Playlist
<p><span data-sheets-root="1">As a centuries-old way of life fades in Mongolia, a herdsman leads a dual existence – tending his ranch by day and performing horse tricks for audiences by night. This intimate, award-winning drama is inspired by lead actor Saina’s real-life journey between the horse show world and his own personal challenges.</span></p>
<p>Chatila and Reda are saving to pay for fake passports to get out of Athens. But when Reda loses their hard-earned cash to his dangerous drug addiction, Chatila hatches an extreme plan, which involves them posing as smugglers and taking hostages in an effort to get him and his best friend out of their hopeless environment before it is too late.</p>
<p>Helmed by Reema Kagti (Talaash: The Answer Lies Within) in her latest collaboration with producer Zoya Akhtar (Gully Boy), this uplifting story chronicles the life of Nasir Shaikh, whose no-budget, community-sourced movies turned his hometown into an unlikely dream factory.</p>
<p>20-something-year-old Hassan embarks on a journey to save Rambo, his dog and only friend from an unclear threat. Along the way, Hassan gets caught up in a dangerous situation and is suddenly faced with much more than saving his dog as his neighbor and society turn on him.</p>
<p>In his deeply emotional directorial debut, Bangladeshi filmmaker Maksud Hossain refracts end-of-life care through two completely opposite views held within a fraught mother–daughter relationship.</p>
<p>A dreamlike journey into the wounded psyche of a young shepherd, Achraf, and his ability to overcome the traumatic death of his cousin.</p>
<p>Former martial artist Sarah leaves Austria to train three sisters from a wealthy Jordanian family. What sounds initially like a dream job soon becomes unsettling: the young women are cut off from the outside world and under constant surveillance. Sport doesn’t seem to interest them. So why has Sarah been hired?</p>
<p>On a remote volcanic island that everybody wants to leave, little Nana learns to stay. Her mother, Nia, went into exile right after she was born and Nana grows up in the family of her father. One day, the family learns that Nia is ill. Nana begins to develop high fevers and is sent to the foot of a volcano for treatment. There she encounters a world steeped in magical realism, between dreams and reality. Later, when Nana is a teenager, her mother Nia finally returns to the island.</p>
<p>Aya, in her late twenties, still lives with her parents in southern Tunisia and feels trapped in a life without prospects. One day, the minivan in which she commutes daily between her town and the hotel where she works crashes. As the sole survivor of the accident, she realizes it could be her chance to start a new life. She flees to Tunis under a new identity, but everything is soon compromised when she becomes the main witness to a police blunder.</p>
<p>In the rocky desert Algerian border country, Fethi and his fellow villagers eke out a living smuggling goods – mostly petrol – into Tunisia, working at night and paying off the local crime lords. Saad, a film-maker trying to raise money to finish his movie, has worked for a year with Fethi. He lives in his family’s shed, included as part of a loving household as well as their risky business. At the same time he is obviously an outsider: smartly dressed and prepared to talk back to anyone, including the imam. Tough, gritty but also moodily atmospheric, its tension sustained by a tumultuous soundscape, theis remarkable film delves deeply into the complexities of family, friendship and daily survival.</p>
<p>Haunted by the ghosts of the past, lone traveller Ronin wanders the post-apocalyptic wastelands in search of his father's killer. The devastation caused by climate change led to a global nuclear war, destroying civilisation as we know it: lands are scorched and cities destroyed. Electrical equipment no longer works and gasoline has long lost the properties that made it the world's greatest resource. The main currency in this new world is AK47 cartridges. Everywhere Ronin goes, he encounters blood-thirsty headhunters and rogue gangs all fighting for scraps in this dangerous new world. Then, one day, Ronin meets a wayward teenage girl who offers him a precious bounty for escorting her to her birthplace, a journey that will require all his fighting skills.</p>
