Trapped in “the world’s largest open-air prison” and ruled by war, the new generation is drawn to the beaches. Sick of occupation and political gridlock, they find their own personal freedom in the waves of the Mediterranean. They are the surfers of Gaza.
In modern day Marrakech, Noha, Randa, Soukaina, and Hlima live a life of ‘love for sale’. They’re objects of desire and flashes of flesh. In the heat of the night money flows freely, to the rhythms of pleasures and humiliations suffered. But united in their womanhood, they’re queens of their kingdom. Full of light, dignity and joy, they manage to keep their spirits and dreams alive. They’re loved, they’re unloved, they’re much too loved...
The story of Elias, a 10 year-old reticent orphan living with his grandparents; a priest and a delusional grandmother. Due to unfortunate events, Elias must face the bitterness of life while dealing with his troubled grandmother and the people trying to separate them from each other.
Siblings Muhand and Rasha move to a new village and are subjected to ridicule and scorn as the local children know that their mother was murdered by their father in an "honor killing".
Kameel and Zenab are two Syrian farmers living under Israeli occupation in the Occupied Golan Heights. The two are torn between the echoes of the constant shelling in Syria, and decades old Israeli forced occupation.
Saleh is an acting student in Paris, who returns to his hometown, Haifa, in order to work on a play based on a eulogy to his father, Amar.
Synopsis
Fatima, Farah and Haya are three artists from across the Arab World; marginalised by patriarchy, stifled by censorship, and divided by borders. They are, however, united by creativity, energy, and their desire for real change. Now, they come together for the first time in Barcelona, away from home. Borders and Promises follows these women as their lives and art are woven together while struggling to have their own - and countless other - voices heard.
A film by OTOXO Productions
Alone and far from home, a kid makes his way through a strange city looking for the means to get through his day. Surrounded by predators he is forced to make compromises merely to survive while his life of exile grows one day longer.
Gaza during the holy month of Ramadan. A mother rushes to abandon her home after receiving a phone message telling her she has 10 minutes to leave. But what will be lost when the bomb hits?
This film resides in the cross-section between sci-fi, archaeology and politics. Combining live motion and CGI, the film explores the role of myth for history, fact and national identity. A narrative resistance group makes underground deposits of elaborate porcelain – suggested to belong to an entirely fictional civilization. Their aim is to influence history and support future claims to their vanishing lands.
"If I were walking, I would have found it, even if it's not here anymore." Oum Amin, a Palestinian grandmother, returns to her hometown Haifa through Google Maps Streetview, today, the only way she can see Palestine.
Mahmoud’s life is a ‘photocopy’ of millions of others. He worked as a data-entry typist in the same government job, never married, he lives a traditional life. When he settles for early retirement, he buys a nearby Storefront and sets up: “Mahmoud’s photocopy.” Here, he makes photocopies and types up documents. One day, a student asks him to type up a report on the extinction of dinosaurs. Mahmoud can’t help but begin to see some strange parallels with the state of his own life. Driven by a desire to change the depressing reality that his own lifestyle is becoming extinct, he starts a journey that leads him to revolt against his traditional life.
"Daya Al-Taesh" is an anti-IS satirical web series created by a group of Syrian video activists. They produce the episodes from their base in Gaziantep, Turkey. After receiving threats from IS supporters. they leave to Istanbul with the aim to broadcast an improved topical-comedy show for Syrian TV.
Ticho is a story of a young man who descends to the depths of the Earth. It is the story of love and innocence as they face the absurdity of violence, and of the conflictive relationship between humans and nature. As we accompany Ticho on his journey, we will find the madness that grows underneath the piling wreckage of progress.
Boury is a female taxi driver in Dakar, Senegal. She leads a busy life full of drama, and constantly grapples with society’s archaic views on women. The film is based on the Taxi Sister project, which was started by the Senegalese state in 2007 to encourage female entrepreneurs. Ten women were offered the opportunity to get a drivers' license and buy a car on credit. Today, there are fifteen women taxi drivers in Dakar, which is nothing compared to the fifteen thousand male taxi drivers.
