s European film One Fine Morning for example. You can read the storylines as they are linked into the titles through IMDb:

Middle East & North Africa (Mena)

The Middle East and Africa have nine films in the festival if you include Iran and Turkey. Tunisia leads with three: Harka in Un Certain Regard by Lofty Nathan’s whose film won a prize at the Red Sea Film Fest as a work in progress; it a story about a young man who is barely making a living selling contraband gas. The young Tunisian suddenly finds himself in charge of his two sisters after this dad’s death. This is actually the story of the man who ignited The Arab Spring. In Directors’ Fortnight is Ashkal by Youssef Chebbi (workshopped at Qumra and Venice Gap Financing Market) and Under the Fig Trees (Venice Production Bridge and Marrakech International Film Festival, Atlas Workshops) by Eriga Sahiri, a copro of Tunisia, France and Switzerland. Iran has two films, Competition film Leila’s Brothers/ برادران لیلا by Saeed Roustayi and Critics’ Week in Competition film Imagine تصور by Ali Behrad. Turkey’s Burning Days is in Un Certain Regard, as is Morocco’s The Blue Caftan, and Qatar’s copro with Costa Rica, Domingo And The Mist. Palestine’s Mediterranean Fever is in Critics’ Week.

Sub Saharan Africa

Africa has so little at the festival, considering how long the French particularly have been “helping” their ex-colonies develop films from their own culture.

International sales by Visit Films

Late to be announced for Cannes Ff Classics was A Daughter’s Tribute to Her Father: Souleymane Cissé/ Hommage d’Une Fille à Son Père by Fatou Cissé from Mali tracing the life and career of one of the greatest and most influential African filmmakers from his childhood and teenage years through the making of such acclaimed films as Cannes Jury Prize winner Yeelen to the present day.

Opening Un Certain Regard is the Senegalese-French film Father and Soldier/ Tirailleurs starring Omar Sy about a father, who enlists in the French army in 1917 to join his 17-year-old son, who was drafted by force directed by Mathieu Vadepied. Directors’ Fortnight is screening The Dam, a Sudanese coproduction of France, Germany, Serbia, Sudan. This slow art film about a worker in a traditional brickyard by the the Nile who secretly builds a mysterious mud construction. The Dam/ Le Barrage is proportedly a political fable about the power of imagination set against the backdrop of the Sudanese revolution. However, it never fully realizes itself.

A Sudanese project is also in L’Atelier, Cotton Queen by Sudanese-Russian filmmaker Suzannah Mirghani as is an Ethiopian one, The Last Tears Of The Deceased directed by Beza Hailu Lemma and produced by Gobez Media’s

Tamara Mariam Dawit; and from Zimbabwe, Chimbo chebere (The Hyena’s Song) formerly named Akashinga by Naishe Nyamubaya, which like Harka, won a 2021 Red Sea Film Festival award as a Souk project. It is a fascinating look at two sisters, one armed against poachers of wild life and the other siding with farmers seeking sustainable farming which is enroached upon by the wild life itself. Let’s hope the future brings these three films into the festival.

Latin America

Coming out of Latin America, Costa Rica’s first time in an Official Selection is Domingo and the Fog/ Domingo y la niebla, supported in part of Qatar’s Doha Film Institute. There are two copros from Colombia: The Pack/ La jauría by Andrés Ramírez Pulido, a copro of Colombia and France and A Male/ Un varón by Fabian Hernández, a copro of Colombia, France, Germany, and Netherlands. Two from Chile are Mi país imaginario by Patricio Guzmán and Chile: 1976 by Manuela Martelli and Alejandra Moffat, a copro of Chile and Italy, recently picked up for USA by Kino Lorber.

Asia

China seems to still be isolating. And who speaks for Hong Kong today? And why is Malaysia always so absent?

As for other Asian entities, Japan — whose great Who Will Drive My Car screened here last year and won the Oscar for Best International Film — has two films in the festival, Yamabuki in Acid and Plan 75 in Un Certain Regard. South Korea continues to thrive with four films: Broker and Decision to Leave are both in Competition, Next Sohee is Closing Night Film for Special Screenings of the Festival and Hunt is in Critics Week.

