News

The El Gouna Film Festival (Gff) will honor Egyptian director Marwan Hamed with a life Career Achievement Award at its upcoming sixth edition, running from October 6 to 12.

It marks the first element of the program to be announced as the Egyptian Red Sea festival returns this year following a one year hiatus in 2022.

Hamed studied film at the Higher Institute of Cinema in Cairo. His first short Li Li, adapted from a short story by Yusuf Idris, played at numerous festivals, winning the Audience Award at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and the Golden Award at the Carthage Film Festival.

He broke out with his 2006 first feature The Yacoubian Building, adapted from Alaa Al-Aswany’s best-selling novel, which captures Egyptian society in the 1990s and the consequences of its extremes of wealth and poverty.

Featuring an ensemble cast, including Egyptian icons Adel Imam, Nour El-Sherif and Yousra alongside then...

Egyptian supermodel and rising actor Tara Emad appeared this year in the Arab-language version of the U.S. drama series “Suits,” and in October was appointed the ambassador for Chanel, becoming the first Arab model to feature in the brand’s advertising. Ever since she was a little girl, Emad has had a comfortable relationship with the camera, she tells Variety at the Red Sea Film Festival, where she attended the premiere of “All Roads Lead to Rome.”

“My family always says that whenever they would take pictures of us as a family, I was always there and ready and looking at the camera and already posing,” Emad says. “I was never shy.” She booked her first modeling gig at 14 with a magazine shoot, and was surprised to find herself on the cover. “A decade later, I was still modeling and traveling the world,” she says.

She was soon pursuing...

Asha Bhosle

Legendary Indian playback singer Asha Bhosle will receive Dubai International Film Festival (Diff) Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.

Bhosle has recorded more than 12,000 songs for more than 850 films in 81 years. Known for her versatility, she has been conferred the Dadasaheb Phalke award in 2000 and the Padma Vibhushan from the Indian government in 2008.

Diff Chairman Abdulhamid Juma said: “Asha Bhosle is a stalwart of the Indian music scene, and we are proud to be honouring her with this Diff Lifetime Achievement Award. Her work has touched almost every corner of the world: we look forward to welcoming such a legend to Dubai and Diff.”

Earlier recipients of Diff Lifetime Achievement award include Martin Sheen, Omar Sharif, Faten Hamamah, Adel Imam, Jameel Rateb, Sabah, Morgan Freeman, Sean Penn, Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Daoud Abdel Sayed, Youssef Chahine, Rachid Bouchareb, Souleymane Cisse, Nabil El-Maleh, Oliver Stone, Danny Glover, Terry Gilliam, Yash Chopra,...

London Spanish Film Festival

This year's festival includes a separate focus on Catalan cinema, just weeks after Catalans came out in droves to campaign for independence. Partisan or not, Spanish cinema still looks to be in decent shape. There are accessible commercial movies here – Los Pelayo is a sort of Mallorcan Ocean's Eleven; A Game Of Werewolves is a Galician horror. But there's also more pensive cinema, such as Los Pasos Dobles, a Mali-set meditation on art and memory.

Ciné Lumière, SW7, Fri to 10 Oct

Safar: A Journey Through Popular Arab Cinema, London

Call yourself a global cinema aficionado? If names like Soad Hosny or Adel Imam mean nothing to you, you're still a few regions short of all-encompassing movie omnipotence. So here's the place to quickly fill that gap. Despite the title, what we're mostly talking about here is Egyptian cinema – the biggest player in the region. Hosny, who...

Afther 30 years of increasing conservatism, young directors are rebelling by examining complex and contentious relationships

The trouble with the Arab Spring is that people who have never been to the Middle East think they know it. There is a kind of finality in rolling news footage: a moment caught within a certain political context encourages pundits and casual observers alike to make sweeping assumptions. Movies, however, have always provided, à la Cervantes, truth through lies. The new crop of popular films from the Middle East are no different: characters that start out as troubled stereotypes evolve into complex and engaging figures.

This is best exemplified in what many consider the most successful Arab film of all time, The Yacoubian Building, a Middle Eastern Rear Window made in 2006. From the eponymous apartment building's gay newspaper editor to a young woman sexually harassed at work, these characters from Alaa al-Aswany's novel had...

Cairo — An Egyptian court on Tuesday upheld a conviction against one of the Arab world's most famous comedians, sentencing him to jail for offending Islam in some of his most popular films.

The case against Adel Imam and others like it have raised concerns among some Egyptians that ultraconservative Muslims who made gains in recent elections after Hosni Mubarak's ouster last year are trying to foist their religious views on the entire country. Critics say the trend threatens to curb Egypt's vibrant film industry and freedom of speech.

Imam was sentenced to three months in jail and fined around $170 for insulting Islam in roles he played in movies such as "The Terrorist", in which he acted the role of a wanted terrorist who found refuge with a middle class, moderate family, and the film "Terrorism and Kabab. "

The actor was also found guilty for his 2007 role in "Morgan Ahmed Morgan,...

Famed Egyptian actor Adel Imam has been sentenced to three months behind bars for defaming Islam by mocking authorities in his films and plays.

The comic star, 72, was accused of offending Islam and its symbols, as well as mocking politicians, through his acting work after lawyer Asran Mansour, who has ties to Islamist groups, brought the case against him.