Introducing a cast of first time actors and survivors of war who channel their personal experiences of loss and new beginnings through a fictional narrative, Rupture follows the journey of four Arab teens on their quest to find the local public pool in their new Canadian city.
A group of ex-political prisoners gather in an attempt to reconstruct the interrogation center at Almascobia prison. All of them were detained there. As during their detention a black hood was covering their faces none of them knows for sure the real structure of the center. The attempt of rebuilding the center to re-perform an actual story was a unique journey to them in which they had to face their memories, deep emotions and fears.
Aida; the oldest flower vendor in Alexandria has been roaming the city streets for the past 50 years. Aida is a familiar face for the city residents, yet they don't know much about her, a face that holds within a long history of untold stories.
In a rural forest in Lebanon, two brothers cross the line when they use a household rifle without their father’s consent to unsettling results.
Monsignor Isidore visits an isolated convent in order to announce it's closing down. During the visit he steps on a land mine. Panic ensues and faith is tested.
A taut thriller about a Syrian father’s decision on the shore of the Mediterranean that could endanger his daughter’s life.
A new documentary from Cultures of Resistance Films, showcases the non-violent creative resistance in Burkina Faso. A small, landlocked country in West Africa, Burkina Faso is home to a vibrant community of artists and engaged citizens, and provides an example of the type of political change that can be achieved when people come together. It is an inspiration, not only to the rest of Africa but also to the rest of the world.
When Shady and his Sister Maryam are very excited to visit their sick grandfather on the other side of the wall, their elder brother Mohammeh, arrives in a hurry with the permit to cross. They arrive to the checkpoint, but having a permit sometime is not enough to let them pass!
Sami always tries to remember things, but his memory doesn’t always help. However, Sami's memory problem doesn't bother him, unlike his sister Yara who’s always making fun of him. How will Sami react when his mother tries to make a solution?
Two year-old Razi loves to hear the story of "The Monster". The story is an allegory of the Palestinian problem but Razi is too young to comprehend the political association, he just wants to imagine and live through its details over and over again. The narrator has his own film in his head.
A Palestinian inmate serving time in an Israeli jail receives a visit from his wife, and she devises a bold and crafty operation to fulfill their secret desires.
A foreign woman visits a refugee camp to take photos. A child who is fond of photography notice and follows her closely.
Nader and Abed roam the mountains and dig through caves, looking for historical remains. The two boys deliver the pieces they find to an antiques' dealer, who gives them very little money in return. What they find in one remote cave will challenge their friendship. Things become more complicated when adults force themselves into the simple world of the two boys.
The story of Elias, a 10 year-old reticent orphan living with his grandparents; a priest and a delusional grandmother. Due to unfortunate events, Elias must face the bitterness of life while dealing with his troubled grandmother and the people trying to separate them from each other.
Siblings Muhand and Rasha move to a new village and are subjected to ridicule and scorn as the local children know that their mother was murdered by their father in an "honor killing".
Kameel and Zenab are two Syrian farmers living under Israeli occupation in the Occupied Golan Heights. The two are torn between the echoes of the constant shelling in Syria, and decades old Israeli forced occupation.
Saleh is an acting student in Paris, who returns to his hometown, Haifa, in order to work on a play based on a eulogy to his father, Amar.
Domestic work is a real market in Lebanon, segmented according to the national and ethnic origins of the workers and in which the Lebanese employer is master. Zein owns a domestic worker agency in Beirut. He arranges for Asian and African women to work in Lebanese households and assists his clients in choosing “mail-order” housemaids that will best suit their needs. Advertisement, justice and police are on his side. He decides to open his agency for the film.
