BEFORE NOW AND THEN
Other movies
FAMILIAR TOUCH
Director: Sarah Friedland
Anchored by a precise and sensitive performance by 79-year-old theatre actress Kathleen Chalfant, Sarah Friedland’s debut film – made in collaboration with the residents and care workers at a Los Angeles retirement home – shows the experience of dementia from this elderly woman’s own point of view. Her son, whom she mistakes for a date, takes her to the care home that she thinks is a hotel bar. Once a professional chef, she takes over the kitchen for a morning, then escapes to go to a produce stall, bits of reality she can still grasp. Her triumph is to find the life worth living where she is, as she is. A celebration of the human mind, in all its complexity.
QUIET LIFE
Director: Alexandros Avranas
Sergei and Alina, both teachers, have fled persecution in Russia with their two daughters to Sweden, where they have applied for asylum. They do their best to fit in: the parents work hard, the children throw themselves into their Swedish school lives and the family welcomes regular inspections, proving what excellent Swedish citizens they would be. It is a shock when their application is rejected, after which the younger daughter Katja collapses into a coma caused by Child Resignation Syndrome, a well-documented phenomenon among refugee children. The callousness of the authorities and its institutions, which seem designed to strip everyone of humanity and hope, is chilling, only just trumped by the film’s core values of justice and resilient love.
FARASAN BOAT 128 KM AWAY FROM ANCHORAGE
Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid
In 2016, a group of young men headed out on a short fishing trip around Farasan Island, off the coast from Jazan. Intending to be away for only an hour, they were soon driven off course in thick fog, heading unknowingly towards the war-torn Yemeni border. As they realized where they were and tried to head back, their boat ran out of fuel. For 90 hours, they drifted without food or water, constantly at risk from passing pirates or being shot from the shore. There were many moments when they despaired of surviving; then came a glimmer of hope.
LAIL NAHAR
Director: Abdulaziz Almuzaini
Nahar, a beloved and highly popular opera singer, finds himself at the center of a "cancel" storm after a viral video accuses him of racism. In a surprising move, he announces his upcoming marriage to a black woman live on air, putting him in a race against time to find the right woman. Eventually, he marries a wedding singer, and their relationship evolves from one of mutual interests into an unexpected emotional and musical journey filled with surprising twists.