Where to Invade Next After his documentary Sicko, exposing the American health care industry, the godfather of US documentary filmmaking Michael Moore strikes back with his most hilarious film to date. When Where to Invade Next opens Moore is in Italy trying to find out why all Italians look like they've just had sex. One couple he interviews list their paid holidays, nearly eight weeks a year in total. Citizens have up to five months maternity leave, as the CEO of the Ducati motorcycle company confirms, adding that two-hour lunch breaks lead to a happier and healthier working environment, though as a union representative explains to Moore these gains were only achieved after a hard and long struggle. Moore shifts to education, visiting a school in France where students are offered a healthy meal during their hour's lunch at a cheaper price than the unhealthy food American children have. But it is in Finland where homework has been terminated and children can regulate their own time and engage in creative activities that Moore is most astonished. In Slovenia, as he discovers, university education is free. Likewise the penal code in Norway, where the maximum punishment is 21 years: it has one of the world's lowest murder rates. In Portugal drug use is treated as a medical problem rather than a legal one, and as a result it has become less of an issue. Moore also visits Tunisia during the drafting of the constitution after the 2011 revolution and witnesses the people insisting that gender equality should remain despite the Islamists in power at the time trying to remove it. Moore's debut, Roger and Me (1989) received the Peace Film Award at the Berlin International Film Festival. He is better known for such amazing works as Bowling for Columbine (2002), which won the Audience Award at the Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival, Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), which won the Palme d'Or and the FIPRESCI Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Capitalism: A Love Story (2009), which won the Little Golden Lion and the Open Prize at the Venice Film Festival. His new film is Michael Moore in Trumpland. Where to Invade Next won the Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary Feature at the Chicago International Film Festival, the Best Documentary Award at the Film Club's The Lost Weekend and the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at the Hamptons International Film Festival.
Mountain Cry Set in a small town on the charming rocky mountains of Taihang, China in 1984, and beautifully captured in Patrick Murguila's cinematography, Larry Yang's second film after Sorry I Love You (2013), Mountain Cry is the story of a man named La Hong (Ailei Yu), who is seen violently dragging his wife into the house and closing the door while leaving their young daughter outside with their baby daughter. At the same time a young man is crossing huge distances on foot to talk across the peaks of mountains to the girl he loves; and on his way back he hears the spine-chilling scream of a man hidden in the woods. As it turns out La Hong has stepped into a badger trap and his foot was blown off. The people of the small town gather to help and take him home but a few hours later he dies, leaving behind his mute wife Hong Xia (Yueting Lang) and two children. The wise elders of the small town refuse to report the accident to the police to avoid a scandal and instead they decide to settle the matter locally with Han Chong (Ziyi Wang), the young man who set the traps. The gathering of the elders in the presence of the widow will oblige Han Chong to provide for her and her children. The widow's attitude suggests she might be pleased about her husband's death, however; and with the aid of flashbacks it becomes clear the violence of La Hong, a mysterious outsider who came to settle in the town from elsewhere with his wife. Yueting Lang and Ziyi Wang both give stunning performances as the drama gathers momentum. Hong Xia and Han Chong's arrangement seemingly works well for both of them: he speaks to her and she writes back. They spend time together, she cooks for him and he provides money for the family from his small flour business. Soon he realises that he's not taking care of Hong Xia and her family out of a sense of obligation; he is in love. But La Hong continues to haunt the new couple couple, since led by Han Chong's former lover (Guo Jin) the townspeople unite angrily against them and want to separate them. Han Chong's father (Taishen Cheng), who has always been hard on his son, pushes things to a climax by asking the widow to leave the village since she is originally an outsider; then Han Chong proposes to her. When Han Chong's father brings the police into town claiming that his son is responsible for La Hong's death, Hong Xia hands the officer a piece of paper on which she confesses to killing her husband.