<p>On the eve of her wedding, Warda has a disastrous accident with her bridal gown, ruining it completely. The show is going to go on, however, so she and her best friend set out to find another white dress in a hurry. Their search takes them from one shop to the next across Cairo, giving these two working-class girls a new vision and experience of the city where they have grown up and which becomes a major character in the film. For Warda, it is also a journey of self-discovery, challenging her relationship with herself. The wedding dress becomes the central motif in a social drama about life in modern, rapidly changing city.</p>
<p>In 2018, Santosh, aged 28, assumes her deceased husband's role as a police officer in India following his tragic death.</p>
<p>Sergei and Natalia are political asylum-seekers who fled to Sweden with their two daughters, Katja and Alina, hoping for a new happy life. Those hopes are crushed when their application is rejected.<br /> <br /> Their daughter Katja, traumatized by this episode, collapses and suddenly falls into a “coma”, a condition known as Resignation Syndrome or Apathy, explained as a self-protection against a feeling of fear.<br /> <br /> They will try everything to create an atmosphere of safety, stability and hope which their daughter needs in order to wake up.<br /> <br /> Over the last few years, more than 700 children have been diagnosed with the syndrome, in Sweden alone.<br /> <br /> Today, the cause and cure largely remain a mystery still.</p>
<p>Lawrence Valin makes an impressive debut, directing and acting in this dynamic, socio-political crime drama about a police officer who infiltrates a Tamil gang in Paris.</p>
<p>A start-up faces unfavorable government laws and police harassment, causing a ripple effect in the lives of nine individuals, setting them on a collision course.</p>
<p>Familiar Touch is a coming of (old) age film.<br /> <br /> It follows an octogenarian woman's transition to life in assisted living as she contends with her conflicting relationship to herself and her caregivers amidst her shifting memory, age identity, and desires.</p>
<p>Grown men's recreational baseball game stretches to extra innings on their beloved field's final day before demolition. Humor and nostalgia intertwine as daylight fades, signaling an era's end.</p>
<p>For anyone who likes to laugh at events that should make you want to cry Dreaming of Lions will be your favourite movie of the year. This absurdist tragicomedy from Greek-Portuguese director Paulo Marinou-Blanco introduces us to Gilda, a terminally ill woman whose dying wish is for her painful existence to stop as quickly and peacefully as possible. When her attempts at ending her life fail, she seeks professional help and discovers the Joy Transition International. She attends their funny meetings, which bring new friends, a lover and 99 problems. However, when she finds out that the organisation is not what it seems, she and her new beau decide to take matters into their own hands with heartwarming results.</p>
<p>In this slow-burning suspense thriller from debut filmmaker Tumpal Tampubolon, a young man and his overbearing mother's lives on their isolated crocodile farm are turned upside down with the appearance of a young woman.</p>
<p>Released from jail, Lang returns to his hometown in Northwest China. As part of a dog patrol tasked with clearing stray dogs before the 2008 Olympics, he bonds with a black stray. The two lonely souls embark on a new journey together.</p>
<p>In a remote and reclusive town, the missing people return and appear enigmatic and bizarre. The tension within the families, the community, and the town grows. Fathi, a local police inspector, tries to understand what is happening, with the help of Amine, his doctor friend. As they go about their respective investigations with Fathi investigating and Amine analyzing, the two friends become stuck in the absurdity and strangeness of the case. Then Omar, a police inspector sent from the capital, arrives to the city to solve the enigma. The stories intertwine and intermingle, while the atmosphere becomes oppressive. What happened when they disappeared? Will Omar's arrival bring understanding? Is there still time to understand? As tension mounts among the inhabitants, some groups form to exclude the returnees, while others call for them to be welcomed back. A curse falls on the town and the matter becomes complicated. Many questions and encounters take place in the city arena and under the gaze of stray dogs.</p>