Southeast Asia is represented by Pakistan’s first film ever in Cannes Film Festival, Joyland in Un Certain Regard. Central Asia, Kyrgystan, is represented by the documentary The Hill in Acid. India and UK’s documentary All That Breathes is in Cannes Special Screenings.

Australia has two coproductions, with the USA, Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis in Competition, George Miller’s Three Thousand Years of Longing out of Competition plus The Stranger in Un Certain Regard.

Myanmar is represented in L’Atelier with one project, The Beer Girl In Yangon directed by Sein Lyan Tun. Another L’Atelier project is the Philippine project Sam directed by E del Mundo.

Trying to fight on the cultural front, Ukraine has three films. In Un Certain Regard is Butterfly Vision directed by Maksym Nakonechnyi, a Ukranian Croatia, Czech Republic, Sweden coproduction being sold by Wild Bunch. The feature has also been acquired by Nour Films for theatrical release in France. Inspired by the experiences of women serving in Ukraine’s armed forces against Russian-backed separatists in the country’s eastern Donbas region, in a conflict that began in 2014 and has since escalated following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24. It revolves around a female Ukrainian aerial reconnaissance expert, who returns home to her family after serving in the Donbas, where she was captured and held prisoner for months.

Directors’ Fortnight is screening Pamfir directed by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, a France, Ukraine, Luxembourg coproduction.

In Special Screenings is the Ukranian production The Natural History of Destruction directed by Sergei Loznitsa whose film Babi Yar: Context played Cannes last year.

The Natural History of Destruction directed by Sergei Loznitsa

North America

We all know all too well that USA has no government support of culture (disregarding the infinitesimally tiny National Association of the Arts, National Public Radio and the Smithsonian complex of museums), so we can eliminate it as a rival oasis right here. On the other hand, out of 130 films showing in Cannes Film Festival’s Official Selections and its satellites Directors’ Fortnight, Critics’ Week and Acid, US productions cum coproductions number 19 or 15 percent. USA is the Capital of Capitalism, but as in any nation, there is great talent and consequently there are great voices who can stand up for Democracy as an political system that nurtures creativity, even if its most ubiquitous films are made in order to make money for their corporate owners who only pay 10 of the total Gdp.*

US or US coproduced films: Cannes Ff Classics: The Last Movie Stars. In Cannes Competition: Armageddon Time, Showing Up, The Stars at Noon, Triangle of Sadness, Cannes Midnight: Moonage Daydream, Cannes Ff Out of Competition: Elvis, Three Thousand Years of Longing, Top Gun: Maverick; in Cannes Ff Premiere: Irma Vep (miniseries); in Cannes Ff Special Screenings All That Breathes, Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble In Mind; in Cannes Ff Un Certain Regard: The Silent Twins, War Pony aka Beast; in Critics’ Week in Competition: Aftersun, Critics’ Week Special Screenings: When You Finish Saving the World (Opening Film); in Directors’ Fortnight: Funny Pages, Men.

‘War Pony’ by Kelly Reichart

Canada is surprisingly short on films with David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future in Competition and Falcon Lakeby Charlotte Le Bon in Directors’ Fortnight.

Europe, The Oasis of Culture exists in the midst of human contradictions. Its history of defining art (in contradiction to its having built itself on the back of slavery and the looting of its colonies); its current attempts at building socialistic systems (even while capitalism thrives) which will maintain its cultures; and in its current attempts to remedy the past by official acts of inclusion (even while boatloads of refugees from Africa and truckloads of refugees from the Middle East are struggling to penetrate their borders, while capital knows no boundaries).

Humankind is filled with contradictions but at least we are still here, a noble experiment if not an entirely successful one, guardians of the world we have inherited.

*In US, ordinary tax payers pay 77 of the Gdp and payroll taxes account for 6.2.

Exclusive: London and Paris-based production and sales company Film Constellation has inked pre-sales on family adventure animation The Last Dinosaur following its Cannes market launch.

