Egyptian filmmaker Nesrine Lotfy Al Zayat's debut documentary feature On the Fence was selected to take part in the competition at the 27th FESPACO (Pan-African Film & TV Festival of Ouagadougou) in Burkina Faso (16-23 October). Having premiered in (...)
The first round of the Saudi Red Sea International Film Festival (RSIFF) will finally take place in the second week of December. Originally scheduled for March 2020, it was postponed until 11 November 2021 due to the Coronavirus pandemic. It has now (...)
Stage director Osama Raouf's production of Lady of the Dawn by the great Spanish playwright Alejandro Casona (1903-1965) – a play that has been made into two films and two operas – is being staged at the state-owned Talia Theatre in Cairo. With (...)
The winner of both the FIPRESCI Prize and the Grand Prize of the Cannes Festival's Critics' Week, where it was the first Egyptian film to be featured, Feathers by Omar El Zohairy is rooted in cinematic and musical traditions he is proud of. His (...)
It was a regular hot summer noon in Cairo when, instead of barricading themselves in air-conditioned shelters, people lined up at the Egypt International Exhibition Center (EIEC), e-tickets ready on their mobile phones while volunteers received them (...)
Somewhere in Time is a short fiction film about loneliness, age and isolation. An old man is alone in his room, in a flat, in a huge building surrounded by other giant concrete giants. Lonely towards the end of his life, he recalls his sweetest (...)
According to the president of the 22nd Ismailia International Film Festival for Documentaries and Shorts (IIFFDS, 16-22 June), the renowned film critic Essam Zakaria, the delay of the 22ed edition in 2020 due to the pandemic has had negative (...)
Despite decades of conflict, non-Arabs might know little about Palestine beyond the news. It is Palestinian artists who have best presented the human cost of occupation and violence. Hundreds of films are available on such platforms as Shahid, OSN, (...)
Although there are fewer restrictions on social gatherings compared to last year, the situation at Egyptian film theatres is still unclear in the buildup to the Eid Al-Fitr season, traditionally the most popular and profitable for cinema. Only a (...)
The seventh Alexandria Short Film Festival (ASFF, 5-10 April) showed how cultural initiatives outside Cairo can grow and gain in credibility and popularity. The centrality of the capital to cultural life is oppressive, and even events that take (...)
After two cancelations due to the pandemic, the 23rd Egyptian National Film Festival (ENFF) was held with a full schedule but with little opportunity for audience interaction. Run by the Cultural Development Fund, a division of the Ministry of (...)
Coming soon this year is the premiere of the HBO film Oslo, adapted from a Tony Award-winning play of the same name. The film is based on a true story from the 1990s. It follows the secret back-channel talks that led to the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords. (...)
The celebrated Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania recently announced the appearance of her latest film The Man Who Sold His Skin on the 93rd Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film shortlist. Tunisia had submitted films since 1995. Together (...)
The first Red Sea International Film Festival, which was to open in March 2020 but has been delayed due to Covid-19, held a three-day event with the iconic Egyptian filmmaker Khairy Beshara in Jeddah (14-16 December).
The event included the launch (...)
According to producer and screenwriter Mohamed Hefzy, the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) president since 2018, the 42nd round (2-10 December) was not exceptionally challenging. But this only goes to show how well prepared the three-year (...)
The 42nd Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF, 2-10 December) opened with Florian Zeller's debut The Father. Based in Zeller's 2012 play, which on its launch in Paris won a Moliere Award before moving onto Broadway and London's West End, where it (...)
At a press conference on Monday, a new round of the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF, 2-10 December) was announced. According to festival director Mohamed Hefzy, “The programming team is proud to present a selection of the year's most (...)
“After 62 years of living together, Lina's grandparents, Aïcha and Mabrouk, have decided to separate. Together, they came from Algeria to Thiers, a small medieval town in the middle of France, over 60 years ago. Side by side, they have experienced (...)
Held in spite of Covid 19, the 4th El Gouna Film Festival (GFF, 23-31 October) will be the third festival to take place this year after Venice (2-12 September) and San Sebastian (18-26 September), the first in an Arab country. In June the decision (...)
Sisters in Film (SIF), known in Arabic as rawiyat (the feminine term for “storytellers”), is a collective of nine emerging filmmakers from across the Arab world.Having struggled to make their debuts, these artists all found it even harder to make a (...)
Mayye Zayed's debut Lift Like a Girl has been selected for the Toronto International Film Festival (to open in September). This is the second achievement by Egyptian female filmmakers in 2020, after Ayten Amin's Souad premiering at Cannes. (...)
“Fluid, seamless, up-close-and-personal camera work in a moving portrait of Egypt's youth. Ayten Amin carefully builds a precious world where local tradition and universal hope are fused. Here, a young girl dreams, hopes to please and seduce, (...)
This year TV was even more important than usual during the holy month due to the lockdown but, just as in previous years, social media played the most prominent role in assessing and endorsing programmes. Debates centred as much on the content of (...)
The Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF, 6-12 March) became the first major film festival to face coronavirus preventative measures when, on its fourth day, 9 March, Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli suspended all large gatherings. The festival promptly (...)
As online streaming replaces screenings dozens of Arab films are free to watch online whether released by individual filmmakers, companies or institutions. One notable initiative is Screens and Streams: Films and Music Online by the Arab Fund for (...)