Jeff Nichols photographed by © Kyle Kaplan, courtesy of 20th Century Fox, used with permission
Plus, the latest projects by favorite filmmakers Lina Soualem, Murad Abu Eisheh, Cherien Dabis and Tala Hadid will be featured in this year’s prestigious sessions with selected projects in development and post-production from Morocco, Africa and the Arab world.
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A still from ‘Aïcha’ by Mehdi Barsaoui, courtesy of The Party Film Sales
This year there are 12 Doha Film Institute supported films in the lineup on the Lido, plus the DFI is hosting a special afternoon and even a gala dinner celebrating their achievements in the world of cinema and art.
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A still from ‘Salted Skins’ by Nicolas Fattouh, courtesy of the DFI
It’s all in a week’s work for the Doha Film Institute, the greatest cinematic organization in the MENA region.
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Goodies at the tables welcoming guests attending the important gala included a keffiyeh print glasses holder and a mini candle for Gaza.
When the London-based foundation’s co-founder said, during her speech, that there was an “edu-cide” happening in Gaza, suddenly everything that has been going on in the past six months in Palestine came into clear focus and explained for this writer Israel’s inexplicable actions.
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A still from ‘Family Romance, Llc’ by Werner Herzog
In ‘Family Romance, Llc’ Werner Herzog finds a new way to work through the difficulties life throws our way — outsource them to an agency specializing in family connections. He does it with his usual flair for our human ridiculousness and making the impossible seem real. During the junket following the screening, I loved listening to my esteemed colleagues’ confused explanations of stories they thought they’d seen like this one in documentaries, or even completely convinced this was a reality film, instead of fiction. And Herzog himself quite perfectly, calmly and smoothly shooting down each and all of their perplexed ideas.
‘Family Romance, Llc’ was a Special Screening at this year’s Festival de Cannes.
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One of the most beautifully mysterious actors of our time, Mr. Ralph Fiennes will be in Cairo, presenting his latest directorial project ‘The White Crow’ — about a childhood idol of mine, ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev — and for a conversation with the audience inside the massive Cairo Opera House. Moderated by yours truly.
It’s a momentous event, but I almost missed it.
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Ahmed Abdelhafiz and Rady Gamal in a still from A. B. Shawky's 'Yomeddine'
Road movies have been done throughout the age of cinema every which way possible in film. And yet, the formula is so perfect that hardly I've found a dissonant note when it comes to taking a story on the road, on the big screen.
In A. B. Shawky's 'Yomeddine', which screened in Competition at this year's Festival de Cannes, the central idea remains that of a journey across the land but the Austro-Egyptian filmmaker -- yes Shawky's mom is Austrian, his father Egyptian and he grew up there -- substitutes the usual characters with two wonderful outcasts who charm their way into our hearts, slowly but surely, and manage to take up home there. Beshay is a small, disfigured man from a leper colony and the Pancho Villa to his Don Quixote is a little orphan boy named Obama. Both Rady Gamal, who plays Beshay and Ahmed Abdelhafiz who plays Obama are on their first acting roles in 'Yomeddine' and their freshness in experience is only paralleled by their awesome talent. Whenever the film could have played on our emotions too heavily, because of its intense subject matter, Gamal and Abdelhafiz find it within themselves to carry us through to the other side, and inspire, fill us with hope in the process.
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Edith Bouvier Beale, Caroline Lee Radziwill in a still from 'That Summer' by Göran Hugo Olsson
Photo © Peter Beard
I've been a fan of Göran Hugo Olsson's filmmaking since I watched his 'The Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975' quite a few years ago. He talked to me then about having a "100 percent connection with the material" which make his films not only wonderful but deeply honest.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF ETON
A look from Eton’s Fall/Winter 2018-19 collection ‘Kyoto Anywhere’
On my second full day of Pitti Uomo, I went on a journey eastward to Egypt, Korea and Japan, thanks to the vision and wit of four fashion brands.
I’ll start with Eton, because for me Pitti Uomo always begins with Eton. The Swedish shirt brand has become synonymous with fashion with a conscience, and a symbol of how great ethics and cool designs can make for a powerful, winning combination in today’s market. While some designers with attitudes, and their ungrateful PRs can create attention for almost anything for a season or two before disappearing into oblivion, these days it’s with principles and great artistic vision that fashion houses thrive, time and time again. The inclusive atmosphere I experienced at the Gucci Garden launch party here in Florence only confirmed my theory.
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PHOTO BY NEILSON BARNARD/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFF
Bushra on the DIFF red carpet
We need more women film writers. Repeat after me. We need more women film writers and when they are published, those few random times, we need to support them.
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COURTESY OF VENICE DAYS
A still from Shirin Neshat’s ‘Looking for Oum Kulthum’ featuring Yasmin Raeis
If you think that in order to feature strong women a film festival only has to pay attention to the male to female ratio of filmmakers in their Competition section, think again. At this year’s Venice Film Festival, powerful, interesting, revolutionary women roles, filmmakers and icons have been everywhere. You just have to know how to look. And maybe you won’t always find them in the director’s chair, which is alright by me. But in the case of the first two films I’ll talk about here, they happened to be both in front of and behind the camera.
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