As the 2023th Cannes International Film Festival 76 kicks off, film lovers in the Arab world are celebrating the largest Arab participation ever, with seven directors of Arab origin taking part. This year's festival management seems to have redirected its attention to new and different regions, which was evident in the speech of the festival's artistic director Thierry Frémaux at the press conference announcing the official selection: "World cinema is reinventing itself, there are many films from countries that are not used to coming to Cannes, such as Mongolia, there is a strong presence from North Africa, East and West Africa, and there are many women among this new generation of filmmakers." (1)
Arab cinema at the Cannes Festival has a long history, since its first edition in 1946, when the film "Dunia" directed by Mohamed Karim participated, and the Egyptian director and actor Youssef Wehbe participated in the jury of the same session. Throughout the festival's history, there have been many Arab participations in the festival, the most prominent of which was "The Chronicle of the Years of Embers" by Algerian director Mohamed Lakhdar Hamina, which was the first Arab film to win the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1975.
This is in addition to the participation of the Egyptian director Youssef Chahine, who participated in ten films throughout his cinematic career, starting with "Son of the Nile" in the early fifties to "Alexandria - New York" in 2004, and won the Palme d'Or in 1997 for his entire career. Kamel Zuhairi's 2021 film "Feathers" also won the Grand Prix of Critics' Week.
Girls Olfa
"Banat Olfa" is a narrative and documentary film that deals with the true story of Tunisian woman Olfa Hamrouni. (Social Media)
Tunisian film Banat Olfa by Kaouther Ben Hania is the only Arab film officially in competition as a contender for the festival's Palme d'Or Grand Prix. This participation comes after Tunisia's absence from the official competition for more than half a century, since Abdellatif Ben Ammar's "A Simple Tale Like This" last participated in the 1970 feature film competition.
"Daughters of Olfa" is a novel and documentary film that tells the true story of Tunisian Olfa Hamrouni, a mother of four girls, two of whom (Rahma and Ghufran Chikhaoui) join the Islamic State, flee to Libya and end up imprisoned there, while the mother struggles to save her two daughters from prison and keep her other two daughters at the same time.
The film "Banat Olfa" starring Hend Sabri and Majd Mastoura, in addition to the participation of the story's realistic heroines Mrs. Olfa Al-Hamrouni and her daughters Aya and Tayseer Chikhawi, and the director uses actresses Nour Khoury and Ishraq Matar to perform the role of the two absent daughters. Written and produced by Habib Attia and Nadim Cheikh Rouha, the film is directed by Kaouther Ben Hania, who was previously nominated for an Oscar for her film "The Man Who Sold His Skin". Who knows, maybe she will be able to win the Palme d'Or this year, one of six female directors competing in this year's main competition.
Tunisian star Hend Sabri celebrated the film's participation in the official competition of the Cannes Festival, and it is noteworthy that she participated in the festival in 1994 through the film "The Silence of the Palaces" directed by Moufida Tlatli, which won the Golden Camera Award for the "A Certain Regard" section. (2)
Bye, Julia. First presence of Sudan
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The Un certain regard, a category of the festival's official awards running in parallel with the Palme d'Or, saw the presence of the film "Goodbye Julia", in which director Mohamed Kordofani seeks to monitor the tragedy of the separation of the north and south Sudan through the story of (Mona), a retired singer from the north who somehow causes the death of a man from the south, which pushes her to seek to hire his wife (Julia) to work for her as a maid in order to get rid of the sense of guilt, and find herself involved in a strange friendship. With Julia who seeks to solve the mystery of her husband's disappearance. Directed by Mohamed Kordofani, the film stars Iman Youssef, Siran Riak, Nizar Jumaa and Qir Dowaini.
No wonder it is the first Sudanese film to reach Cannes, as Sudanese cinema has long suffered from a complete absence, compared to neighboring countries. Although the first film production unit in Sudan was established in the late forties, its production was limited to propaganda films, and after the 1969 revolution (the coup led by Colonel Jaafar Nimeiri), the State Cinema Foundation was established under the Ministry of Culture and Information, and its production was limited to documentary and short films at first, while the first feature film did not appear until 1970 under the name "Hopes and Dreams", produced by Rashid Mahdi and directed by Ibrahim Malasi. (3)
Sudanese cinema has suffered from restrictions for a long time, but fortunately it has begun to recover, which has been reflected in a series of wonderful films that have managed to reach international film festivals, most notably "You Will Die at Twenty" by Amjad Abu Alala, and "Talking about Trees" by Suhaib Qassem Al-Bari.
White lies. Asma Boss explores bread revolution
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Morocco is also participating in the "Un Certain Regard" competition with the feature documentary "The Mother of All Lies" directed by Asma Al-Mudarir, the film deals with Asma's journey to explore her childhood, where the events begin with her going to her parents' house to help them pack their things to move to another house, and while sorting her childhood belongings, she finds a picture of a group of children in the kindergarten yard, which is the only picture from her childhood, but Asma doubts that she is the child in the picture.
This image becomes a starting point for exploring the family's personal stories through the tales of her grandmother and parents, examining the small lies and spaces of falsehood in each story. She explores history, specifically the era of the 1981 Casablanca uprising, and its effects on Moroccan society, to discover how each personal tale contains a degree of lies.