16 year-old Habib dreams of becoming a veterinarian. He has not yet been able to study for his hoped-for profession, but he has bought a sheep named El Bouq. His hope? Training the animal to become a fighting champion. Meanwhile, 42-year-old Samir no longer has any dreams, other than to make enough money by selling sheep that he can survive the hardships of daily life. With the Eid celebration coming closer, Samir has a unique opportunity to maximise his profits, as everyone in the country will be buying sheep for slaughter. But for Habib, it’s another story…
To Kyma. A rescue in the Aegean Sea tells the story of a great feat achieved by a group of Spanish volunteers lifeguards who have moved to the Greek island of Lesbos on the wake of the current refugees crisis. Their full vocation of service, altruism and professionalism have made them beloved heroes in the island and even abroad. They are on a mission: with very small means, they challenge the sea to save the lives of another kind of heroes, those thousands of economic migrants and refugees who cross the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece every day by precarious dinghies. It is a dangerous and sorrowful journey, but they finally step European land.
Topper is an optimistic young boy with a vivid imagination. He is also in love with Cilla, but she thinks he’s very crazy. One day Topper finds a pencil and draws a rhino that comes to life! This changes everything
Animation, 60 minutes, Denmark
Trapped inside her house in a city under siege, Oum Yazan, a mother of three, turned her flat into a safe harbor for her family and neighbors, trying to protect them from the war outside. When bombs threaten to destroy the building, snipers turn the courtyards into deadly zones, and burglars break in to claim their dreadful bounties, the goal to maintain the thin balance of routine inside the walls becomes a matter of life and death.
When Shady and his Sister Maryam are very excited to visit their sick grandfather on the other side of the wall, their elder brother Mohammeh, arrives in a hurry with the permit to cross. They arrive to the checkpoint, but having a permit sometime is not enough to let them pass!
Sami always tries to remember things, but his memory doesn’t always help. However, Sami's memory problem doesn't bother him, unlike his sister Yara who’s always making fun of him. How will Sami react when his mother tries to make a solution?
Two year-old Razi loves to hear the story of "The Monster". The story is an allegory of the Palestinian problem but Razi is too young to comprehend the political association, he just wants to imagine and live through its details over and over again. The narrator has his own film in his head.
A Palestinian inmate serving time in an Israeli jail receives a visit from his wife, and she devises a bold and crafty operation to fulfill their secret desires.
A foreign woman visits a refugee camp to take photos. A child who is fond of photography notice and follows her closely.
Nader and Abed roam the mountains and dig through caves, looking for historical remains. The two boys deliver the pieces they find to an antiques' dealer, who gives them very little money in return. What they find in one remote cave will challenge their friendship. Things become more complicated when adults force themselves into the simple world of the two boys.
Aida; the oldest flower vendor in Alexandria has been roaming the city streets for the past 50 years. Aida is a familiar face for the city residents, yet they don't know much about her, a face that holds within a long history of untold stories.
In a rural forest in Lebanon, two brothers cross the line when they use a household rifle without their father’s consent to unsettling results.
Monsignor Isidore visits an isolated convent in order to announce it's closing down. During the visit he steps on a land mine. Panic ensues and faith is tested.
A taut thriller about a Syrian father’s decision on the shore of the Mediterranean that could endanger his daughter’s life.
Jowan Safadi, a Palestinian born in Israel, is a famous musician and a free spirit. He has gathered a hugh fanbase in the Arab world, along with his band Fish Samak, for songs that deal with political, social, emotional and philosophical issues. Jowan courted controversy on several occasions because he is not afraid to speak his mind or tackle taboos. He was investigated by Israeli police for “inciting terrorism”, and was arrested and made to spend a night in prison during his last tour in Jordan. But now his 15-year old son, Don, has moved in with him, and Jowan is facing a whole new challenge. On the one hand, he wants to continue fighting for his ideals and music. But at the same time, he has to act as a responsible parent create a suitable environment for his son.
An exchange project between two circus schools, one in the West Bank, the other in Molenbeek in Belgium, brings together two groups of youngsters of vulnerable zones. They both have their own stories about the way their environment is being represented, but they try to transform the negativity, the violence, and the discrimination they are confronted with into a constructive project. Their worlds change when they enter the circus tent. Circus not only means tricks and movements for them, it is a way to deal with the challenges of the society in which they live.
