Women's Cinema From
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Women’s Cinema from Tangiers to Tehran 22 February - 1 March 2008, London 20 February - 2 March 2008, Cambridge 1 Women’s Cinema from Tangiers to Tehran is a celebration of film Women’s by women and their representation in cinema from Morocco in the west to Iran in the east. It will be the first festival of its kind Cinema to offer audiences an opportunity to appreciate a vital aspect of international cinema, and to actively engage with an exciting and from innovative selection of films. Screenings range from the groundbreaking short, The House is Black Support Programme for the Promotion of Films from the Arab Countries and Territories (Iran) by visionary poet and filmmaker Forough Farrokhzad, to the of the MEDA Region (2006-2008) Tangiers recent Caramel (Lebanon), Persepolis (France-Iran), and Cut and Within the framework of the Euromed Audiovisual Program of the European Union, Paste (Egypt) featuring actress Hanan Turk. Premieres of the powerful the Med-Screen project aims to promote the cinema of the 8 Arab countries of to Tehran Hidden Faces (Turkey) and the taboo breaking Samira’s Garden the MEDA Region. The objective is to make these works more visible in the partner (Morocco) will be presented. Classics such as The Nouba (Algeria) by countries, and to increase their chances of being marketed. Med-Screen proposes the auteur Assia Djebar will be screened and Moufida Tlatli will present following actions: her evocative The Silences of the Palace (Tunisia) followed by a master class at the London Film School. A special concert and talk 1) Organizing “Arab Film Weeks” in movie theatres throughout the MEDA region, or in with singer Souad Massi and director Yamina Benguigui will take Europe, preferably in partnership with festivals or organizations. place and a party will feature the best and latest sounds from Oran to Beirut via Istanbul and Cairo with special guest DJs. 2) Giving Arab films’ right-holders the chance to be present in the main film markets in order to increase their chances of being purchased and commercially released. A selection of artists’ films by Mona Hatoum, Shirin Neshat, Zineb Sedira and others will be screened and a Film Symposium will be 3) Giving Arab films’ DVD producers the means for better publicity, namely by buying held. London based writer Hanan Al-Shaykh will hold a talk and more advertisement space and increasing the number of languages available on DVDs an Arab classical concert will end the festival - A Journey from to make them accessible to a larger public. Andalusia to Modern Times. We invite you to participate in what promises to be an exciting and stimulating cultural experience. 4) Creating and distributing the “Making of” of Arab films in two formats: A short James Neil & Suzy Gillett version to act as film promotion on the Internet, and a long version to be proposed to Curators DVD producers as a bonus feature for the DVD release for the film. 5) Creating a website on Arab cinema, which will serve as a tool for professionals in Parallax Media & Institut français the field. www.tangierstehranfilm.org Med-Screen joins with Parallax Media and the French Institute in London in 2008 to Acknowledgements A special thank you to Menem Richa, Aude Erenberk, Med-Screen, Morinade present nearly 20 recent Arab films in the framework of the “Women’s Cinema from Akinbobola, Rebekah Polding, Film London, Muna Nashashibi & Arab Media Tangiers to Tehran” film festival. We are glad this partnership will allow the public Watch, Clare Binns, Tony Jones, Negede Assefa, Mario López-Goicoechea, Federico in the United Kingdom, especially in London and Cambridge, to discover new films Spoletti, Marie Bonnel, Julien Planté, Natacha Antolini, Zineb Sedira, Meriem Talbi, originating from Mediterranean Arab countries. We hope that the visibility of these Karen Alexander, Mula Halasa, Hanan Al-Shaykh, Ahdaf Soueif, Lawrence Joffe, films through this festival will facilitate their commercial release in movie theatres in Hala Khalil, Leila Mroueh, Latifa Fahmy, Alexandre Sorrentino, Tala Tutunji, Houria Niati, Zaki Boulos, Sharif Nashashibi, Alan Kirwan, Victor Farmand, Lilly Ladjevardi, order to reach a larger public audience. Muna Wehbe, Aurélie Brault, Tamara Anderson, Isabelle McNeill, Kamran Rastegar, Guy Austin, Mark Aitken, Jean-Conrad Lemaître, Shirin Neshat, Lida Abdul, Tim Carson, Karma Hamady, Gladstone Gallery, Gallerie Polaris, Giorgio Persano Gallery, Anthony Reynolds Gallery, Ebrahim Golestan, Vertigo magazine, Bidoun magazine, Ed Berridge, Alda Terraciano, Una Feely, Sahide Sanin and all the directors, artists, distributors, and organizers for their generous support. Med-Screen is supported by the European Comission in the frame of Euromed Audiovisual programme supported by Cover Stills: Caramel. Inset: Hidden Faces, Dunia, The Silences of the Palace 2 3 Programme Sama | The Trace dir: Néjia Ben Mabrouk A Door to the Sky| Bab Al-Sama Maftouh dir: Farida Ben Lyzaid Ciné lumière Fri 22nd Feb 6.15pm Ciné lumière Sat 23 Feb 2.00pm st Cambridge Picturehouse Sat 1 March 2.30pm Morocco 1989. With Zakia Tahri, Eva Saint Paul, Tunisia-Switzerland 1982-88. With Fatma Khémiri, Chaibia Aadroul. 