Toni Erdmann Toni Erdmann is the third film by the German filmmaker Maren Ade, who after two short films made The Forest for the Trees (2003) and Everyone Else (2009). It took her another seven years to come back with a 162 min drama, slow and still, which magnifies the hidden, fragile lives of Winfried Conradi (Peter Simonischek) and his daughter Ines (Sandra Hüller) in a sarcastic yet devastating style. Ironically Toni Erdmann has nothing to do with the film until halfway through, when Winfried finally meets his daughter Ines after a long time and to his surprise she's keeping herself busy away from him and her mother, pretending to be on the phone. In response he jokes that he has hired a substitute daughter. Winfried is introduced as a single piano teacher spending his time after retirement in a giant house with a garden in suburban Germany. One night he comes home to find his mongrel dead. In a brilliant move the drama shifts from Winfried mourning and sleeping in the garden to a scene where he is sitting in the lobby of Ines's office in Bucharest as he decides to follow his 30-something, uptight, corporately employed daughter to Bucharest to bond with her. Ines on the other hand is not too interested nor does she have the energy for bonding with her father – with the result that hurtful comments are made, “Are you really human?” Ines finds her father's presence both awkward and destabilising, and after two days Winfried is seen packing his bags and heading home, his visit a complete failure. A few days later, however, a life coach in a black wig called Toni Erdmann begins to show up at every event of Ines's: parties, business meetings and diplomatic cocktails. Her father thus manages to invade her life, denying it is him every time she confronts him. The resulting complications are both emotional and awkward, and by the end the film has made a strong statement about parent-child relations, corporate work and the meaning of life. The film won the FIPRESCI Prize and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. It also received the Golden Iris and the Special Jury Prize at the Brussels International Film Festival.
*** Chronicles of My Village Set in a picturesqie Algerian village during the Algerian War of Independence, Chronicles of my Village follows 10-year-old Bashir who lives with his family – his grandmother, mother, uncle and three brothers – in a small, poverty-stricken room. His father, we learn, abandoned the family years before and is now residing in the mountains, where he's fighting with the guerrillas. Bashir's mother becomes the family's breadwinner, making money off washing laundry for French soldiers. When the film opens, Bashir is visiting a nearby French unit where he meets his buddy Francois, a French soldier, who gives him a chicken wing to munch on, and hands him the week's laundry. When he returns home, his grandmother scorns him for eating with the French. But innocent Bashir is still unable to fathom how the French, especially his dear friend Francois, are the enemy. To make matters worse, on a visit by the minister of education and his wife to his school, the minister's wife celebrates Bashir as a “proper French citizen” because he smells of washing powder. After school Bashir's classmates gather up and give him a beating, accusing that “little French man” of being a “traitor.” As the film progresses, Bashir comes to the realisation that he should not applaud his “Frenchness”. At one point in the film he says, “I don't want to be a good French boy. I will join the guerilla. Just like my father.” Bashir thus becomes obsessed with the dream of being the son of a martyr, believing that sons of martyrs are secure with happy futures. At one point, Bashir steals Francois's gun and heads to the mountains where he hands it to his father. He even goes as far as foregoing his own father just to see his dream – that of being the son of a martyr – be moulded into reality. Abdel Rahman Benarous' lens celebrates the beautiful landscape, which is interweaved as an additional protagonist. More than painting an intimate portrait of an innocent child grappling with the notion of identity in wartime, Traidia's film is also about the future, that sought-after moment when Algeria will gain its independence and people will realise their long-held dreams. A subplot centres around the comical character of Tchitcha the farmer who unlike little Bashir is not obsessed with seeing Algeria gain its independence so much as he hopes to buy two chickens with which to secure his future. As the film progresses, Bashir ends his friendship with Francois. He tells him he can't be friends with him because his father is a freedom fighter, and Francois is the enemy. Later, Francois, now back in France, writes to Bashir assuring him that he took the right decision because “if heroes talk to enemies they become traitors.” By centring on Bashir's childhood against the backdrop of the Algerian War of Independence, Chronicles of my Village becomes a statement on the formation of identity in wartime.
