Baghdad International Film Festival is staged Dec. 16 to 19.Films for the fest will mainly be submitted from Egypt, Jordan and Iran, according to Iraqi helmer Dr. Abdul Basit Salman. Egypt plans to send 27 films, most of them shorts made by students at the High Institution for Cinema, although the country's two main television channels and some private production houses will be sending in features, he said.The last time a film festival was held in Baghdad was in September 2005 when 58 locally ma...
In this V edition the participation with respect to previous years has been tripled.AMAL means hope in Arab, the same hope that has been the motor of our Foundation since 1984, and of the Euro Arab Film Festival since 2003; promoting an active work in the cultural exchange. This hope is the one that moves us to try to improve every year and to increase the participation and quality of the Festival. Our values continue being the same as in the first edition: to approach to the West the reality of...
After a two-year hiatus caused by war and political unrest, the Beirut International Film Festival had made an unexpected return October 4-11 thanks to the efforts of the Lee & Gund Foundation, which is sponsoring it in conjuction with the launch of the foundation’s new initiative: MakeFilmsNotWar.orgDuring the darkest days of the summer, it seemed unlikely that the festival would take place at all. With the Beirut airport closed, the country blockaded, and infrastructure destroyed, it seemed ...
In the handsome press book for the new Agnieszka Holland musical biopic "Copying Beethoven" writer/producer Christopher Wilkinson, regarding the appearance of actor Ed Harris in the title role, is quoted as having said on a visit to the set, "I see Beethoven standing there -- but what have they done with Ed Harris?" If Ed Harris does to some extent disappear into the skin of the composer in this not-to-be-denied bravura acting job, and if the trompe l'oeil maquillage really does makes it hard ...
Kilometre Zero , Hiner Saleem, France, 2005The title of Hiner Saleem’s new film is used metaphorically to explain that in the 80 years of Iraqian modern history there has been virtually no progress. Saleem who fled Iraq under Saadam Hussein claims , “when you start from zero, the only direction to go is forward”. In real life Saleem’s brother was taken against his will on the way to the bakery one day and inducted into the Iraqian army. Saleem did not return to Kurdistan until the fall...
Syrian Bride took best film at Montreal:Eran Riklis, its director talks about his film: "Weddings along Israel’s border with Syria involving Druze residents of the Golan Heights and their relatives in Syria are practically routine events in an area occupied by Israel since 1967. The drama is usually foreseeable: a young woman leaves her family knowing that once she crosses the border she can never return home to Majdal Shams, the largest Druze village in the Golan. But Mona's wedding day has ...
Today’s Iraq Provides Setting for Landmark Syria/UK Co-ProductionWriter/director Nabil Maleh’sTHE HUNT FEASTCurrently filming in Syria and Lebanon. To Be Unveiled At Cannes 2004The story of an escaped high-ranking officer of the former Iraqi regime on the run with millions of dollars earmarked for an insurgency campaign against the occupying American forces, is the subject of a landmark Syrian/UK co-production feature film currently shooting in Syria and Lebanon, which gets its first unveili...