On Thursday, Imam, who is regarded as one of the Arab world's most famous actors and is also a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations, was sentenced to three months in jail with hard labour.

However, Imam has a month to appeal the ruling and will remain out of prison while the application is processed.

He tells the Afp, "I will appeal the ruling. Some people seeking fame filed a suit against me over works I have done which they consider insulting to Islam, and this is of course not true."

He was also fined $168 (£105).

Actor sentenced to three months in case brought by lawyer with ties to Islamist groups gaining power in post-Mubarak Egypt

One of the Arab world's most famous comic actors Adel Imam has received a three-month jail sentence for insulting Islam in films and plays, a court document has shown.

Imam, who has frequently poked fun at authorities and politicians during a 40-year career, has one month to appeal and will remain free until that process is concluded.

The case was brought by Asran Mansour, a lawyer with ties to Islamist groups, judicial sources said. The sentence on Thursday came weeks after Islamists won most seats in a parliamentary election.

Mansour accused the actor of offending Islam and its symbols, including beards and the jilbab, a loose-fitting garment worn by some Muslims.

Among the material targeted by the lawyer were the film Morgan Ahmed Morgan and the play al-Zaeem (The Leader), the report said.

Screened at the Berlin International Film Festival

BERLIN -- "The Yacoubian Building" is a sprawling, boisterous, at times unruly movie that tracks the up- and down-turns of Egyptian society over the years through the tenants of a decaying downtown Cairo residence. The best-selling novel by Alaa Al Aswany and now the film version offer a revealing window into the secular world of a modern Islamic country -- its indulgence in alcohol, sexual promiscuity, political corruption and personal betrayals. From such "deformities," the movie argues, Islamic fundamentalism gains its most passionate adherents.

Certain to be a must-see at festivals, the film revels in a glorious melodrama that could help it reach a much wider audience. With a reported budget of $6 million, its producer, the Good News Group, clearly entertains such ambitions. The film boasts an astonishingly accomplished feature debut by promising young director Marwan Hamed. But he might need to cut the 165-minute running time for the film to live up to those ambitions.

The Yacoubian Building, originally built by an Armenian, housed wealthy Pashas, foreign dignitaries and even a few Jews in its heyday. But post-World War II, the building hosts a cross-section of society as impoverished workers and families occupy the rooftop and now mingle with the nouveau riche, decadent thrill-seekers and bitter ex-Pashas in the crumbling apartments.

Poverty fuels most subplots. The son of an ex-Pasha (veteran Egyptian actor Adel Imam) no longer enjoys wealth so he surrenders his dignity in pursuit of silly sexual dalliances, thus irrevocably alienating his sister. A young and poor security officer is seduced by a homosexual editor into moving his family nearby so he can be on call for his sexual services.

A porter's son, who suffers humiliations over lack of money and a young girl's rejection, turns to radical Islam. That young woman sacrifices her honor in a scheme to trick an employer. A former shoe-shiner, who now owns blocks of real estate, hungers for political power but it comes at a cost. A widow enters into a degrading second marriage to this man in the interests of financial security.

Writer-producer Waheed Hamed (who also is the director's father) treats the novel with too much reverence. His script indulges in much minutia and repetitive action. But the acting is strong, and his son's control of story, characters and visual imagery makes this an engrossing, highly watchable old-fashioned melodrama.

Screened at the Berlin International Film Festival

BERLIN -- "The Yacoubian Building" is a sprawling, boisterous, at times unruly movie that tracks the up- and down-turns of Egyptian society over the years through the tenants of a decaying downtown Cairo residence. The best-selling novel by Alaa Al Aswany and now the film version offer a revealing window into the secular world of a modern Islamic country -- its indulgence in alcohol, sexual promiscuity, political corruption and personal betrayals. From such "deformities," the movie argues, Islamic fundamentalism gains its most passionate adherents.

Certain to be a "must-see" at festivals, the film revels in a glorious melodrama that could help it reach a much wider audience. With a reported budget of $6 million, its producer, the Good News Group, clearly entertains such ambitions. The film boasts an astonishingly accomplished feature debut by promising young director Marwan Hamed. But he may need to cut the 165-minute running time for the film to live up to those ambitions.

The Yacoubian Building, originally built by an Armenian, housed wealthy Pashas, foreign dignitaries and even a few Jews in its heyday. But post-World War II, the building hosts a cross-section of society as impoverished workers and families occupy the rooftop and now mingle with the nouveau riche, decadent thrill-seekers and bitter ex-Pashas in the crumbling apartments.

Poverty fuels most subplots. The son of an ex-Pasha (veteran Egyptian actor Adel Imam) no longer enjoys wealth so he surrenders his dignity in pursuit of silly sexual dalliances, thus irrevocably alienating his sister. A young and poor security officer is seduced by a homosexual editor into moving his family nearby so he can be on-call for his sexual services.

A porter's son, who suffers humiliations over lack of money and a young girl's rejection, turns to radical Islam. That young woman sacrifices her honor in a scheme to trick an employer. A former shoe-shiner, who now owns blocks of real estate, hungers for political power but it comes at a cost. A widow enters into a degrading second marriage to this man in the interests of financial security.

Writer-producer Waheed Hamed (who is also the director's father) treats novel with too much reverence. His script indulges in much minutia and repetitive action. But the acting is strong and his son's control of story, characters and visual imagery makes this an engrossing, highly watchable old-fashioned melodrama.