Other movies
ME & AYDAROUS
Director: Sara Balghonaim
Jude manages to coerce her disapproving family chauffeur, Aydarous, into taking her to meet a date, but he is not going to be deflected from letting her know he doesn’t approve. Harking back to 20 years to a time when young women in Saudi Arabia were more restricted than they are now, the film is entirely filmed in a cramped van: for many girls of that generation, the nearest thing there was to a private space, albeit with a chaperone. Over the course of a night, Jude must find creative ways to get rid of Aydarous so that she and her boyfriend can have some time together.
AJOOMMA
Director: He Shuming
Widowed Mrs Lim (played by veteran Singaporean actress Hong Huifang) divides her time between cosseting her 20-something son and binge-watching lurid K-drama. When her son has to pull out of a planned trip to South Korea touring locations from her favourite soap opera, she puts aside a lifetime's timidity to travel there alone. It's scary – she manages to get lost on her way to the departure lounge. However, she gradually rediscovers her confidence, sorting out her hopelessly floundering tour guide Kwon-woo (Kang Hyung-seok) and making a new cross-cultural friend Jung Su (Jung Dong-hwan), a kindly security guard. Singapore's Oscar entry treats themes of parenthood, ageing and loneliness with a light touch, peppering Auntie's travels with wacky setpieces and clips from an imaginary soap - starring real-life TV heart-throb Yeo Jinsoo. The film has a light comic touch, and it's heartwarming to see Mrs Lim living out her own soap opera.
ASHKAL
Director: Youssef Chebi
Elements of film noir, the traditional police procedural and political allegory come together in Tunisian director Yousseb Chebbi’s second feature, set in the symbolically evocative Gardens of Carthage urban development in north Tunis. Among the eerie, unoccupied blocks of this city within the city – abandoned after the overthrow of President Ben Ali and now under perpetual construction – is the burnt body of a night watchman. Authorities are inclined to write it off as suicide, putting pressure on the investigating officers Fatma (Fatma Oussaifi) and Batal (Mohamed Houcine Grayaa) to clean up the case quickly. When one body is followed by several more, however, there is a suggestion that these deaths are not only connected but may presage another moment of political reckoning for the country. Troubling and atmospheric, Ashkal’s mystery deepens without reaching closure: a fascinating and unsettling film. This film is supported by the Red Sea Fund.
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.
FALCON LAKE
Comedy and Drama | Running Time: 100 minutes
2022 / French and English
Country: Canada and France
MENA Premiere
ProducerDavid Gauquié, Nancy Grant, Julien Deris, Sylvain Corbeil, Jalil Lespert, Dany Boon, Jean-Luc Ormières
CastJoseph Engel, Sara Montpetit, Monia Chokri, Arthur Igual, Karine Gonthier-Hyndman, Thomas Laperrière, Anthony Therrien, Pierre-Luc Lafontaine, Lévi Doré, Jeff Roop
ScriptwriterCharlotte Le Bon
Two teenagers develop a close bond when thrown together on a family holiday in Quebec, where they are staying in a cabin by an eerily dark lake in the woods. 16-year-old Chloe (Sara Montpetit) gets morbid adolescent thrills from stories of drownings and hauntings that are part of the local lore. The well-behaved Sebastien (Joseph Engel), 13 – but “nearly 14” - is fascinated by this older and seemingly worldly girl, who sneaks wine and cigarettes, gets asked out to parties by older guys and is sleeping – along with his little brother - in a bunk tantalisingly adjacent to his own. Initially reluctant to hang out with a younger boy, Chloe is drawn to Bastien’s humour, sensitivity and dance moves; the two become inseparable. Actress-turned-director Charlotte LeBon manages the mix of sadness, awkwardness and fun of first love with a sure hand while never losing sight of the story’s tonal melancholy.