The film is produced by Lucy Rego and Pauline Tran van Leo. Asma Al-Director has previously presented a number of documentaries, most notably "In My Mother's Corner" produced by Al Jazeera Documentary, and the film also starts from family photos and tales, where its journey begins from a postcard with a picture of the village where her mother lived during her childhood, and the film participated in the debut competition at the Edva International Festival in the Netherlands.
Hounds. Life in the margins
The film "Hounds" starring Ayoub Al-Eid and Abdellatif Mastouri, and both actors stand in front of the screen for the first time (social media)
Also from Morocco, director Kamal Lazrak is participating in the film "Les Meutes" in the "A Look" competition, the plot of the film follows a father who struggles to live with his son in the back streets of Morocco, but they are in a dangerous situation, as they get involved in trying to dispose of the body of a man kidnapped by mistake in their car. The film spans over a single night, with the characters moving from one situation to another in the marginal world.
The film stars Ayoub El Eid and Abdellatif Mastouri, both of whom stand in front of the screen for the first time, which seems to be an extension of the director's approach in his previous film "The Man with a Dog", in which he also dealt with actors standing in front of the cameras for the first time, and also focused on the poor and marginalized classes in Morocco, through a young man searching for his lost dog, discovering the hidden worlds of Casablanca.
Strawberry age. Freedom from the past on the streets of Algeria
From Algeria comes the film "Omar la Fraise" directed by Elias Belkedar, which is screened in the "Midnight Shows" section. The film follows Omar Zerrougui, a fraudster in his fifties nicknamed Omar al-Strawberry, who escapes from France to the streets of Algeria with his friend Roger, and is forced to stay in Algeria after French courts sentenced him to twenty years in prison.
Omar is forced to work in a confectionery factory, and in the evening he keeps a crime nightlife with a group of young scammers, and meets a woman who tries to convince him to settle down and start a family. Omar suffers from the dispersion between the two lives until he kills one of his friends and seriously thinks about changing his life. It is worth mentioning that director Elias Belkedar previously won the Critics' Week Award at the fifty-seventh edition of the festival in 2018 for his film "The Wedding Day".
Egyptian participation in two short films
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Also participating in Cannes this year is Egyptian director Gad Shaheen's short film The Call Of The Brook at LA CINEF, an institution under the auspices of the Cannes Film Festival created to inspire and support the next generation of international filmmakers, and this is the second time an Egyptian film has participated in this competition.
The film follows the story of a young Saidi who goes to a cursed canal and sees something strange that leads him to question everything, based on a village folk legend known as "Al-Nadaha". The film stars Mahmoud Abdel Aziz, Heba Khayal, and Sarah Shadid. It took about six months to prepare for the film, but due to the limited budget allocated for its production, the film was shot in one day and over sixteen continuous hours. Jad Shaheen is currently preparing to produce his first feature film, which is similar to "The Canal" in dealing with popular myths and fears.
Jesus. Cairo through the eyes of immigrants
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In the Critics' Week competition, another Egyptian short film, "I promise you paradise" directed by Mourad Mustafa, follows the story of seventeen-year-old African migrant Issa, who lives in Egypt and is subjected to a violent accident after which he tries to save his loved ones. The film stars Kenny Marcelino and Kenzi Mohamed, screenplays by Murad Mustafa and Sawsan Youssef, and is directed by Mourad Mustafa. The film is the sixth short film in the director's career, who has previously presented Khadija, What We Don't Know About Maryam, Hannah Ward, Minus Five and Mannekan, and is currently preparing to present his first feature film, Aisha Can't Fly, about a Somali immigrant. Mourad Mostafa is interested in the issues of African migrants in Egypt, and tries in more than one of his works to present reality through their eyes. The participation of the two short films may compensate for the absence of Egyptian feature films from the festival.
Jordan participates for the first time in two films
"Inshallah Walad" follows Nawal, whose husband dies, and tries to save her daughter and keep her house, which she was about to lose due to the lack of a male son. (Social Media)
Also participating in the Critics' Week section is the Jordanian film "Inshalla Walad" directed by Amjad Al-Rasheed, starring Mona Hawa, Mohammed Jizawi, Youmna Marwan, Salwa Naqara and Haitham Omari, which is Jordan's first participation in the festival's history. The film follows the story of Nawal, whose husband dies, and she tries to save her daughter and keep her house, which she was about to lose due to the lack of a male son for her, although she bought it from her own money, which leads her to claim pregnancy from her deceased husband in order to postpone the division of inheritance. The film is the first feature film by its director, who has previously made six short films, most notably "The Parrot", which won a number of important awards at several festivals. (4)
The Red Sea cries
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"The Red Sea Cries" is the first Jordanian short film to reach the festival and competes in the Directors' Mid-Month competition. The film is directed by Fares Rajoub, and is his directorial debut, starring Ahmed Shihab El-Din and Mohamed Nizar. The events revolve around a German woman named Ida, who returns to a town on the Red Sea coast, where her Arab lover died, in order to say goodbye to him for one last time, and filmed the events in an imagined city, with a 16mm camera, and explores the feelings of mourning that the heroine suffers from.
Although Arab names are behind the creation of these works, all but the Sudanese film "Goodbye Julia" are co-productions with other countries seeking funding, which raises questions about the ability of Arab cinema to produce its works. However, the presence of this group of Arab directors in the current edition heralds a wider space and a new era for Arab cinema. (5)
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