Pic has sold in Australia New Zealand (Icon), Latin America (Bf Distribution), Poland (Forum Film), Former Yugoslavia (McF Megacom), Greece & Cyprus (Filmtrade), Israel (Red Cape) and Middle East (Italia Film).

Developed and produced by animation studio Red Star, the UK animation team behind The Amazing Maurice, the film is written and directed by Ben Smith (StarDog & TurboCat).

Here’s the official synopsis: When Rex, son of the King of Dinosaurs is suddenly snatched up and transported to the future in a time machine, he finds himself stranded in the 21st Century. Desperate to return to his own era to help save his kin, Rex must team up with a gang of freaks, nerds and geeks to go back 65 million years in time. But when he...

All the People I’ll Never Be – Davy Chou [Review]

The Blue Caftan – Maryam Touzani

Burning Days – Emin Alper

Butterfly Vision – Maksym Nakonechnyi

Corsage – Marie Kreutzer [Review]

Domingo and the Mist – Ariel Escalante Meza

Father & Soldier – Mathieu Vadepied

Godland – Hlynur Pálmason [Review]

Harka – Lotfy Nathan [Review]

Joyland – Saim Sadiq

Les Pires – Lise Akoka, Romane Gueret [Review] [Interview]

Mediterranean Fever – Maha Haj

Metronom – Alexandru Belc [Review]

Plus que jamais – Emily Atef [Review]

Plan 75 – Chie Hayakawa [Review]

Rodéo – Lola Quivoron [Review]

Sick of Myself – Kristoffer Borgli [Review]

The Silent Twins – Agnieszka Smoczyńska [Review]

The Stranger – Thomas M.…...

Exclusive: Big Beach has announced that it will produce the upcoming feature Tropical Gothic from Lingua Franca‘s Isabel Sandoval.

Set in the 16th-century Philippines, Tropical Gothic is an allegory on Western colonialism about a Native Priestess who convinces her Spanish master that she is possessed by the spirit of his dead bride, in order to manipulate him into returning the farmland that the Spaniards seized from the native community.

Sandoval and producer Carlo Velayo launched the project in 2020 at the Locarno Open Doors Hub—an international platform for feature projects within Latin America and the Caribbean looking for international collaborations. The pair received the Vff Talent Highlight Award at the Berlinale Talent Project Market in March, with the associated prize money going toward the film’s development. Sandoval will direct from her script and star, with Michael B. Clark and Alex Turtletaub producing for Big Beach, alongside Velayo. Production kicks off later this year.

Qatar-based funder is adapting to needs of filmmakers, says CEO

The Doha Film Institute (Dfi) is open to funding a wider range of filmmakers beyond its initial focus on first and second-time directors, according to CEO Fatma Hassan Alremaihi.

The Dfi pioneered financial support for emerging filmmakers in North Africa and the Middle East when it first launched in 2010. To date, more than 650 film projects from 74 countries have benefited from its funding.

The Dfi supports filmmakers through a bi-annual grants system as well as its Qumra incubator program.

It is the Middle East’s longest-serving film funding programme and aims...

Qatari organisation backs projects from 33 countries

The Doha Film Institute (Dfi) has announced the beneficiaries of its Spring 2022 Grants Programme, backing 44 projects from 33 countries as part of its latest funding cycle.

Three of the beneficiaries – Lotfy Nathan’s Harka, Chie Hayakawa’s Plan 75 and Davy Chou’s All The People I’ll Never Be – are playing in Un Certain Regard at Cannes.

Another grant recipient – Suzannah Mirghani’s Cotton Queen – is participating in Cannes’ L’Atelier programme.

The Dfi grants programme is awarded in two annual cycles – spring and the autumn. It is the Middle East’s longest-running film funding...

Lotfy Nathan, the director of Un Certain Regard title “Harka,” is set to make an elevated horror feature with the producers of “Armageddon Time.”

Following the Cannes premiere of “Harka,” Nathan is moving forward with his sophomore film, which is tentatively titled “Son,” based on the apocryphal infancy gospel of Thomas, about the childhood of Jesus.

