The 5th ARAB Film Festival
HIGHLIGHTS
RELEASE
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Nawara Opening Film Outline Egypt 2015 110min DCP Color Drama Arabic
GradePG-15 Rating
DirectorHala Khalil
Asia Premiere2015 Dubai International Film Festival
StoryNawara is a housemaid who dreams of change. For her, this does not mean trading places with her employers, or even that they should lose their wealth and status. She wants to live a life with a minimal level of safety and peace in society. Between the alleys of the poor neighborhood and the roads leading to the villas of the luxury compound, Nawara goes back and forth every day on her way to work, carrying in her journey between these two worlds the worries of the people of her neighborhood and their simple dreams. All she wishes for to make her world complete is to consummate her marriage, get a water connection so she can wash her grandmother's body when she dies, and be able to find a bed in a government hospital for those close to her. But Nawara didn't know that the spring of 2011 will bring her what she never expected.
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A Mile In My Shoes Arabian Wave Outline Morocco 2015 118min DCP Color Drama Arabic
GradePG-15 Rating
DirectorSaid Khallaf
Asia Premiere StoryA Mile in My Shoes is the story of a young man, SAEED, and his journey to manhood, growing up homeless, in severe poverty and in the casual and targeted violence of a large city. His story is told in a mix of four timelines and genres, woven together, intercut into one portrait. In a storyline that overarches all others, a compassionate journalist, OLAYA, interviews the adult SAEED and coaxes him to tell his story and face his pain. Together, they take a journey to the truth. The interview touches off flashbacks that take us to key moments and lead us back and forth, not chronologically, but in the manner of an investigation searching for the heart of the story.
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Borders of Heaven Arabian Wave Outline Tunisia 2015 83min DCP Color Drama Arabic, French
GradePG-15 Rating
DirectorFares Naanaa
Asia Premiere2015 Dubai International Film Festival Best Actor
StorySami, an architect, and Sara, a primary school teacher, have been married for seven years. A thirty something couple, they seem to lead a happy life with their little daughter Yasmine. They live happily through their daily routine until a terrible accident shatters their dreams. A few months later, the couple is still trying to come to terms with the tragedy that hit them.
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Dégradé Arabian Wave Outline Qatar 2015 83min DCP Color Drama Arabic, Russian
GradePG-12 Rating
DirectorArab Nasser, Tarzan Nasser
Asia Premiere2015 Cannes International Film Festival
Story
2015 Toronto International Film FestivalA hot summer’s day in the Gaza Strip. Today the electricity is on. Christine’s beauty salon is heaving with female clients: a bride-to-be, a pregnant woman, a bitter divorcée, a devout woman and a pill-popping addict. But their day of leisure is disrupted when gunfire breaks out across the street. A gangland family has stolen the lioness from Gaza’s only zoo, and Hamas has decided it’s time to settle old scores. Stuck in the salon, with the prospect of death drawing ever nearer, the women start to unravel their stories. How will the day end? Will they lose their lives for the sake of “liberating the lioness”?
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El Clásico Special Screening Arabian Wave Outline Iraq 2015 97min DCP Color Drama Arabic, Kurdish
GradePG-12 Rating
DirectorHalkawt Mustafa
Asia Premiere2015 Dubai International Film Festival
Story
2016 Tribeca Film FestivalEl Clásico is the story of Alan, who is willing to sacrifice everything for the love of his life, Gona. It takes him and his brother Shirwan on a road trip from a small village in Iraq to the football stadium of Real Madrid in Spain. The brothers Alan and Shirwan are little people, living in a town in Kurdish Iraq. Alan wants to marry his girlfriend Gona, but when her father Jalal finds out about it, he forbids her from marrying a little person and gets the brothers evicted from their home. Alan knows that Gona ́s father, who is a shoemaker, is also a big Real Madrid-fan. He has made some special shoes that he dreams of giving to Cristiano Ronaldo. Alan steals the shoes thinking that if he can get them to Ronaldo in Madrid, Jalal will let him marry Gona. Therefor the brothers set out on a road trip to Spain Their perilous journey through modern day Iraq puts them up against bureaucracy, smugglers and terrorists. Will he manage to give the shoes to Cristiano Ronaldo and will this win him the love of his life?