Clash Directed by Egyptian filmmaker Mohammed Diab, who co-wrote the script with his brother Khaled, Clash is inspired by the confrontations that erupted between pro- and anti-Muslim Brotherhood protesters after the removal of president Mohamed Morsi from power in July 2013. As the film opens, we follow an eight m prisoners' transport vehicle roaming the streets of Cairo. Minutes later, two journalists are shoved into the truck. The truck continues to roam the streets, and soon pro-army and Islamist protesters are detained and pushed into the vehicle, as pro- and anti-regime demonstrations continue to appear outside. The question then becomes, what happens when a group of detainees from different walks of life and with strikingly different political inclinations are brought together in this confined, highly claustrophobic setting? The situation turns sour when the truck itself becomes a target of violence. As the detainees continue to be locked within this restricted space, we see their unceasing struggle to survive amid the escalating chaos. But the intensity of the moment also pushes them to explore their stifled humanity, and perhaps encourages them to put their politics aside, even if temporarily. Ahmed Gaber's lens renders this a brilliantly crafted film, shot entirely within the interior of the truck, with Gaber skilfully communicating the feelings of fear and anger, and also wthe hiffs of hope, that come to dominate the vehicle. This is Diab's sophomore film as a director, following his 2010 debut 678. As a script-writer, his repertoire comprises: El-Gezira 1 and 2 (2007 and 2014) and Decor (2014), among other works. Clash opened the Un Certain Regard section of the 69th Cannes Festival, and is Egypt's official submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Academy Awards 2017.
Cairo International Festival Award Cinema of Tomorrow Awards - Special Mention to the film “Ascension” directed by Pedro Peralta (Portugal) Special Mention to the film “Picnic” directed by Jure Pavlović (Croatia) - Special Mention to the film “Rosinha” directed by Gui Campos (Brazil) - Special Jury Award to the film “The other side of doorman river” directed by Se Woong Bae (South Korea) - Youssef Chahine, Best Short Film Award to the film “Eden” directed by Andrés Ramírez Pulido (Colombia)
Critics' Week Awards - Shadi Abd El Salam Prize for best film “Exiled” directed by Davis Simanis (Latvia – Lettonia) - Fathy Farag Prize for best artistic contribution Paweł Chorzępa's Photography in the film “Zud “ by Marta Minorowicz (Poland)
Prospects of Arab Cinema's Awards - Certificate of appreciation for the film Suicidal Notions by Eman El-Naggar (Egypt) - Certificate of appreciation for the film Barakah Meets Barakah by Mahmoud Sabbagh (KSA) - Special Jury Award presented by Clinic Film Company – Mohamed Hefzy and First Step, of 50,000 EGP: Fires by Mohamad Abdulaziz (Syria) - Best Film Award in the Prospect of Arab Cinema competition, of 75,000 EGP presented by Almasa Company: Zizou (Sweet Smell of Spring) by Ferid Boughedir (Tunisia) 4th Cairo Film Connection Awards 1- 10,000 USD presented by New Century for best project in development went to: Papion On the Watertank by Yehia El Abdallah. 2- 60,000 EGP presented by Al Massa for best Egyptian film in development went to: A Condition of Love by Hala Khalil. 3- 50,000 EGP presented by Film Factory for post-production services in Egypt went to: Kilo 64 by Amir El Shenawi. 4- Two weeks color grading prize presented by Pixelmob for best project in Post production went to: Beirut Terminus by Eli Kamal 5- Script development award presented by Paris Film Initiative went to: Five Days Grace by Saleh Nass. 6- Beirut coproduction platform participation award went to: A Son by Mehdi Bersaoui 7- ACC award for Rotterdam producers lab participation to Jana Wehbe (of Beirut Terminus)
The FIPRESCI Prize - Goes to film “Anna's Life” by Nino Basilia (Georgia) For the emotional portrait of a woman who struggles in a difficult society, and tries to find her way to live with her autistic son.
The International Jury Prizes - Prize for Best Artistic Contribution to the film “We Are Never Alone” by Peter Vaclav (Czech Republic) - Naguib Mahfouz Prize for Best Screenplay to the film “Perfect Strangers” directed by Paolo Genovese (Italy) - Prize for Best Actress went to Nahed El Sebai for her performance in “A Day For Women” directed by Kamla Abou Zekri (Egypt) - Prize for Best Actor went to Shakib Ben Omar for his performance in “Mimosas” directed by Oliver Laxe (Spain – Morocco – France) - The Bronze Pyramid for Best First or Second work of a Director “Kills on Wheels” directed by Attila Till ( Hungary) - The Silver Pyramid-Special Jury Prize for Best Director “The Train of Salt and Sugar” directed by Licinio Azevedo (Portugal - Mozambique – France – South Africa – Brazil)
- The Golden Pyramid for Best Film, Presented to the producer “Mimosas” directed by Oliver Laxe (Spain – Morocco – France )
