Lebanon, 1975. How Tahal, an affluent young man becomes a warlord ; how Soraya, the girl he leaves behind, tries to help him in abducting a businessman Read More »
Tag Archives: Arabic
Beyrouth ya Beyrouth / Beirut, Oh Beirut (1975) Maroun Bagdadi, Ezzat El Alaili, Mireille Maalouf, Joseph Bou Nassar, Drama
In the aftermath of the 1967 defeat, four young Lebanese try to figure out their places in a society whose rules seem to have changed. Read More »
Out in the Dark (2012) Michael Mayer, Nicholas Jacob, Michael Aloni, Jamil Khoury, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Nimer and Roy are two gay men on opposing sides of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict who fall for each other. Much as they’d like to be left alone, both political conflict and orthodox beliefs will not leave their budding relationship untouched, with most of the egregious circumstances befalling Nimer, whom security forces pressure into helping them by stripping his access to education and threatening to leave him without family. Through his eye-witnessed death of a friend, Nimer knows he can’t oblige. Can love find a way through this no-win situation?
Read More »
To Die in Jerusalem (2007) Hilla Medalia, Documentary
Ever since 17-year-old Rachel Levy, an Israeli, was killed four years ago in Jerusalem by a Palestinian suicide bomber, her mother Abigail has found hardly a moment’s peace. Read More »
Inch’Allah dimanche (2001) Yamina Benguigui, Fejria Deliba, Rabia Mokeddem, Amina Annabi, Biography, Drama
The story of an immigrant woman struggling against old world traditions. Zouina leaves her homeland with her three children to join her husband in France, where he’s been living for the past ten years.
Read More »
À peine j’ouvre les yeux / As I Open My Eyes (2015) Leyla Bouzid, Baya Medhaffer, Ghalia Benali, Montassar Ayari, Drama
Tunis, 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.
Read More »
Snackbar (2012) Meral Uslu, Ali Cifteci, Nazmiye Oral, Dilara Horuz, Drama
This snackbar, owned by Ali, in a suburb of Rotterdam is a refuge for the local Moroccan youth. They are wild, violent and criminal. To them Ali is like an old, trustworthy Turkish uncle, understanding, funny but also strict. But what if Ali, with his addiction to gambling jeopardizes their habitat? SNACK BAR is a film, which is as hard, funny, tragic, wild and unpredictable as life itself.
Read More »
Bent familia (1997) Nouri Bouzid, Amel Hedhili, Nadia Kaci, Leila Nassim, Drama
Three modern North African women on the brink of self-awareness discover the power of friendship. Amina, caught in an unhappy marriage and Aida, recently divorced and openly dating men (to the shock of her disapproving family and neighbors), begin to question their lives and relationships when they meet Fatiha, an Algerian refugee. On the threshold of a new life in Europe, Fatiha serves as the impetus for Amina and Aida to question their own fate.
Read More »
Un été à la Goulette (1996) Férid Boughedir, Sonia Mankaï, Ava Cohen-Jonathan, Sarah Pariente, Comedy, Drama
In La Goulette, a small harbour town in the Tunis suburbs, Youssef, the Muslim, Jojo, the Tunisian Jew, and Giuseppe, the Sicilian Catholic, are as inseparable as their three 16-year-old daughters, Meriem, Gigi and Tina. In a fit of provocation the three girls all swear that they’ll lose their virginity on the day of the feast of the Madonna, each with a boy from a religion different to hers !…
Read More »
Omaret yakobean / The Yacoubian Building (2006) Marwan Hamed, Adel Imam, Nour El-Sherif, Youssra, Drama
Cairo: a 70-year-old building of once-luxury flats with tenements on the roof. Zika, an aging libertine, feuds with his sister. Pius Haj Azzam takes a second wife, in secret, to satisfy sexual drive within religious bounds. Bothayna, poor and beautiful, supports her family, wanting to do so with dignity intact. Her former fiancé, Taha, the janitor’s son, humiliated by the police, turns to fundamentalism. Hatem, a gay editor, seduces and corrupts a young man from the sticks. Two brothers, Copts, one a tailor and one Zika’s factotum, connive for property. Allah is on most everyone’s lips, and corruption is in their hearts. European values, both refined and worldly, provide a subtext.
Read More »
Much Loved (2015) Nabil Ayouch, Loubna Abidar, Asmaa Lazrak, Halima Karaouane, Drama
A social drama about four marginalized prostitutes in Marrakech and their complex relations with their families and society at large.
Read More »
Atlantic. (2014) Jan-Willem van Ewijk, Fettah Lamara, Thekla Reuten, Mohamed Majd, Drama
A Moroccan fisherman sets off on an epic journey towards Europe on his wind surfboard. But the pursuit of dreams does not come without sacrifice.
Read More »
Sous les bombes / Under the Bombs (2007) Philippe Aractingi, Nada Abou Farhat, Georges Khabbaz, Rawia Elchab
Under the bombs, a woman searches for her son. A man accompanies her. They have nothing in common. Toni is Christian and dreams of leaving the country. Zeina is Shiite, and has emigrated to Dubai. Back in Lebanon to try and save her son, she realizes she doesn’t want to leave anymore. And yet, despite this all, Toni and Zeina will love each other, as a kind of response to the death striking all around them.
Read More »