The film continues the relationship between the U.S. director, Spacemaker Prods. and Cinenovo. Set to shoot in English with an American cast, the production is scheduled for early 2023 and will be shot in the Mena region.

“Son” will be produced by Julie Viez at Cinenovo, and Alex Hughes and Riccardo Maddalosso at Spacemaker.

Spacemaker’s credits include James Gray’s “Armageddon Time,” which premiered in competition on Thursday in Cannes; Eugene Kotlyarenko’s Sundance hit “Spree”; and Dasha Nekrasova’s arthouse horror “The Scary of Sixty-First,” the winner of the best first feature...

A young man struggles to provide for his family in Harka, Lotfy Nathan’s debut feature screening in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival. Set in Tunisia, it’s a quietly absorbing portrait of one man’s life in the wake of his father’s death.

Ali (Adam Bessa) hasn’t seen his family for a while but is suddenly left in charge of his two younger sisters. Ali sells gas on the streets without a license, and either hides the money he makes or boozes it away. Now, he’s expected to step up and lead a family, even though noone seems to think he’s suited for the job. This is a world where decisions are made out of desperation — and this will be the first of many.

Ali is visibly out of place in the family home, where his sisters lead a quiet and studious...

Aidan Gillen, who played Littlefinger in “Game of Thrones,” and Sandrine Bonnaire, a best actress winner at Venice for “La cérémonie,” have joined Gabriel Byrne in Samuel Beckett biopic “Dance First,” directed by Oscar-winner James Marsh.

Film Constellation has closed pre-sales on the film in Australia/New Zealand (Icon), Italy (Bim Distribuzione), Spain (Filmin), Portugal (Nos Audiovisuais), Greece (Filmtrade), Hungary (Vertigo Media), former Yugoslavia (Discovery) and Taiwan (Cai Chang). Pay TV outlet Sky developed the film as a Sky Original in the U.K.

Marsh, best-known for “The Theory of Everything,” for which Eddie Redmayne won an Oscar, and Oscar-winner “Man on Wire,” will start shooting the film on May 30 in Budapest.

“Dance First’s” cast also includes Fionn O’Shea, who will play the young Beckett. He appeared in “Handsome Devil,” “Dating Amber” and “Normal People,” and will be seen next in “Masters of the Air.” The film is written by Neil Forsyth.

U.S. director Lotfy Nathan, best known for his acclaimed debut documentary “12 O’Clock Boys,” is making his feature directorial debut with “Harka.”

Screening as part of the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section, the film is set in Tunisia, in North Africa, and follows Ali (Adam Bessa), a young man in his twenties who makes a precarious living selling contraband gas on the streets.

Ali dreams of a better life for himself, but his domestic responsibilities step up when his father’s sudden death leaves him in charge of his two young sisters. With the family facing impending eviction, Ali seeks steadier work and a stable life. In a society fraught with corruption, however, only illicit opportunities present themselves, and Ali is confronted with a decision from which there may be no turning back.

In describing the project, Nathan said: “We all know of the migrant crisis...

Condor has picked up French rights to Saim Sadiq’s drama “Joyland” ahead of its world premiere in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard. The title, the first Pakistani film to be selected in Cannes, will vie for the Caméra d’Or.

Film Constellation is representing international sales rights. WME Independent is representing North American rights.

Sadiq’s debut feature centers on the extended patriarchal Ranas family, who yearn for the birth of another boy. Meanwhile, their youngest son secretly joins an erotic dance theater and falls for an ambitious trans starlet. Their impossible love story slowly illuminates the entire Rana family’s desire for a sexual rebellion.

Condor’s slate also includes Joanna Hogg’s “The Souvenir Part I & II,” Kelly Reichardt’s “First Cow,” Paul Schrader’s “The Card Counter,” Kogonada’s “After Yang,” and Sundance 2022 Grand Jury Prize winner “Utama” by Alejandro Loayza Grisi.

Condor’s Alexis Mas said:...

Film Constellation represents worldwide sales, co-repping North America with CAA.

Dulac Distribution has secured French distribution rights for Lotfy Nathan’s feature debut Harka, ahead of its Cannes Un Certain Regard world premiere.

