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Newsletter April 2020

1. Note on the current distribution
2. AS ABOVE, SO BELOW - new in international distribution
3. THE ONE MAN VILLAGE - for spontaneous people online till today
4. AND ON A DIFFERENT NOTE - also for spontaneous people till today
5. SOLOMON'S STONE - online with cultural magazine Roumman al Thaqafia
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1. Note on the current distribution

Due to the international lock down there are countless online activities in which also films from the mec film catalogue are presented. As the programs often have a rather ad hoc character, the annoucement of screenings is not possible via the monthly newsletter. You find updates on the screening at the startpage of mec film.
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2. AS ABOVE, SO BELOW - new in international distribution

NEW! mec film is happy to announce the international distribution and sales of Sarah Fancins' feature documentary which premiered at this year's Berlinale.

Content
A group of people roams in a bare landscape around a set of swings as their only settlement, as if mapping, exploring, reorganizing the open territory they are in. As they move, changes in soundscapes make them virtually cross geographies. In the sky, a moon-like satellite roves above their heads, following them like an omen. The moon, once symbolizing cyclical times, myths and new beginnings, is now the satellite waiting to be conquered and colonized. Reality and fantasy intertwine in an existential quest. Is a new beginning really possible? As below, so above.
documentary, Sarah Francis, Lebanon 2020, 70 min, b&w and color, Arabic with English subtitles
more
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3. THE ONE MAN VILLAGE - for spontaneous people online till today

Simon El Habre's multi award winning documentary is available for free streaming worldwide until 8.4.2020 at the new platform Aflamuna from Lebanon. If you prefer to hold a DVD in your hand, you can buy it from here.

Content
Semaan is leading a quiet life on his farm in the small village Ain el-Halazoun in the Lebanese mountains. The hamlet was completely emptied and destroyed in combats during the civil war in Lebanon between 1975 and 1990. Today, many years after an official reconciliation, its inhabitants which are all from one family regularly go back to the village to cultivate their plots of land or visit their houses and always leave before sunset.
In his comforting and humorous film Simon El Habre observes the life in his quasi ghost village and tries to reflect on the collective and individual memory in a country that seems to live in a collective amnesia and is vulnerable to a new civil war.
documentary, Simon El Habre, Lebanon 2008, 86 min, color, Arabic with Engl. ST

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4. AND ON A DIFFERENT NOTE - also for spontaneous people till today

AND ON A DIFFERENT NOTE by Mohammad Shawky Hassan plays from 2. till 8.4.2020 in the online-Program of the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture AFAC.

Content
A text-image montage with empty apartments, lonely rooms, of views from windows and street scenes in New York and Cairo. In the background: an uninterrupted soundtrack of news and talk shows. Self-proclaimed pundits make their appearance, want to be heard.
Egypt 2015, 24 mins, Color, Arabic/ English with English/Arabic Subtitles
more
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5. SOLOMON'S STONE - online with cultural magazine Roumman al Thaqafia

Ramzi Maqdisi's black comedy is part of the special program of Palestinian cultural magazine Roumman Al Thaqafia on facebook (free access, you do not need a facebook account).

Content
Hussein, a Palestinian young man, receives a letter from the Israeli post office to appear in person to receive a package. He has to pay the sum of 20.000 $ US dollars in order to collect that package. Hussein’s curiosity to find out what the package contains drives him to sell everything he owns, despite the outright rejection of his mother, the matter that changes their lives afterwards.
The story is adapted from the novel Blue Light by Hussein Barghouty.
short film, Ramzi Maqdisi, Palestine/Spain 2015, 25 min, color, digital, Arabic with Engl. ST
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