<p>Daye, an 14-year-old Nubian albino with a golden voice, faces adversity due to his unique appearance. Abandoned by his father and bullied by peers, he dreams of following his idol, Mohamed Mounir. When he gets a chance to audition for The Voice, Daye and his family embark on a perilous journey from Aswan to Cairo. Their journey is fraught with challenges: a stolen car, lost money, and a harrowing escape from the police. They face discrimination and struggle to survive, but their unwavering determination and Daye's powerful voice keep them going. With the help of a kind fireman and a chance encounter with Mounir himself, Daye overcomes obstacles and captures the hearts of a nation. Daye is a heartwarming tale of resilience, hope, and the transformative power of music. It’s a poignant exploration of tolerance, ambition, and the unbreakable bond of family.</p>
<p>A family of four finds themselves stuck on a picturesque island hiding a shocking reality. What starts as child’s play and simple ways to pass the time begins to uncover dark secrets that they struggle to keep from the youngest, Jana. As events spiral out of control and the line between reality and fiction blurs, how will Jana and her family cope with the consequences and the tough choices they must face?</p>
<p>Liam of 80 years embraces the belief in the proximity of the "Hour of Resurrection" after the emergence of signs confirming his claim, the latest of which was the outbreak of the second Gulf War, which makes him insist on staying away from people and forcing his family with him to be cut off from all means of civilization so as not to be inflicted by torment, so the family obeys his instructions except "Assaf" who loves his cousin "Reefah" who is infected with "measles" after it spread within the family and fears that death will take her from him after his cousin died with the same disease, and tries to escape with her for treatment in the city that he has not seen since he was created, and repeats attempts until the opportunity comes to save her, which is not in his favor after he was encouraged by Grandfather Liam disappears in one of the ground cavities "Dahl" in the desert, and to remain confused whether he is alive or dead, which causes a conflict between his children so to who remain committed to his instructions, which stipulate the approaching hour and those who decide to disregard them.</p>
<p>In his 19th feature film, prolific Algerian movie maestro Merzak Allouache (Omar Gatlato; The Rooftops; Divine Wind, TIFF ’18) opts for a chaotic family dramedy about feuding matriarchs behaving badly at the beach.</p>
<p>A wonderful reminder of the power of silent film, Omar Bakri’s film is shot without dialogue in dramatic black and white. Egyptian farmer Abdo and his wife Saniya are desperate for a child, which leads them on a daunting journey to New York City for infertility treatment. The treatment itself is intimidating but the couple faces an additional hurdle: they don't speak the language and are unfamiliar with the American way of life. This musical drama has all the magic and direct emotion of early cinema – laughter, tears and love surge through it - but with very modern-day heroes in Abdo and Saniya. The Jeddah audience is sure to be captivated by this innovative take on a classic genre.</p>
<p>Birds wheel in the dawn light over the city. On the ground, a young man stands at a junction under traffic lights, his eyes raised to the sky. By nightfall, he is still standing there, still gazing at the sky – and he is the talk of Kuwaiti social media. Other men pull up to take photographs and harangue him, insisting he explain himself, but he doesn’t reply. A fight breaks out; the police are called. There is nothing more disturbing for city-dwellers, apparently, than the sight of a man standing still.</p>
<p>Two sisters live in bungalow surrounded by backwoods. Mony is 25 and has Down’s Syndrome; Dolly is a nurse at the local hospital while also caring for her sister, having dropped out of medical school when their mother died. There was clearly violence in their past – Mony is gleeful that Papa cannot hit her any more - and constant threats from men in the present; Dolly must be vigilant for both of them. Using the language of horror films, Banerjee highlights the crimes against women that are often swept under the rug.</p>
<p>When Salma decides to cut her own hair, her mother is predictably furious,. As usual, she crawls into bed with her grandma for comfort. Salma’s grandmother is ill, but she is still the one who laughs at her little rebellions and tells her glorious stories about being queen in a faraway land, where she says she lost her crown. Convinced that if she found the crown, her granny would be well again, Salma sets off on a series of adventures that owe something to Alice in Wonderland and something to the Arabian Nights, gradually learning what it means to be a real queen.</p>
