by Raynald C Rivera
Four Arab films exploring very diverse themes and genres were presented before the media at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF) yesterday.
The films were among the 27 vying for awards for the Arab Film Competition of the festival whose winners would be announced at an awarding ceremony to be held tomorrow at Al Rayyan Theatre in Souq Waqif.
Algerian filmmaker Merzak Allouache delves into his nation’s ‘black decade’ in The Repentant taking a clode look at the lingering effects of extremism and civil war which ended in 1999, which for him was a chance to shed light on what was going on at that time in his country.
“A movie cannot change the world, but I felt I had the obligation to the society and this movie is part of a more comprehensive approach to change,” said Allouache, adding film for his was a way of examining issues.
Although it recently won Best Screenplay at the official competition for feature films at The International Film Festival in Addis Ababa, Allouache said he was not expecting to win at the DTFF where he is joining for the second time.
“Arab film festivals should not have prize because the main purpose of festivals is for directors to interact and for films to screen for audiences from different countries,” he said.
Despite acclaim in other countries, the independently produced film has met criticisms in its own country and has only been screened thrice in small theatres back in Algeria.
In Playground Chronicles, filmmaker Brahim Fritah revisits his childhood from five to 15 years old.
Ninety percent of the story is fact and only 10 percent is fiction, which makes it less attractive to producers since it did not have dramatic point, explained Fritah.
“But I wanted to present something different, away from stereotypes,” he said of his first feature film funded by the DFI. Around 200 children auditioned for the lead role in the film which was finally offered to Yanis Bahloul who exhibited such intelligence and intuitiveness, which fitted him to his role, according to Fritah.
“I was not anxious at all, but just felt a bit bizarre having to acto infront of many people,” said Yanis who was a neophyte in acting but had shown much potential since he was four.
In France in the summer of 1980, 10-year-old Brahim is becoming aware of the complexities of the world around him. By setting the simple trials and jubilations of youth against a backdrop of social turmoil, the director imagines what childhood treasures Brahim will take with him into the future.
Algerian Documentary O My Body! looks into dance in a fresh perspective as filmmaker Laurent Ait Benalla goes backstage tracing the journey of Algiers’ first contemporary dance troupe whose members were once hip-hop dancers.
“I haven’t seen any film that made me feel how it is to be new in a dance and how it feels to be onstage for the first time,” said Benalla.
“This is not merely about dance performance but self liberation,” said Nora Mahrossian, co-producer of the film, adding “What is important is the artistic side of the film and its power to make people believe.
Born in 1976 to a Moroccan father and a French mother, Benalla is one of the founders of SLAB, a Montpellier-based production centre for documentaries.
In the Shadow of A Man, another documentary, depicts how it is to be a woman in Egypt after recent developments the country has undergone.
Through intimate conversations, four women from different backgrounds are transformed into unique, authentic figures, who imprint themselves on our memories as they go through their own personal revolutions.
The director Hanan Abdallah was born into a family of exiled Egyptian activists in London. She graduated from Oxford with a degree in politics and philosophy in 2010 and subsequently took filmmaking courses and frequented journalists’ centre the Frontline Club before moving to Cairo to document the revolution in 2011.
The Peninsula