The drama was acquired from London and Paris based sales agent Film Constellation, who represents worldwide sales rights, while co-repping North America with CAA.

Screen can exclusively reveal the film’s first image above.

Ali is a young Tunisian who dreams of a better life, and makes a living selling contraband gas at the local black market. When his father suddenly dies, he’s forced to take...

Arab cinema is going from strength to strength with a run of really good, successful, films from across the region telling authentic and compelling stories that have captured the hearts and minds of global audiences. During Cannes, filmmakers from the region will come together on May 21 at 10 am at the Marina Stage in the Riviera to discuss the future of Arab cinema and discuss the opportunities and challenges that need to be addressed in order to build a robust industry that will elevate Arab cinema and command the attention it deserves.

This year there are nine films in the Festival Competition, Un Certain Regard, Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week plus four projects in L’Atelier. They are listed below.

Saudi Film Commission will host a Conference and a panel on the State of Arabia with Lotfy Nathan, producer, director, writer whose work in progress Harka won the US 30,000 award at the 2021 Red Sea Film Festival and is now premiering in Un Certain Regard. Also on the panel is Mohammed Hefzy, producer, writer and Aymebn Khoja, producer, director, writer and to be moderated by Liz Shackelton, Screen International Asia Editor

My Choices for Feature Film: ‘Europa’, Selected Documentary Film: ‘Republic Of Silence’, Selected Actor: Adam Ali, Selected Actress: Maisa Abd Elhadi, Selected Director: Ayten Amin, Selected Screenplay: Ayten Amin — Mahmoud Ezzat

Panelist #1 Lotfy Nathan is the recipient of The Red Sea Fund cash prize awarded in 2021 by the Red Sea Souk Jury. The Red Sea Souk Award grant of US 30,000 was presented for his film Harka aka Contra aka Before the Spring, a “simple, tragic parable” as described by Nathan, about Ali, a young Tunisian making a precarious living selling contraband gas as he faces an impending eviction and is forced to take care of his two younger sisters, who, in real life, precipitated the Arab Spring with his act of defiance demanding dignity. His choice became the symbol of a silenced generation trying to be heard. His film Harka is in Un Certain Regard in the Cannes Film Festival 2022! The international sales agent is Constellation.

Harka

Nathan is an American filmmaker of Egyptian descent. His first feature film, the documentary 12 O’Clock Boys, for which he received the HBO Emerging Artist Award, was selected in over 50 international festivals, including SXSW, Sundance LA, Lincoln Center, Viennale, Hot Docs, London and Copenhagen. It is distributed in the United States by Oscilloscope and has been purchased by Showtime and Amazon as well as being optioned by Will Smith’s company, Overbrook Entrertainement to adapt into a drama. In 2015, Lotfy was a recipient of the Creative Capital and participated in a Cinereach Foundation director’s residency. He had previously been a recipient of the Garrett Scott Fund, the Peter Reed Foundation, the Grainger Marburg Fund, and the IFP Fellowship. This, his first feature film, was developed in the Sundance Film Institute’s Screenwriting Lab in 2016 and is now in post-production.

The film’s producer Julie Viez started her career in the film industry at Warner Bros Emea (Europe Middle East Asia). She then focused on independent film production, working for companies such as Pan-Européenne, The Film, and CG Cinema. She works on an international scale and produces a wide range of budgets. In 2019 Julie shot La Salamandre , the debut feature of director Alex Carvalho which premiered at Venice’s Settimana in 2021. She is developing several ambitious features and series, among which the next features by Cannes-nominated directors Abu Bakr Shawky, Jonathan Littell, Morgan Simon, and Marie Monge.

The third partner are the producers of The Man Who Sold His Skin, Academy Award Nomination 2020 — see my previous blog on that film — whose director, Kaouther Ben Hania, is now President of the Jury for Critics Week.).