<p>A bicycle bounces over a rough road in winter gloom, carrying a young father, Huang, and his child to the primary school in the village. The guard Li greets them “Lai Lie” and Huang watches with pleasure as children chase each other around the yard. Twenty Years later, Huang returns, but the school is now a nursing home; Li is still there, greeting them the same way, but this, just like the world they live in, the nuance of the greeting has changed</p>
<p>A young rookie from a bizarre chicken-dance group faces a heckler after being the worst dancer at a performance -- leading him to a series of strange events that reveal what the group does to their weakest link.</p>
<p>A small girl carries her teddy bear across the rubble in war-torn Gaza, a city so ruined that it is barely recognisable. Hearing the whimpers of a dog under a pile of fallen bricks, she struggles to free the animal and finds herself with a loving, irrepressible new friend. Together, girl and dog traverse the city. With the dog’s help, the child is able to cross the divide between the living and the dead, finding and freeing the souls of children who have died. Meanwhile, the bombs keep falling</p>
<p>In contemporary Ethiopia, a farming community's exodus is disrupted when the patriarch of a prominent family disappears from his grave. Tessema, his son, begins to question the church's divine explanation, forcing him to launch his own investigation.</p>
<p>When Mikhael brings his giggling Norwegian girlfriend Mona to meet his Ghanaian family for the first time, he is convinced they will embrace her. Things start badly, however, when Mikhael’s mother brings out a lasagna – “white people’s food”, as an auntie at the table sneers – but go from bad to worse when Mona greets everyone in Swahili – not their language – and tries to entertain everyone with a frantic pan-African dance. She couldn’t get it more excruciatingly wrong if she tried</p>
<p>Rose, an affluent Lebanese mother and housewife, is preparing obsessively for her daughter’s engagement party, determined to make everything perfect for the arrival of the future in-laws. She lights candles, arranges chocolates, and squeezes an excessive amount of orange juice, all while retreating to the bathroom with a bottle between tasks. Downstairs, her husband yells insults, criticizing everything in sight. Only Becky, the calm and composed African maid who has clearly endured this kind of tension before, manages to keep her cool amidst the chaos</p>
<p>Fatine’s mother Nadia is a popular chikha – the lead singer and dancer in a group of musicians who perform aita, the popular local music of Morocco, at traditional celebrations like weddings. At 17, Fatine has just graduated from school with high honors and wants to go to university, which would put an end to her own growing role in the family troupe; her boyfriend thinks they should go to Meknes as a couple. It is becoming clear, however, that Youssef just wants to be able to control her – and, above all, stop her singing</p>
<p>Sandstorm blows, waters scarce. In a remote mining town without any radiosignals, a quirky teenage girl gets curious about a passing truck driver.</p>
<p>After Samir’s severe father flatly refuses to ask the parents of his beloved Leyla for her hand, the two young people agree to run away together. Leyla arrives at the appointed hour and waits all day; Samir never shows up. She revisits the places they used to meet – bleak mining quarries, perilous hillsides, wherever they wouldn’t be seen – while hearing his voice telling her this pain will pass. It is an enigmatic, lyrical account of love, betrayal and the sad fate of people with no power over their own lives</p>
<p>In a neighborhood threatened by demolition in Jeddah, Saeed suddenly loses his ability to speak، but only one word comes out of his mouth, and this phenomenon leads him to discover a mysterious outcome.</p>
<p>In a secluded mountain village inhabited entirely by children, Slim, a fatherless boy abandoned by his mother, grapples with isolation and asthma. His rival Marwan, hailing from an impoverished family, is assigned the task of caring for Slim, which he deeply resents. Desperate for companionship, Slim constructs a makeshift father figure, housed in a secluded forest dwelling. When Marwan stumbles upon Slim's secret haven and pilfers the puppet representing his longed-for parent, Slim's fury intensifies, leading him down a path of revenge.</p>
<p>On July 25, 2020, the bulk carrier MV Wakashio ran aground on the reef on the east coast of Mauritius. The local fishing community, for whom the sea was everything, waited in vain for an official salvage operation as oil gushed from the disintegrating wreck, spreading to every corner of the lagoon and up the waterways. This lyrical, beautifully drawn animation, with commentary from those who witnessed this disaster, pays tribute to the Mauritians who united to save their precious environment.</p>
