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Newsletter January 2021

1. IN VITRO in Palestine
2. DRY HOT SUMMERS in France
3. ERASED,___ASCENT OF THE INVISIBLE in Jordan
4. PANOPTIC in Switzerland
5. THE DREAM (al-Manam) in Portugal
6. mec film VOD channel at sooner
7. DVD of the month - DRY HOT SUMMERS
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1. IN VITRO in Palestine

Larissa Sansour and Soren Lind’s Sci-Fi is showing at the Arab Film Festival in East-Jerusalem (Palestine) in January 2021.

Content
In Vitro is set in the aftermath of an eco-disaster. An abandoned nuclear reactor under the biblical town of Bethlehem has been converted into an enormous orchard. Using heirloom seeds collected in the final days before the apocalypse, a group of scientists are preparing to replant the soil above.
In the hospital wing of the underground compound, the orchard’s ailing founder, 70-year-old Dunia is lying in her deathbed, as 30-year-old Alia comes to visit her. Alia is born underground as part of a comprehensive cloning program and has never seen the town she’s destined to rebuild.
short Sci-fi, Larissa Sansour & Soren Lind, Palestine/Denmark/UK 2019, 28 min, 1:2.66, Arabic with English subtitles
more
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2. DRY HOT SUMMERS in France

Sherif Elbendary's multi award winning short film shows on January 24th, 2021 at Centre de documentation La Jetée in Clermont-Ferrand (France).

Content
Two lonely people at opposite chapters of life accidentally meet on a busy summer day in a Cairo taxi. Frail old Shawky and bubbly young Doaa are both caught up in their busy routines as their race through the city evolves into a journey of self-discovery that reconnects them to life.
Sherif Elbendary, Egypt/Germany 2015, 30 min, color, digital, Arabic with English ST
more
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3. ERASED,___ASCENT OF THE INVISIBLE in Jordan

The multi-awarded film by Ghassan Halwani can be seen in early January at the Karama Human Rights Film Festival in Amman (Jordan).

Content
Thirty-five years ago, I witnessed the kidnapping of a man I know.
He has disappeared since.
Ten years ago, I caught a glimpse of his face while walking in the street, but I wasn’t sure it was him.
Parts of his face were torn off, but his features had remained unchanged since the incident. Yet something was different, as if he wasn’t the same man.
essay-documentary, Lebanon 2018, color and black & white, 76 min, Arabic and English with English subtitles
more
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4. PANOPTIC in Switzerland

Rana Eid's documentary is touring in it's fifth year now and shows in January 2021 in the program of Norient in Bern (Switzerland).

Content
Panoptic is a letter from a daughter to her deceased father in an attempt to reconcile with her country’s turbulent past.
Panoptic delves into Beirut’s underground to explore Lebanon’s schizophrenia: a nation that thrives for modernity while ironically ignoring the vices that obstruct achieving this modernity.
While the Lebanese population has chosen to turn a blind eye to these vices, Rana Eid, an ordinary citizen, explores the nation’s paradoxes through sound, iconic monuments and secret hidings.In a rare case where the sound landscape of a film dictates the visual landscape, Panoptic is a depiction of the turbulent Lebanese past and the way society copes with trauma.
documentary, Rana Eid, Lebanon 2017, 69 min, Arabic with Engl. ST
more
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5. THE DREAM (al-Manam) in Portugal

Mohamad Malas' documentary classic is is showing in January 2021 in the program of DocLisboa in Portugal.

Content
Shot in 1980-81, the film is composed of interviews with different Palestinian refugees including children, women, old people, and militants from the refugee camps of Sabra, Shatila, Bourj el-Barajneh, Ain al-Hilweh and Rashidieh in Lebanon. In the interviews Mohamad Malas questions them about their dreams at night. The dreams always converge on Palestine: a woman recounts her dreams about winning the war; a fedai of bombardment and martyrdom; and one man tells of a dream where he meets and is ignored by Gulf emirs. During filming Malas lived in the camps and conducted interviews with more than 400 people. In 1982 the Sabra and Shatila massacres occurred, taking the lives of several people he interviewed, and he stopped working on the project. He returned to it in 1986 and edited the many hours of footage gathered into this 45 minute film, released in 1987.
documentary, Mohamad Malas, Syria 1987, 45 min, Arabic with Engl., German or French ST
more
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5. mec film VOD channel at sooner

At the mec film channel of our streaming partner Sooner, the films can now also be purchased individualy. Previously, you had to have subscribtion to view the films. You can buy 72 hour tickets or purchase the link for an unlimited time. Most films are available with multiple translations, please check if the subtitles are available in the language you need before purchasing. Currently the page is updated and improved on a daily basis.

