Discoveries from Saudi Arabia World Cinema

In a collaboration between artist Sarah Ibrahim and Mohammed AlFaraj, the film provides artistic documentation of their experiences in improvisation and trying to draw inspiration from olive tree fields and neglected brick factories around the village of El Brock in Catalonia. A state in which the body dances like a tree in the wind, to the melodies of scrap, bricks, and rusty metal.

Amid a crowded wedding day. Al-Bandari is desperate to buy a red rose for her husband. Will she succeed in her attempts?

The film documents a remarkable photography project; a group of women, from five cities in Iraq, live and work together in a traditional courtyard house in the Old City of the Syrian capital, Damascus. There they learn to take photographs, and at the same time, present their ‘life maps’ to each other; large charts full of family photos, scrawled poetry and quotations, the names of emotions and crisscrossing green, red and black marker lines, detailing all the ups and downs, forwards and reverses of their lives. With grief, humour, defiance, the women are able to unearth memories and tell stories, which have remained buried for 30 years in the course of just trying to survive devastating years of war, dictatorship and sanctions. In the end, they have woven together the threads of their individual lives into a collective fabric. And because this is a creative project, the experience is transformative; the act of remembering and listening is dynamic and productive.

A short film that recounts the struggle of Yemenis stranded and displaced outside of Yemen as a result of the ongoing war.

A cynical play has a clear projection of all the political and economic conditions in Egypt, by recounting the story of the great trader who his sons are trying to exploit. He seeks to explain that values and ethics are more important than money.

Not long after Nasser sets out with his adolescent son to attend a wedding he finds out that his father is dying. Unfavourable circumstances not only affect the original purpose of their trip but also begin to impact the relationship between Nasser and his son, Waleed. Indeed, the interaction with their relatives exposes a serious underlying problem: much to his father’s disapproval, Waleed doesn’t identify with the strong traditions that have been upheld for generations. Through its story of a family encounter the film adopts a realistic approach to gradually uncover the divide between the rural community and the more liberal-minded inhabitants of Riyadh. In so doing the work presents a critique of deeply rooted Islamic customs and seeks to establish the extent to which patriarchy determines paternal love.

A short film by Nadine Khan

The starting point for the project is a scar on the forehead of the artist’s grandfather. The scar was a result of a bullet shot in his direction by an Israeli soldier in the late 1940’s. Focusing on the sagas of myth and the construction of memory, members of the same family are filmed individually as they narrate their version of the same event. By scratching the surface of family history, the project explores the scar as a foundational hinge that arranges reality.

Among the inhabitants of Derb el Soltan, a popular district of Casablanca, we highlight the life of a barber who accepts the path that has been traced for him. His close friend never stops teaching him that struggle and resistance are the only qualities of a worthy man.

Kemal studies in the Sadiki boarding school. Since the death of his father who was murdered by a secret colonial organization, Kemal has doubts about the political situation of Tunisia.

Jomu’a is a Palestinian who lives in a refugee camp. Every early morning, he goes to the entrance of the refugee camp to earn his living selling coffee. He tries to find additional work but the only job available is to demolish a house.

Azzam a 12-year-old boy is suddenly transported to an isolated world of butterflies during a family trip to the south of Saudi Arabia. Transformed into a butterfly, he must find himself to find his way back to the real world and his family.

Weird Dr Faisal secretly dissects bodies brought to him by a young homeless man who digs them up in cemeteries: it’s hard work, as the young man tells a murderer he meets in the afterlife. The trouble that led him here started when Faisal decided he needed live subjects. Even this lowlife supplier of corpses felt ethical qualms about drugging and kidnapping people in the street – especially when, despite his best efforts, they started to die as well.

Yasmine is a young woman forced to raise her 3 younger siblings after being struck with life’s difficult circumstances. Trying to provide for their stability, she begins working random part time jobs to make quick and easy money and is constantly trying to balance between her personal life and work life. This family’s journey is difficult, but it is surely heartwarming. Throughout the film, we discover why Yasmine has to be responsible for her siblings despite her age. Their mother has passed away, and Yasmine has quickly taken on her role. In attempt to accept their loss and start a new chapter, they paint their mother’s room and reminisce on their memories with her.

Maryam spent 40 years of her life raising her children and taking care of the family. After the death of her husband, Sheikh Jaafar, her friend proposes to her, and she decides to agree.

A struggling artist, Rakan, is trying to follow his dream while the expectations of a marriage way on him by his wife, Amani, who is trying to keep this relationship stable, splitting him between responsibilities and his dreams.