<p>Toufic, a widower in his ‘80s, answers the phone to be told of yet another friend who has died. He is lost in mournful contemplation when a beautiful woman mistakenly knocks on his door with a parcel, awakening something long dormant in Toufic. He consults with his grocery store owner's charming son Roni who introduces him to a dating application. Toufic is primed to swipe right on every pretty young face, but the absurdity of real life intervenes.</p>
<p>Parisa has spent two years training towards her goal: representing Iran as a fencer at the next Olympics. At the regional heats, however, she is suddenly told to fake an injury and withdraw from her next match because if she stages an injury, she will get a “nice reward”. If she doesn’t, the authorities may never let her compete again. But no reward could be enough for Parisa to give up her one shot at the Games.</p>
<p>Abdulmalik’s brother has died suddenly but, even as the family’s men gather in remembrance, he hides the truth from his blind father. When an uncle delivers the dead man’s clothes, Abdulmalik starts wearing his signet ring to avoid telling the truth. Does his father suspect, anyway? When his rosary breaks, he tells his surviving son it had reached the end of its life and cannot be mended. Abdulmalik sets about restringing the beads, but his father’s words are an omen.</p>
<p>Six customers are in the post office when a 50-year-old employee collapses and dies. When an ambulance arrives, the paramedics in attendance conclude that he died of natural causes. The six witnesses all doubt this, each interpreting this sudden death from a personal point of view. One young man tells his psychiatrist he believes it was suicide; another witness accuses the dead man of drinking too much coffee; yet another is convinced he worked himself into the grave out of devotion to his family. Each story says way more about the teller than it does about the man who died.</p>
<p>A portrait of Soviet neurologist Ivan Pavlov, who famously proved that dogs could be trained to salivate at the sound of a bell, presides over a grey schoolroom where girls in sailor dresses line up to be inspected by a strict mistress. Bells tinkle; girls walk in and out. Woe betide any girl with a hole in her stocking! In this surreal, tightly controlled fantasy, young Nala wants to break down the lines and show that it is this mistress who is really in charge – and that anyone could take her place.</p>
<p>A group of TikTok content creators unexpectedly achieve viral fame after filming their friend eating rotten food. Eat, throw up, eat something else: it’s a great joke. But, as they move from spinach pizza to sushi, their chosen video star begins to suffer some horrible side-effects from all that decaying food. Blinded by their newfound success, the friends ignore his condition, even when he ends up in hospital. It is only when he falls out of his wheelchair that his friend decides to make a stand and save him from the terror of the trash can.</p>
<p>After Mariam’s husband mysteriously disappears, she reluctantly takes their teenage son Saeed from their home in Jeddah to mountainous AIUla, intending to sell their family-owned antique shop. Saeed is sullenly resentful, detesting the move; Mariam struggles to stay in charge while she searches for the title documents she needs to make a sale. What she finds instead are unpaid bills, a video diary in which her husband confessed to severe depression and some newspaper clippings about suicide. It is a discovery that will change her outdated view of men’s role as she and her son together embrace a new, independent life.</p>
<p>Little Zezo and his rascal brother are horsing around in the kitchen when the older boy discovers something amazing: he can put his hand into boiling tea without getting burnt. It is only the first of a series of strange changes that are about to come over him, earning him the name Super-Blurry Boy, but nobody seems to notice. Sister Nora just wants the boys out of the way; his parents are too busy arguing to see what is happening to their boy. By nightfall, he will have discovered a super-power nobody could have imagined. A whimsical comedy, shot in black and white, in the joyous spirit of early cinema.</p>
<p>Weird Dr Faisal secretly dissects bodies brought to him by a young homeless man who digs them up in cemeteries: it’s hard work, as the young man tells a murderer he meets in the afterlife. The trouble that led him here started when Faisal decided he needed live subjects. Even this lowlife supplier of corpses felt ethical qualms about drugging and kidnapping people in the street – especially when, despite his best efforts, they started to die as well.</p>