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Going to Heaven Arabian Wave Outline UAE 2015 90min DCP Color Drama Arabic
GradePG Rating
DirectorSaeed Salmeen
Asia Premiere2015 Dubai International Film Festival Best Muhr Emirati Feature
StoryAt the tender age of 11, young Emirati Sultan feels at loss with the world. After the tragic passing of his mother, his father remarries and moves the family to Abu Dhabi where Sultan begins to live with his callous stepmother and younger sister, Fatima. Limited by her unkind constraints, he finds solace in the calmness and serenity of his two pet goldfish who his stepmother is set out to get rid of. But there is something bigger that he yearns for the warmth of his maternal grandmother who has been estranged from the family for a number of years. When his younger sister Fatima shares the news that their father is hiding a photograph and tape recording from his grandmother, Sultan makes the decision to search for his Nana once and for all. He starts a crazy journey, accompanied by his friend from Abu Dhabi to Fujairah via Dubai.
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Let Them Come Arabian Wave Outline Algeria 2015 95min DCP Color Drama Arabic, French
GradePG-15 Rating
DirectorSalem Brahimi
Asia Premiere2015 Dubai International Film Festival Special Jury Prize Muhr Feature
Story
2015 Toronto International Film FestivalThe late 80s. Idols of the past are staggering in Algeria as in the rest of the world. Socialism is in its death throes. Algeria is importing new idols. Which one will win out? IMF-inspired capitalism? Or Afghan-style Islamism? For Nouredine, a civil servant with literary aspirations, there is only one idol to be challenged: his mother. A lost cause. And so Nouredine marries the beautiful Yasmina under maternal orders and has a child, Kamel. Soon after this, everything goes wrong: first his marriage, then the whole country that stumbles into violence under Islamist pressure. Nouredine and Yasmina will try to make their way in a society that is collapsing, under absurdity and into Islamist fanaticism and barbarity: these are the 90s in Algeria, the “dark decade,” 200,000 dead.
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Mahra Story Arabian Wave Outline Oman 2015 93min DCP Color Drama Arabic, Kumzaari
GradePG-12 Rating
DirectorSalim Bahwan
World Premiere
StoryA couple, who were supposed to get married, meets after over 3 years of separation because of a huge dowry the girl’s family had asked him to provide. The story begins when they meet on a ferry, travelling from Muscat to Khasab(Musandam) in western Oman, where he is the assistant captain of the ferry and she is travelling to attend her colleague’s wedding in a small village called Kumzaar in Musandam. Saeed and Mahra are not married because they are still in love with each other. While they are in this town they meet frequently and open up to each other about why they separated. The film shows some of the culture and history of West Oman. It also shows beautiful sceneries, water, cliffs and mountains of Musandam, giving a chance for a lot of Omanis to get a view of Musandam for the first time, which had been difficult as Musandam is located in the far west of Oman, on the border of UAE and Hormuz.
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The Curve Arabian Wave Outline Jordan 2015 81min DCP Color Drama Arabic
GradePG-12 Rating
DirectorRifqi Assaf
Asia Premiere2015 Dubai International Film Festival
StoryOne night, Radi, who leads a reclusive life in his own van, a VW microbus, hears a shrill scream in the distance. Despite his fears of others, he challenges himself by switching on the lights of his home. With the seemingly trivial switching on of a light, he finds himself on a road trip that alters his clockwork and very private lifestyle. Starting with the sheltering of the screaming woman, Laila, the adventure continues and eventually introduces two others into Radi’s mobile home. Within this journey, they come to realize they share much more than they would have ever thought likely. On the road, challenging and self-reflective events provoke the individuals in enlightening self-revolutionary ways where the thin line between reality and illusion fades away.
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The Idol Arabian Wave Outline Palestine 2015 100min DCP Color Drama Arabic
GradePG-12 Rating
DirectorHany Abu-Assad
2015 Toronto International Film Festival
Story
2015 BUSAN International Film FestivalMohammad, a young boy in Gaza, dreams of singing in the Cairo Opera House and for the world to hear his voice. Somehow he manages to escape out of the prison that is Gaza and make it to the Cairo auditions of Arab Idol, the most popular talent show in the region. As he gets to the latter stages of the competition, he must confront his own fears to take control of his destiny and bring hope and happiness to an entire region. Mohammad, and the audience, will go on the journey of a lifetime. An inspirational drama inspired by the incredibly true story of Mohammad Assaf, the winner of Arab IdolTM 2013.