A pop singer agrees to record a song in an old studio run by an eccentric engineer

Tetouan's Algeria Street is the vibrant heart of the city, where itinerant street vendors sell all manner of contraband goods. Suddenly one day, there is big news: the traders will no longer be allowed to sell their wares on the roadsides. There is a new, model souq under construction - but not all everyone will be able to have access to a stall to conduct their business. For Mohamed, Abdel Slam, and the many others who have grown up on Algeria Street, it is as though time is suddenly suspended. Some expect the worst; others form an association and organise protests.

Idris lives with his mother in an antique house in Marrakech; Idris is the only son of his mother who cares for him a lot, especially after the death of the father. Idris usually does not dare to take any step without the approval of his mother, who is working hard to marry her son through the traditional method, after completing forty years as a celibate, the mother tries to find the right girl to be the wife of her spoiled son

Fifteen years of bloody civil war have left deep marks on Lebanon’s politics and society. More than 25 years after the war’s end, the capital, Beirut, is still fraught with tension. Filmmaker Marlene Edoyan follows two women, members of the same generation who apparently have nothing in common. Hayat and Wafaa, one Muslim and the other Christian, live in a place where Hezbollah and the Phalange are well-established political parties, and where nearby conflicts only stir up bad memories. Is reconciliation possible in a city carved up by invisible borders? In masterful direct cinema style, the filmmaker observes ideologies through the often-ignored prism of women’s perspectives.

A BLTNM SHORT FILM. This was shot in Ramallah, Mazra'a Gharbiyeh, Jerusalem and Kufr Yasif - Palestine.

Since 2012, a group of women has staged regular demonstrations in front of government buildings in Tunis. These are the "Photograph-Women". They are called this because they hold portraits of men in gilt frames in their arms: their sons, brothers, husbands - all of whom have disappeared trying to reach Lampedusa clandestinely at the time of the Arab Spring. Shortly before they arrived on the island, some of them made calls to their nearest and dearest. Since then, no news. But nor have any bodies been found to demonstrate that they are dead. The calls received are interpreted as proof of life by the "Photograph Women".

Camelia and Sarah in the last spring of the eighties...their last days of innocence a story told twice by 2 different girls or rather 2 similar girls.

After years of silence following a decade of media frenzy, this documentary resurfaces the enigmatic story of Saudi Arabia’s most notorious hacker, "Marjooj Hazazi." From his humble beginnings in Taif with his first PC to infiltrating the digital infrastructure of Saudi universities and his controversial ties to the sports world—specifically Al-Ittihad Club—the film charts his meteoric rise between 2009 and 2017. It explores the brilliance and the chaos of a digital pioneer who became a household name, only to vanish completely into the shadows

It's a movie talks about the story of a young man falls into love of motion pictures .

In Sudan, music is a central part of daily life. At the same time, young musicians struggle to find society's support in pursuing their passion the way they want. One organization called "Yalla Khartoum" strives to counteract by creating safe spaces for young artists to experiment in. This short documentary was shot during one of their workshops.

The teacher (Madbouli) is a cafe owner in a popular neighborhood. He is married to a wealthy man. He appears before everyone as a man of righteousness and piety, but at the same time he is a major drug dealer. A young man named Marzouq comes to depend on the teacher Madbouli in all the works. He informs him of all his secrets and becomes his right arm. Marzouq has a love relationship with Badriya and they agree to marry.

At the heart of this bold and compelling hybrid film are questions about the significance of lineage and what is bequeathed. The film begins with Selim Mourad staging a portrait of his own nuclear family, in which he claims a place on his own terms while facing up to the fact that he will not father a family because he is same-sex loving. After his sister’s passing, Mourad became his parents’ only child, but he is burdened with the knowledge that he is the last male to carry the family name. Meanwhile, the old building where his family lives and was bequeathed by his grandfather, is falling apart, but neither his father, nor aunt, can afford the cost of repairs.

Competes friends working on the same farm at the heart of the girl, but she liked the younger, generating jealousy in the heart of the other lover, seeks to differentiate between loved ones, take advantage of the owner of the farm these feelings, who shall kill the girl's father, and deliver a charge to the young older, and pushes the young man to escape from the farm, even with impunity, which is intended however, that proved the charge, the younger lover in revealing the truth to succeed, and be arrested on his farm.

Rakan and his wife Rim are looking for an apartment to rent instead of living with his aged mother. It seems they have found the right spot, except for the hole in the wall that looks as if someone bashed it with a hammer. Rakan seems strangely unengaged, however, barely speaking to his wife. Gradually, as we slip from present to past, we piece together the story that explains his barrage of unwanted calls, chance encounters with shady characters and outbreaks of violence. When his mother’s home is burgled and she is attacked, he is confronted by the person he least wants to see.