<p>Dreams are as wide as the desert sands, their treasures hidden beneath the dunes of sleep. Thousands of years ago, an unseen mentor advises a young woman newly anointed as her community’s Khaleemah, or Dreamer, whose task is to divine truths from the visions she has during the deepest of the seven stages of slumber. Borne away by her fellow villagers to a magical oasis to connect with the spiritual dimension, she encounters demons, is pursued into a labyrinth fort, then escapes with the help of her friends, the birds. Made with puppets in stop-motion animation, this is a myth full of charm, wisdom and mystery.</p>
<p>Born into a family of scholars, Mohammed Al-Matali has devoted his life to furthering his father’s library of precious old books and original documents that are often the only local sources of information about the area where he grew up, Aseer. Along with his collections, he has photographed and made videos of the prehistoric petroglyphs and ancient forts that stand witness to a rich history only now being researched and recorded. For his latest project, he is discovering forgotten local street names in the hope of restoring them to local villages, thus helping preserve a memory of the past. A vivid picture of one man’s passion for knowledge and his gift to future generations.</p>
<p>A boiling kettle, the click of computer keys and anonymous mood music cannot fill the silence between the miserably married Sultan and Haneen. Sultan is an alternative therapist and, judging by their apartment, a very successful one; his wife responds cynically when he asks her to talk to him, saying she not one of his clients. Even so, she finds herself answering when he asks what she wants. Sultan, usually so firmly in control, is devastated by what she has to say.</p>
<p>Osama, a 25-year-old, isolates himself in darkness for months, battling mental turmoil. One day, an unexpected event leads him to open his window, where he sees his friends smiling with paintbrushes. A mysterious figure suddenly appears, pulling him into a surreal world filled with his own emotions and memories.</p>
<p>Stories and tales that have spread to over 150 countries worldwide, exploring themes of lost love, the foundations of life and family, and human stories devoid of "superheroes," were filmed in beautiful Turkish cities with brilliant stars who have won the hearts of viewers: this is the Turkish drama, known as "dizi." Today, the "dizi" genre is considered among the most successful series, enjoying immense popularity across the Arab world and as far away as South America and Africa. The question arises: how has an industry from a country with little foothold in distribution and filming in a minority language managed to achieve such rapid and extensive global reach? Through interviews on set with directors, producers, distributors, and stars, we uncover the secrets behind the success and behind-the-scenes stories of this drama.</p>
<p>Having studied the Classical world for 30 years, English historian and broadcaster Bettany Hughes has repeatedly come across references to the enigmatic lands of Nabataea. World-famous Petra was the Nabataean capital, but many visitors are unaware it was just one city in a vast trading empire. Now Bettany is on a mission to discover their world and answer the question: who are the Nabataeans? Her journey takes her to AlUla in Saudi Arabia, known for its monumental tombs and fascinating rock formations; she also traces the Nabataeans' global trade network through Jordan, Greece, and Oman. With exclusive access to astonishing new archaeological research and a network of renowned specialists revealing new finds, Bettany uncovers the Nabataeans' sensational story.</p>
<p>Thirty years ago, H.H. Prince Faisal bin Abdullah sought out Saudi Arabia's creative minds to showcase the nation's heritage through art. His efforts led to the founding of the Layan Cultural Foundation, which now preserves this legacy for future generations in Saudi Arabia and has sponsored major exhibitions elsewhere, including a history of the horse at the British Museum, photographic displays of Saudi Arabia’s extraordinary archaeological heritage and works by new artists not previously seen outside the country.</p>
