Tahani Rached's THESE GIRLS
This entry is embarrassingly overdue. Not only did this film come out in the beginning of 2006, but I saw it in 2006! That said, I'm still thinking about it, and still thinking that others should see it. THESE...
DUBAI FILM FESTIVAL - WWW: WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD
This Moroccan film premiered at the Venice Film Fest last September and despite its off-putting title, I was surprised at how much I liked it. The second feature film from director Faouzi Bensaidi, it follows the intertwining lives of four...
DUBAI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2006 - V.H.S. KAHLOUCHA
Greetings from the Dubai International Film Festival! As promised, I have seen almost exclusively Arabic language films while here, (often sadly having to pass up some good-looking Bollywood fare) and I am pleased to say there are a few...
ARABIC SHORTS AT DIFF
There is much to be excited about now that the Dubai Int'l Film Festival has posted their entire program on their website. This whole event is going to be one big ol' love fest for me. I sorta feel...
DUBAI INT'L FILM FEST BEGINS ANNOUNCING LINE-UP
The Dubai International Film Festival (Dec 10th - Dec 17th) has begun announcing it's line-up and there are a number of Arab films of note. Premiering at the festival is director Khaled Youssef's KHIYANA SHAREYYAH (Justified Cheating), whose work...
INTERVIEW WITH JOHN SINNO - PRODUCER OF IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS
I got a bit of flak from y'all about saying there were too many docs about Iraq. Come on, guys. I KNOW it's important. Perhaps the MOST important political issue out there today. But that doesn't mean we have...
IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS
Think there are already too many documentaries about the war in Iraq? Yeah, me too. Except finally there is one actually worth seeing. This weekend, IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS will be released in art houses across America. Not only is...
ARABIAN SIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL
While my little Hollywood world is in the midst of AFI madness, another, not so glamorous festival is already underway. The Arabian Sights Film Festival hosted by the Washington DC International Film Festival is happening Oct. 27th through Nov....
ARABIC DVDS AND FILM POSTERS
As much as I'm excited about new developments in Arab film, as a cinephile, it's hard not to feel nostalgic for what is referred to as "The Golden Era of Egyptian Cinema." Although it's little known in the Western...
Bio-Pic of Hassan Al-Banna
Remember how I mentioned in an earlier post the two varieties of Arab cinema? High-brow art films for Western audiences and low-brow Egyptian films for Arab audiences. Well, here comes the unfortunate addendum to that list. Religious Propaganda films...
Arab Films Take Over The Oscars!! (Well...not exactly)
I realize that ScreenAnarchy has covered the foreign-language official Oscar submissions previously this month but since five of them are from Arab countries, I thought I'd take this opportunity to examine those more closely. For the record, five films...
Khaled El-Hagar Brings Back Egyptian Musicals with MAFEESH GHEIR KIDA
According to this article, Egyptian director Khaled El-Hagar, is in post-production with Egypt's first musical film, MAFEESH GHEIR KIDA (Nothing But That). Now, just to set the record straight, that's a lie. Admittedly, there haven't been many musicals in...
Interview w/ Rachid Bouchareb of INDIGÈNES
Speaking of... From Time Europe Edition: "Rachid Bouchareb is the director and co-writer of Indigènes, a film opening in France this week that tells the little-known story of soldiers from the French colonies who fought to liberate France from...
INDIGÈNES: Still Battling for Algiers
Gillo Pontecorvo, director of THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS, died this week. I didn't see this movie about the Algerian resistance against French occupation when it came out in 1967 (when it was banned in France), but I did see...
Good News for Egyptian Film?
As the new ScreenAnarchy representative of Arab film, I'm going to take this opportunity to assume that nobody knows anything about Arab cinema and without me you would forever live in the dark. Please forgive the condescention if this is...
Arab Film Festival Caravan
Tis the season for Arab film! Or rather, tis the season for Arab film festivals. In an unprecedented gesture of foresight and cooperation, four Arab nations organized their respective international film festivals to coincide during the months November and...
