CASTING
Other movies
ABDO & SANEYA
Director: Omar Bakry
A wonderful reminder of the power of silent film, Omar Bakri’s film is shot without dialogue in dramatic black and white. Egyptian farmer Abdo and his wife Saniya are desperate for a child, which leads them on a daunting journey to New York City for infertility treatment. The treatment itself is intimidating but the couple faces an additional hurdle: they don't speak the language and are unfamiliar with the American way of life. This musical drama has all the magic and direct emotion of early cinema – laughter, tears and love surge through it - but with very modern-day heroes in Abdo and Saniya. The Jeddah audience is sure to be captivated by this innovative take on a classic genre.
LITTLE JAFFNA
Director: Lawrence Valin
“You’re not in Paris any more. You’re in Little Jaffna.” During the civil war in Sri Lanka that raged from 1983 until 2009, Tamils in the Parisian district of Little Jaffna were forced to contribute towards buying arms for Tamil Tigers. Aya, ostensibly a grocer, leads the ruthless extortion gang that bleeds the community dry. Michael, a straight-shooting young police officer with Tamil roots, is sent to infiltrate the organization but as he befriends the gang’s members at terrible risk to himself, he starts to see the issue in a more nuanced way and feels his loyalties shifting. Valin combines the theatricality of Tamil movies with the hard edge of new French cinema, using largely non-professional actors, in this spectacular thriller.
AGORA
Director: Ala Eddine Slim
A blue dog and a black crow narrate the strange story of three revenants – people who are not quite dead, but not alive either – who resurge in a remote town, reviving the unsolved mysteries around their respective disappearances. Fathi, the local police inspector, is on the case, assisted by his friend Amine, the local doctor. What begins as a conventionally recognisable crime thriller, however, becomes more of a mood piece once Omar, a police investigator from the city, arrives to shine a light on what has happened and is overwhelmed by the irrationality of the chain of events. At once absurd and disturbing, Agora gradually reveals itself as both poetic fable and a political commentary on the state of Tunisia.