Ticho is a story of a young man who descends to the depths of the Earth. It is the story of love and innocence as they face the absurdity of violence, and of the conflictive relationship between humans and nature. As we accompany Ticho on his journey, we will find the madness that grows underneath the piling wreckage of progress.
Boury is a female taxi driver in Dakar, Senegal. She leads a busy life full of drama, and constantly grapples with society’s archaic views on women. The film is based on the Taxi Sister project, which was started by the Senegalese state in 2007 to encourage female entrepreneurs. Ten women were offered the opportunity to get a drivers' license and buy a car on credit. Today, there are fifteen women taxi drivers in Dakar, which is nothing compared to the fifteen thousand male taxi drivers.
Introducing a cast of first time actors and survivors of war who channel their personal experiences of loss and new beginnings through a fictional narrative, Rupture follows the journey of four Arab teens on their quest to find the local public pool in their new Canadian city.
Dagmar the dancing mosquito has the hots for egon but egon , putting love on hold, is a busy achieving the ultimate sprint on his bike and wants to see the world
Animation, 75 minutes, Denmark
The events of Sheikh Jackson date back to Thursday, June 25th, 2009 and the death of Michael Jackson who shook the world, especially one of the senators whom Jackson had nicknamed in his school years. But what links Sheikh and Imam to the American mythology? And the most important question is, will he be able to practice his life naturally after that, or will his memories and relationships be restored to the most important question in his soul? Is he a Sheikh or Jackson or the two in the heart of one man?
A group of young women tweak machines and hammer away at a school for auto mechanics in Ouagadougou in this poetic story about life choices, sisterhood and the endeavor to find your own way.
In a country with youth unemployment at 52 percent, jobs are a hot issue. The young girls at a mechanics school in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou are right in the middle of a crucial point in life when their dreams, hopes and courage are confronted with opinions, fears and society's expectations of what a woman should be. Theresa Traore Dahlberg documents their last school years and at the same time succeeds at showing the country's violent past and present.
Alone and far from home, a kid makes his way through a strange city looking for the means to get through his day. Surrounded by predators he is forced to make compromises merely to survive while his life of exile grows one day longer.
Gaza during the holy month of Ramadan. A mother rushes to abandon her home after receiving a phone message telling her she has 10 minutes to leave. But what will be lost when the bomb hits?
This film resides in the cross-section between sci-fi, archaeology and politics. Combining live motion and CGI, the film explores the role of myth for history, fact and national identity. A narrative resistance group makes underground deposits of elaborate porcelain – suggested to belong to an entirely fictional civilization. Their aim is to influence history and support future claims to their vanishing lands.
"If I were walking, I would have found it, even if it's not here anymore." Oum Amin, a Palestinian grandmother, returns to her hometown Haifa through Google Maps Streetview, today, the only way she can see Palestine.
After five years of war, the remaining citizens of Aleppo are still under siege. Help comes from the White Helmets, the civilian corps who act as emergency services to people caught up in bombing and attacks. ‘Last Men In Aleppo’ explores the daily lives of these brave souls, surrounded by death and destruction and their struggle to keep the streets safe. This heartrending, uplifting document of human spirit, resilience and courage won Last Men In Aleppo the Grand Jury Prize (World Cinema – Documentary) at Sundance.
Ouled Allal is an area ravaged by war during the 1990s in Algeria. A constellation of beings, voices, bodies, and buildings face the test of time and live the scars of a slow war without fronts. In his debut feature film, Djamel Kerkar remembers a dark epoche of Algeria. Among the ruins, memory travels; images and sounds draw a poetic map and a psycho-geographical exploration of the place. Algeria's battle with terrorism may have ended in 2002. But the trauma of 200,000 deaths still lingers on.
Ivan is constantly picked on by bullies until a witch mixes a magic potion that makes him the best at everything for one day
Animation, 80 min, Denmark