Panelist #2 is the prolific Egyptian screenwriter and producer Mohamed Hefzy, with a constantly growing filmography of 30 feature films including worldwide acclaimed titles such as Huda’s Salon (2021) Feathers (2021), Souad (2021) You Will Die at Twenty (2019), Youmeddine (2018), and Clash (2016). He has served as a jury member in various international festivals including the 75th Venice International Film Festival. As of its 40th edition and for four consecutive years; Mohamed Hefzy was the appointed President of the Cairo International Film Festival.

In 2005, He founded Film Clinic; the now pioneer production house in the Mena region with a variety of commercial blockbusters and arthouse films that have participated in major film festivals worldwide including Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Sundance, Toronto, and Tribeca with more than 80 international awards under its belt. Later Hefzy founded Film Clinic Indie Distribution, with a mission to create opportunities for Arab independent films within and beyond festival circuits & Co- founded Meem Creative Circle which produced Netflix’s first Egyptian original series Paranormal.

Hefzy was cited among 30 future leaders in film production by Screen International, headed Variety’s list of Ten Names You Need to Know in the Arab Film Industry and was among Variety’s 500 list of the most influential people in the media industry worldwide. He was granted the Arab Cinema Personality of the Year award by the Hollywood Reporter & Arab Cinema Center. Hefzy is an official member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts And Sciences in the producers’ branch. In recognition of his significant contribution to the Arab film scene, He was honored as a “Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres” from France.

Panelist #3 is Aymen Khoja, a film producer-director committed to bold voices and innovative forms to bridge cultures and to clear up any misunderstandings.

Over six years of experience producing and directing with international studios and production companies, such as Mbc Studios the biggest broadcaster in the Middle East and Viu, the No1 streaming platform east of Asia. Aymen has filmed in different cities all over the world from Los Angeles, Dubai, Abu-Dhabi, Bucharest, Cairo, to Jeddah. He successfully delivers high-quality films and series on time within budget.

In 2016 Aymen co-founded Khoja Brothers Productions and managed to fund, direct, co-produce, co-write his first feature film Shoot Aka The Arabian Warrior, and successfully released it theatrically then sold it to Sony Pictures, Amazon Prime, Google Play, Apple, and lastly Shahid. Aymen’s debut making ultra-low-budget films made him emphasize story quality, maximize creativity, and carefully spend every dollar.

Aymen received his Master’s degree in film with honors from the New York Film Academy, Los Angeles where he produced and directed many short films that have been played in different film festivals around the world. Aymen received his Bachelor’s in Business and Management from King Abdul-Aziz University, Saudi Arabia. This background helped him to be at the top of his organizing game, networking, and career growth.

Born and raised in the east of Saudi Arabia until the age of 11, Khoja then traveled back with his parents to the west, Makkah where he stayed until he was 23 when he traveled to the US to pursue his dream of making films. Aymen had the passion and drive to make movies in a time there were no theaters in his home country. Being a pioneer, he had to push and fight traditions to achieve what he believes is his mission in life: to bridge and close gaps between cultures through the form of cinema by telling the right stories.

Nine Mena Films to see in the Festival:

Cannes Ff Competition Leila’s Brothers directed by Saeed Roustayi from IranCannes Ff Competition Holy Spider directed by Iranian Ali Abbasi but funded by France, Germany, Sweden, DenmarkUn Certain Regard Harka directed by Lotfy Nathan from TunisiaUn Certain Regard The Blue Caftan directed by Maryam Touzani from MoroccoUn Certain Regard Mediterranean Fever directed by Maha Haj from PalestineUn Certain Regard Domingo And The Mist directed by Ariel Escalante from Costa Rica with support from QatarDirectors’ Fortnight Under the Fig Trees directed by Eriga Sehiri from TunisiaDirectors’ Fortnight Ashkal directed by Youssef Chebbi from TunisiaCritics’ Week in Competition Imagine directed by Ali Behrad from IranL’Atelier project: Hamlet From The Slums from Egypt, directed by Ahmed Fawzi SalehL’Atelier project: The Blind Ferryman from Iraq and Switzerland, directed by Ali Al-FatlawiL’Atelier project: You Are My Everything from Israel, directed by Michal VinikdL’Atelier project: The Doubt from Palestine and Israel, directed by Ihab Jadallah...