Horror film.

This film, which events happened between 1924 and 1934, portrays the struggle of three young Tunisian friends who became true myths in the Tunisian society: Mhamed Ali El Hammi, the founder of the first Tunisian trade union; Tahar Hadded, a rebellious freedom and Human Rights militant, pioneer of the Tunisian Family Code, who in his writings called the whole Muslim world to reform women status in the society; and Belgacem Chebbi who renewed poetry, questioned the poet’s role and commitment, and initiated new language patterns. All three witnessed a tragic fate in an atmosphere of general indifference.

The story of Hatem, a young man who works in a call center and commutes daily to work on the train, to the point where he imagines the voice of the information girl in the amplifier s' address to him, and he imagines it in his dreams, one day he tries to find the owner of the voice and he falls victim to many problems because of his search.

The story revolves around a girl's attempts to invite her father to the theatrical show in which she is participating in.

Known as Nagafa (Booger) among his classmates, 10-year-old Ahmad tries to overcome peer intimidation caused by the class bully, Omar. In spite of the supportive vibes around him, only Ahmad can save himself when he lands in a troubled situation.

Six Qataris pursue their goals by studying abroad to give back to their country which nurtured them.

The children of a mountain village near Mosul re-enact a century of Iraqi history, from the secret Sykes-Picot agreement in 1916 to the realm of terror imposed by the Islamic State in 2016. The children revisit their past to understand their present.

Lovers Muhamad and Ahmed live in a society that not only rejects homosexuality but actively and insistently pressures its young men into marriage and fatherhood. In this frank look at a strictly religious and traditional society, filmmaker Osama Rasheed delivers a raw and starkly honest statement about the experience of being gay in Iraq.

After giving up a promising career in museum management to attend to his ailing father, Ahmed spends his days managing the family’s dying perfume business. This sacrifice and his divorce have made him cynical about human nature and this manifests itself in his relationship with Abdulrahman, his aloof 12-year-old boy. Father and son do not see eye-to-eye, and it is as though they speak in different languages. Ahmed is also rather suspicious that his free-spirited sister is back from her travels in Europe to ensure she gets a nice chunk of the inheritance. Suddenly, Ahmed’s ex-wife sues to deny him visitation rights, claiming she doesn’t want her son to see his grandfather dying slowly.

Foam revolves around a Syrian couple as they strive to balance their care for a mentally disabled family member with work, memories of political prison and a longing for change and immigration. The film represents a sensitive and multi-layered portrait of people who have paid heavily for their political activism and are trying not to succumb to disillusionment.

Taking the idea of loss and dispossession as a starting point, this film is a reflection on photography and its people. It looks at the position of the individual within the context of war and displacement, as well as how photographs have become the sole record of that displacement, at the risk of them being dispersed as well. The film takes us on a journey from the point of view of a reproduction stand and a white backlit frame on which stories of war and loss unfold, from photographer Van Leo talking about the Armenian genocide of 1915 to the funeral of the assassinated Lebanese political leader Maarouf Saad filmed with a Super 8 camera in Saida in 1975. Between them, accounts of displacement and struggle of Palestinians are told through the photographs of Astra Abu Jamra, Samiyyeh Khairi and Abdel Salam Ujayli.

Tillahi (Ilham Shahin) inherits a villa in a remote area around the city of Ismailia and transforms it with her husband Murad (Yusuf Shaaban) to Yasmin Pension. On a rainy night, a woman named Safia Qandil is killed and Al-Khobar is played on the radio. The guests arrive first, Khater al-Saadawi (George Sidham), Alawia Rustam (Ihsan al-Qalawi), retired Brigadier General Salah Saber (Nabil Dessouki) and Nawal Saeed (Manarfa Ahmed). Suddenly an unexpected guest arrives, saved by Abu Rawash (Sami Maghouri). After a telephone call, Hashim Shedid (Mohammed Wafik) arrives at the police station to tell them that they found next to the dead a note with the address of the pension other than the address of the same dead. Hashim tries to know who is involved in the murder, but everyone denies knowing it. There was a new murder among inmates. Events continue to see who the killer is.

The events of the work revolve around a domineering father who forces his children to live in his house if they want to get married, so the married children are forced to live under one roof, which leads to a series of comical situations.

The film follows Souha Béchara’s return to her village, Deir Mimas, to the Khiam jail, in the very place where she tried to assassinate General Lahd. For Souha, surviving hell is a joyful, thoughtful, and liberating travel diary. The diary of a trip that, for a moment, let one believe in the possible reconciliation of our country.