
THE DAMNED DON’T CRY
Other movies

SABA
Director: Maksud Hossain
Saba, 25, lives in Dhaka with her demanding mother Shirin, a paraplegic whose frustrations and rage often find a target in the daughter who cares for her. When Shirin’s worsening condition requires surgery it falls to Saba to find the money to pay for it. Securing a job at a seedy Shisha bar, Saba befriends the manager Ankur and, for the first time, pictures what a life of her own could look like. Maksud Hossain’s debut feature is a close-up look at a complicated bond between mother and daughter that lurches between love and guilt, co-dependence and the longing for autonomy - but it is also a social drama, detailing the hardships that underlay the riots in Bangladesh earlier this year.

EAST OF NOON
Director: Hala Elkoussy
Stuck in a sandy enclave in the middle of nowhere, aspiring musician Abdo divides his time between digging graves and creating music using household implements. Along with his Nunna, he is plotting his escape to a wider world while scheming to survive the everyday tyranny of the enclave boss, Master Shawky. A story that is very much about the power of story-telling, with some of the flavour of the Arabian Nights, the evocatively titled East of Noon is shot largely in black and white. This surface beauty gives its familiar theme of youthful revolt a surreal, fantastical quality, allowing ideas that would otherwise be taboo to float free.

SAIFY
Director: Wael Abu Mansour
At 40 years old, Saify Muhammed is a washed-up confidence trickster who owes money to everyone, including his ex-wife. Now he is trying his hand at blackmail. The year is 2000; Saify has a dilapidated music shop selling cassette tapes, including recordings of banned Islamic sermons he mistakenly thinks will turn an illicit profit. His sermon supplier is Al-Mahdi, shady religious advisor to the local bigwig Sheikh Asaad Aman, who has a name as a philanthropist. When Saify finds one tape containing a scandalous recording of the influential Sheikh Asaad, he thinks he’s finally in the money.