<p>Kemo was born into a family of artists and photographers in Jeddah, but he feels torn between art forms and between the artist’s life and the kind of conventional life where he would just do a job. Do I pursue art and colours? Or does he pursue the renegade art of graffiti that he has discovered on the internet? Blue pill or red pill? he asks himself. Confused about his place in the world, he knows the only way forward is to keep working.</p>
<p>The history of the roshan, the intricate wooden screens that adorn courtyards or filter light through the windows of traditional Saudi Arabian homes, has always been both lengthy and rich in artisanal heritage. In this concise yet focused film, architectural expert Ahmed Sami Angawi depicts how the roshan regulates light and air, essentially functioning as a form of low-energy air conditioning, while also providing a means for discreet conversations with passersbys through its meticulously carved wooden latticework. Traditionally crafted from local and imported woods, as well as those salvaged from pilgrimage boats.</p>
<p>When filmmaker Areeb Zuaiter lost her Palestinian mother, she lost her connection to Gaza. With all the memories from her childhood destroyed, she sets out on a quest to connect with a young man she sees in a video doing parkour among ruins in Gaza. With Ahmad as her guide, she explores life in Gaza, and rebuilds her memories of her mother and her childhood. In this time when Gaza and its people are being devastated every day, here’s a portrait of a tormented city and the perseverance of its people.</p>
<p>Set in a confined world outside time, East of Noon is the fable of prodigy ABDO (19) who uses music to rebel against his elders: showman SHAWKY (70), an eccentric showman who rules with a mix of performance and fear, and storyteller JALALA (75), who provides relief with stories of the Sea, which no one else has seen. East of Noon is a satire on the inner workings of an ailing autocracy and its inherent vulnerability to youth’s unchained vision of a better world.</p>
<p>Chosen by festival Honoree guest Mona Zaki, who is fascinated by the iconic Egyptian actress Souad Hosni. Drawing on a folk tale about a young man who murders his wayward sister, Ali Badrakhan gave the traditional story a new timeframe and socio-political twist, creating a work of art in the process. Metwally is a villager forced by the authorities to work as a labourer on the Suez Canal project, leaving his sister Shafiqi (Souad Hosni) alone and destitute. When he eventually returns, he discovers that his sister has succumbed to the attentions of the district chief’s son, dishonoring the family, and kills her. The original story saw him as justified, but Badrakhan gives it another twist to show both brother and sister as victims of an oppressive social system. The film was an immediate success; it remains a beloved classic.</p>
<p>Featuring gorgeously detailed performances from Oscar nominees Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield, this inventively structured romance explores the question of how to make the most of our time in this world.</p>
<p>A compelling look at the dangerous, continuing risks committed journalists face in Mexico, where reporting on their country’s corruption and “narco politics” has led to the silencing and killing of some of their peers.</p>
<p>Acclaimed Japanese photographer Masahisa Fukase, who died in 2012, was best known in his lifetime for his photographic book The Solitude of Ravens (1976-82), with its bleak images of distant birds evoking themes of isolation and tragedy. That work was his response to his divorce from his second wife of 13 years, Yoko Wanibe, which left him devastated. During their tumultuous years together, he photographed her constantly; she was a model, collaborator and object of his obsession. Tadanobu Asano, who was Emmy-nominated for Shogun, plays Fukase in this intense portrait of a passionate man caught in a love triangle between his wife and his art, incarnated here as a talking raven – a humorous touch to this profound exploration of love and loss.</p>
<p>A seventy-two-hour whirlwind in the life of bohemian artist Amedeo Modigliani, known as Modi to his friends, follows a chaotic series of events through the streets of war torn Paris in 1916. On the run from the police, his desire to end his career and leave the city is dismissed by fellow artists Maurice Utrillo, Chaim Soutine and Modi’s muse, Beatrice Hastings. Modi seeks advice from his art dealer and friend, Leopold Zborowski — however, after a night of hallucinations, the chaos in Modi’s mind reaches a crescendo when faced with an American collector, Maurice Gangnat, who has the power to change his life.</p>
<p>Follows the life story of the world's greatest opera singer, Maria Callas, during her final days in 1970s Paris.</p>