To the mec film channel at Sooner.
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6. DVD of the month - DRY HOT SUMMERS

(Har .. Gaf .. Sayfan)
 
Content
Two lonely people at opposite chapters of life accidentally meet on a busy summer day in a Cairo taxi. Frail old Shawky and bubbly young Doaa are both caught up in their busy routines as their race through the city evolves into a journey of self-discovery that reconnects them to life.


Product description
Sherif Elbendary, Egypt/Germany 2015, 30 min, Arabic
Subtitles: English
synopsis, credits, director's bio
PAL, region free

Subjects
Cairo, Egypt, Loneliness, Megacity, Illness, Friendship

Awards
Audience Award - Ciné Regards Africains (France)
Best Short Film – Ismailia International Festival for Documentary and Short Film (Egypt)
ACT Award  - Ismailia International Festival for Documentary and Short Film (Egypt)
Best Director – International Short Film Festival Bangalore (India)
Best Short Film – Nile’s Bride Festival (Egypt)
Best Actress  – Nile’s Bride Festival (Egypt)
Best Short Film – International Festival  for Arab Film Oran (Algeria)
Best Arab Fiction Short Film – Dhofar Forum for Arab Film (Oman)
Best Short Film – Malmo Arab Film Festival (Sweden)
Audience Award – Films du Sud Festival Bruxelles (Belgium)
Best Short Fiction – Arab Film Festival San Francisco (USA)
Best Short film – 20th Egyptian National Film Festival (Egypt)
Special Mention – Mediterranean Film Festival Montpellier (France)

The Director about the film
While I was working on the development of my first feature film "Two Rooms and a Parlor", I came across the first draft of "Dry Hot Summers". I do not exaggerate when I say that for quite a period after reading it I found my heart and my mind hanging around with the idea. I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I decided I wanted to make it no matter what – even though I did not write it myself as I did with my previous short films, but it felt so much to be tied to them in the same chain.
It shares with my previous films the theme of loneliness and isolation and the search for a moment of relief. As in my previous films the main character is in a permanent search for something, even if it is a very simple thing. It is that same thing that drives forward the course of events until we recognise the personal motivation behind that journey through a process of self-discovery. It's not just a search in vain, but it's more about the feelings of loneliness and isolation that invades us in certain moments of our life, which we try to avoid and soothe until we understand the reasons for it. [...]
In "Dry Hot Summers" Shawky is looking for his plastic bag that contains tremendously important medical documents, to find out through his quest to which extent he is lonely and isolated. Nevertheless the journey itself becomes one last chance to forget the pain of his existence.
Doaa and Shawky are two real personalities that we know well and we see them or their peers every day in the streets of Cairo but we do not talk about them or see them. This is a Cairo we do not see in the movies, and those are the characters that Egyptian mainstream cinema tries always to ignore.
Doaa and Shawky are two characters who have a strong connection to their time and their place. They are the people and the real product of that city. Shawky, who grows cancer in his body from the excessive environmental pollution and Doaa, who because of her slightly advanced age decides to take marriage arrangements in her own hands, even if she's without a family who can support her.
In this very special day, which reflects a crucial turning point in the life of both of our characters, their paths intersect. It's the day in which the doctor is going to tell Shawky how long he can expect to live. It's also the last day for Doaa in her city before getting married and moving to another place. Through this brief meeting between both characters, and the simple details of daily life, they both discover a new aspect in their lives which are not that isolated. So even if it is not a Happy End, it is a much more realistic end in the fact that we can watch them going from a passive part into a more active and they become more awake to their situation. It is the subtle beauty of real life. (Sherif Elbendary)

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