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As | Open My Eyes Focus 2016: Contemporary Arab Women Outline Tunisia 2015 102min DCP Color Drama Arabic
GradePG-15 Rating
DirectorLeyla Bouzid
2015 Dubai International Film Festival Best Muhr Fiction Feature
Story
2015 BUSAN International Film FestivalTunis, summer 2010, a few months before the Revolution: Farah, 18 years old, has just graduated and her family already sees her as a future doctor. But she doesn't think the same way. She sings in a political rock band. She has a passion for life, gets drunk, discovers love and her city by night against the will of her mother Hayet, who knows Tunisia and its dangers too well.
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Speed Sisters Focus 2016: Contemporary Arab Women Outline Palestine 2015 80min DCP Color Documentary Arabic, English
GradePG-12 Rating
DirectorAmber Fares
2015 Sheffield Documentary Film Festival
Story
2015 Hot Docs Documentary Film FestivalThe Speed Sisters are the first all-woman race car driving team in the Middle East. Grabbing headlines and turning heads at improvised tracks across the West Bank, these five women have sped their way into the heart of the gritty, male-dominated Palestinian street car-racing scene. When racing prodigy Marah loses her place as top female racer to glamorous Betty due to an arbitrary decision by the officials, relationships in the team are strained and Marah’s resolve and the support of her hard-working family are pushed to their limits. Weaving together their lives on and off the track, Speed Sisters takes you on a surprising journey into the drive to go further and faster than anyone thought you could.
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Madame Courage Arab Film Master: Merzak Allouache Outline Algeria 2015 90min DCP Color Drama Arabic
GradePG-15 Rating
DirectorMerzak Allouache
2015 Venice International Film Festival Orizzonti
Story
2015 Rocarno International Film FestivalOmar, an unstable and lonely teenager, lives in a slum in the suburbs of Mostaganem. He is addicted to a famous psychotropic, nicknamed "Madame Courage": Artane tablets, very popular among young Algerians, for their euphoric effect of invincibility. Omar is a specialist in snatching. This morning, he goes downtown to commit his usual crimes. His first prey is a young girl called Selma, walking with her friends, prominently wearing a gold necklace. As he commits his larceny, their eyes meet.
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The Rooftops ) Arab Film Master: Merzak Allouache Outline Algeria 2013 91min DCP Color Drama Arabic
GradePG-15 Rating
DirectorMerzak Allouache
2013 Abu-dabi International Film Festival Best Director from Arab World
Story
2013 Venice International Film FestivalFrom dawn till dusk, paced by the calls to prayer, a surprising crowd wanders about on the rooftops of Algiers. These closed spaces become open-air mirrors to the contradictions, the violence, the intolerance of the endless conflicts that mar the Algerian society. The film takes place during one day and focuses on the destinies of various characters, friends, families, all with their own singularity and their appropriation of these terraces. Their stories start slowly and show different facets of Algers today. All of the characters have in common a tragic event in their life and the calls to prayer echo all throughout the confines of their squalid homes. The film gives the audience a view of Algeria seen from above contrasted with the wretchedness of the city.
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The Repentant Arab Film Master: Merzak Allouache Outline Algeria 2012 87min DCP Color Drama Arabic
GradePG-15 Rating
DirectorMerzak Allouache
Asia Premiere2012 Cannes International Film Festival Label Europa Cinemas
Story
2012 Chicago International Film FestivalAlgeria, region of the high flatlands. As Islamist groups continue to spread terror, Rashid, a young Jihadist, leaves the mountains to return to his village. In keeping with the law “of pardon and national harmony”, he has to surrender to the police and give up his weapon. he thus receives amnesty and becomes a “repenti”. But the law cannot erase his crimes and for Rachid it’s the beginning of a one-way journey of violence, secrets and manipulation.