<p>The sequel to the hugely successful Lumière! L'aventure commence / Lumière! The Adventure Begins reveals another hundred Lumière films, all immaculately restored. This new feature-length film aims above all to explore more deeply the history of the invention of cinema in the world and to confirm that the roots of the greatest and most beautiful works in the history of cinema lie in its origins.</p>
<p>Follows a washed-up musician who jumps at the chance to capitalize on his long-lost son's stardom for his own renaissance, but learns that fatherhood is much more than stardom.</p>
<p>Director Michael Gracey leverages his extensive visual effects background to produce a dazzling and singular profile of British pop superstar Robbie Williams.</p>
<p>In a post-apocalyptic future where food is scarce, the last descendants of a Black family of farmers who settled in Canada after the American Civil War must protect their homestead from an organized militia hell-bent on taking their land.</p>
<p>In 2016, a group of young men headed out on a short fishing trip around Farasan Island, off the coast from Jazan. Intending to be away for only an hour, they were soon driven off course in thick fog, heading unknowingly towards the war-torn Yemeni border. As they realized where they were and tried to head back, their boat ran out of fuel. For 90 hours, they drifted without food or water, constantly at risk from passing pirates or being shot from the shore. There were many moments when they despaired of surviving; then came a glimmer of hope.</p>
<p>The year is 1946. Under the strict orders of their father, Adam drags his younger brother Ali to witness their grandfather's corpse get washed before burial. Their cousin Iman, their constant playmate, is excluded from the ritual because she is a girl. The sight of the corpse has a profound effect on Adam; he announces that he doesn’t want to grow up and, from that moment on, he stops aging. As the years pass, the villagers come to believe Adam is cursed, while his brother, grappling with his own aging, feels Adam should be institutionalized. Only Iman and Anki, a shepherd and Adam’s lifelong best friend, see his condition as a blessing, preserving in him the pure, innocent goodness of a child. A haunting and beautiful story set against the oases and dust storms of Iraq.</p>
<p>Both Iman and her younger sister dream of finding true love, within the strict parameters of life. For Iman, there is an obvious obstacle: she is a Little Person, only 119 centimeters tall, which puts her out of the running for an arranged marriage. Instead she goes online, hiding her size and compensating with her big laugh and big personality. Her sister has an offer of marriage, but Khaled’s family has second thoughts when they meet Iman. To put things off, the man’s mother insists on a top-of-the-range refrigerator as a dowry. A light-hearted but fascinating mix of issues around marriage, disability and sisterhood, with a magnetic star performance by Mariam Sherif at its very big heart.</p>
<p>Set against the backdrop of Afghanistan in the late 1970s, "Sima's Song" explores the enduring friendship between Suraya, a wealthy communist advocate, and Sima, a conservative Muslim and talented singer. As political tensions escalate leading up to the Soviet invasion, their contrasting ideologies test their bond, reflecting the broader societal upheaval of the era</p>
<p>This remarkable adaptation of Shuang Xuetao’s novel is the debut film from actor-turned-director Dong Zijian that flashes back and forth in time to tell a touching story of friendship and family strife. Following his father’s death, Limo (Liu Haoran) is flying back to his hometown in northeastern China, when he spots his childhood friend An Delie (played by director Zijian) (Dong) on the plane, who fails to recognise him. When their flight is diverted because of heavy snow, the duo go on a journey that brings back long-forgotten memories in which Limo has to deal with the demons from his past. Beautifully photographed by Pema Tsedan across two time periods, the film shows the long-term emotional impact of the traumas of our childhood.</p>
<p>Written and filmed during Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Pavlo Ostrikov’s debut feature is a true wonder and a prescient reminder how important it is to connect with someone who understands during the darkest of times.</p>
<p>Anchored by a stunning performance from Temi Ami-Williams (Eyimofe), the debut from Nigeria’s Agbajowo Collective, part thriller, part magical realism, is a riveting indictment of the unchecked development and forced evictions besetting Africa’s largest city.</p>