107 min. 12A Mouna Noureddine, Basma Tajin. 90 min. 12A Nadia travels to Fez to visit her dying father Sabra attempts to escape the restrictions of and during the visit she has a decisive meeting traditional family life in a poor industrial town with a Muqaddima - a Sufi woman who recites in Southern Tunisia. She loves her nation and religious verses. Nadia discovers she has Baraka, her culture but finds them suffocating. Néjia or healing power, and begins to seek a path in Ben Mabrouk explores this contradiction in her Sufi spirituality. But this leads her to question intelligent debut in which every angle, every her perceived status as a Moroccan woman with camera move carries rigour and weight. Mixing a French identity. Beautifully photographed and present and past, the film features flashbacks to with editing by Moufida Tlatli. Sabra’s childhood when, aged ten, she already Preceded by rejects her culture’s paternal hierarchy. Winner, Caligari Film Prize, Berlin Film Festival 1989 A Ball of Wool | La Pelote de Laine dir: Fatma Zohra Zamoun France/Algeria 2006. With Fadila Belkebla, Preceded by Mohammed Ourdache, Sofiane Ahsis. 14 min. 12A One Evening in July dir: Raja Amari In the early 70s, Mohamed returns to France from Tunisia 2000. With Hend Sabri, Wassilia Baccar, Om his native Algeria with his wife Fatiha and his two Bayi. 26 min. 12A children. Mohamed goes to work as usual and locks Young Miriam confides in Saida, an old beautician in the door behind him. Fatiha and the children are charge of making her up for her wedding day. Saida prisoners and find strange ways to communicate hopes Miriam might change her mind and avoid the with the outside world. fate of many who marry according to custom. Winner, Best Short Film, African Film Festival Milan 2001 Caramel | Sukkar Banat dir: Nadine Labaki Immigrant Memories | Mémoires d’immigrés dir: Yamina Benguigui Ciné lumière Fri 22nd Feb 8.45pm Ciné lumière Sat 23rd Feb 4.00pm Preview Screening + Q&A with Nadine Labaki. Introduced by director Yamina Benguigui Cambridge Picturehouse Sat 23rd Feb 5.00pm Ritzy Cinema, Tues 26th Feb 7.00pm Lebanon/France, 95 mins, 2007. With Nadine Labaki, parts 1,2, & 3 followed by Q&A by Zineb Sediar & Yasmine Al Masri, Joanna Moukarzel Meriem Talbi in Ritzy Upstairs Café. Cambridge Picturehouse Wed 20th Feb 2.30pm Nadine Labaki’s charming debut Caramel is centred in a Beirut beauty salon with four women. Layal France/Algeria 1997 Parts 1 & 2. 102 min. 15 has a relationship with a married man, Nisrine Few films make such a powerful impact on doesn’t want her fiancé to know she’s not a virgin, one’s understanding of what constitutes the Rima finds herself drawn to a female client, and modern immigrant experience as does Mémoires salon regular Jamale is worried about getting d'immigrés. Yamina Benguigi’s powerful and old... Beautifully photographed in golden tones revelatory film is structured around a series of with excellent performances, Caramel paints a interviews with North African immigrants, with bittersweet portrait of a culture caught between rare archive footage of French official policy the modern and the traditional and should towards its immigrant subjects and the conditions continue to delight audiences they had to endure. A compelling film and a cry to Winner, Sebastiane Award, San Sebastian Film remember those who are so often forgotten, it will Festival 2007 stay with viewers for a long time. Courtesy of Momentum Pictures 4 5 5 Arab Cinematic and Musical Landscapes The Silences of the Palace | Samt el Qasr dir: Moufida Tlatli A special talk with Souad Massi & Yamina Benguigui, Ciné lumière Sun 24th Feb 2.00pm followed by an acoustic set by Souad Massi + Q&A with dir Moufida Tlatli & Malu Halasa. Institut français Sat 23rd Feb 6.30pm Tunisia/France 1994. With Amel Hedhili, Najia Ouerghi, Hend Sabri. 127 min. 12A Celebrating the new release of Acoustic - The Best Moufida Tlatli’s magnificent debut focuses on a of Souad Massi on Wrasse Records, singer Souad group of servant women confined in the palace Massi will perform a special acoustic set. A leading of the country’s last princes during the final light among Algerian artists, Massi has lived in days of French colonial rule. The film effectively Paris since 1999 but has always kept Algeria at conveys the oppressive opulence of the palace the heart of both her music and life. Performing and the resilience of the servant women: the folk-rock rhythms, Massi is often compared to women are sensual, strong and full of humour.