Screening of “Exodus” by Syrian director Soudade Kaadan (Ernesto Rocchio/Getty)
This year’s course includes Venice International Film Festivalin its 79th edition, a number of Arab films.
In the “Afaaq Short Film” competition, which highlights works representing the latest aesthetic trends, the Egyptian film “My Best Friend” will compete. Directed by Kawthar Younes, starring Mark Hajjar, Ilham Safi El Din, Fadel El Garhy, and Sonia Farid. It has seven shows on September 9 and 10.
In the “More Horizons” section, the film “The Hanging Gardens” by Iraqi director Ahmed Yassin Al-Daraji, co-produced by Iraq, Egypt, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom is presented. The work is starring Wissam Diaa, Jawad Al-Shakarji, Hussein Muhammad Jalil, Akram Mazen Ali. The film is 117 minutes long and has four shows on September 9 and 10. The film project has previously won the Final Cut Award in Post-Production, an initiative at the Venice Film Festival that aims to support films from Africa and the Middle East, and also won the Mercury Prize in 2021.
The film “Exodus” by Syrian director Soudade Kaadan will also be shown in the “More Horizons” section. The work, starring Hala Zain, Kinda Alloush, Nizar Al-Ani, Samer Al-Masry, and Port La France, the film was filmed in Turkey. Its events revolve around Damascus in light of what Syria is witnessing now.
Three Arab fiction films will compete in the Final Cut Workshop for Film Projects: “Back Theater” by directors Afaf Mahmoud and Khalil Ben Qiran from Morocco, “Black Light” by Karim Ben Salah from Algeria, and “Inshallah Weld” by Amjad Al-Rasheed from Jordan. Three documentaries are also participating: “A Fada’i Work” by Kamal Al-Jaafari from Palestine, “Land of Women” by Nada Riad and Ayman Al-Amir from Egypt, and “Arrested” by Maryam Al-Hajj from Lebanon.
In the Venice Finance Market, four other Arab projects are participating, which are the Syrian documentary “Five Seasons of the Revolution”, the Egyptian novelist “The 67th Summer”, the Moroccan documentary “Fatna”, and “A Woman Named Rashid” from Sudan.
In the “Horizons” section, Algerian director Rachid Hami will participate in the movie “For My Country”, a French production, starring Karim Chloe, Chaine Boumediene, Loubna Azbal, Samir Kassemi, Laurent Lafitte and Vivien Song.
Also competing in the Afaq competition is the film “A Biography” by Maqbool Mubarak. The work stars Kevin Ardelova, Arswindi Bening Swara, Harrow Sandra, Rockman Rosadi, and produced by Qatar, Indonesia, France, Germany, Poland, Singapore, and the Philippines.
In the Critics’ Week competition, the Moroccan film “Queens” by Yasmine Benkirane, which is shown at the end, will participate.
During the festival’s activities, the Center will publish the 17th issue of the Arab Cinema Magazine, which continues the “75 Years of Palestinian Cinema” campaign, in addition to celebrating women’s cinema. The issue includes articles written by Egyptian actress YousraPalestinian directors Najwa Najjar and Basil Khalil, and Palestinian journalist Salim al-Beik.
