News

Unifrance, the French promotional film organization, celebrated rising stars at this year’s Rendez-Vous in Paris. The 10 up-and-coming actors and filmmakers named 2025’s Talents to Watch kicked things off with a ceremony at France’s Ministry of Culture before hitting a yearlong series of events that will keep these faces in the spotlight.

For over a decade, the 10 to Watch program has amplified the voices redefining Gallic cinema. If you think of any French artist who’s made a global impact in recent years, chances are they were once part of this list. Now, meet the next generation shaping the next decade.

Adam Bessa

Adam Bessa

A veteran of war films like “Mosul” and of the “Extraction” action franchise, Franco-Tunisian star Adam Bessa emphasized a more taciturn stillness in Meryam Joobeur’s Berlin-launched “Who Do I Belong To” and in Jonathan Millet’s Cannes Critics Week opener “Ghost Trail” to phenomenal acclaim.

Following The Film Stage’s collective top 50 films of 2024, as part of our year-end coverage, our contributors are sharing their personal top 10 lists.

Perhaps in a year where wars are raging, the planet is burning, and the cruelest people are elected to the highest offices, we don’t deserve the best movies. You can find plenty of films that bring joy over the past twelve months, for sure. But if we’re talking about the overall level of awesome-ness of the cinematic offerings, about works that feel undeniable, it seems to me that 2024 did not deliver the way, say, 2023 did.

Then again, maybe that’s just me being grumpy and anxious from all the ways the world offscreen is going wrong, because who can deny the electrifying energy and humanist glow of Sean Baker’s Anora? Or the funny, phantasmagoric family portrait that is Tyler Taormina’s Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point?...

The Marrakech Film Festival, which opened Friday with Justin Kurzel’s timely thriller “The Order,” has more than 70 films in its lineup, which, as is customary, mixes known titles and fresh fare.

“The Order” is part of the event’s gala screenings that also comprise French-Moroccan auteur Nabil Ayouch’s feminist musical drama “Everybody Loves Touda,” Walter Salles’ “I’m Still Here” and Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” all of which will be accompanied by their directors.

The 14-title competition dedicated to first and second works includes Moroccan director Saïd Hamich Benlarbi’s melodrama “Across the Sea,” about North African exiles in Marseilles, and Hind Meddeb’s doc “Sudan, Remember Us,” which pays homage to Sudanese people and culture by chronicling their 2019 revolution. “Sudan, Remember Us” is among films supported by the fest’s Atlas Workshops industry initiative, aimed at fostering and supporting the emergence of a new generation of Moroccan,...

Hiam Abbass (“Succession”), Abderrahmane Sissako (“Black Tea”), Zar Amir Ebrahimi (“Holy Spider”), Adam Bessa (“Ghost Trail”), Yumna Marwan (“The Veil”) and “Anatomy of a Fall” producer Marie-Ange Luciani will join “The Bikeriders” director Jeff Nichols as mentors at this year’s Atlas Workshops.

Running from Dec. 1 – 5 as part of the Marrakech Film Festival, this seventh edition will more than double in duration, welcoming the filmmakers and producers behind 27 projects for an extra day of in-person workshops after four days of online session earlier this month. By the time the filmmakers hit the ground for pitches in Marrakech, they have benefited from co-production panels, acquisition and distribution trend analysis, green production coaching and presentations from international film funds and A-list festivals.

“We’re creating a new dynamic,” says Atlas Workshops director Hédi Zardi. “In order to assist and make known a young generation – to get them into festivals and onto the...

Lithuanian drama Toxic, the debut feature of Saule Bliuvaite, has picked up the Golden Peacock award for best film at the 55th International Film Festival of India.

At the closing ceremony of the festival in Goa, the film also scooped the best actress award, shared between co-leads Vesta Matulyte and Ieva Rupeikaite.

Scroll down for full list of winners

Toxic follows two teenage girls from a bleak industrial town who join an extreme local modelling school. Featuring a cast of non-actors, it premiered at Locarno in August where it won the Golden Leopard for best film as well as the best first feature award.

The 55th International Film Festival of India (Iffi) has unveiled its main competition lineup, with 15 features vying for the Golden Peacock award carrying an INR4 million prize purse, notably featuring nine films directed by women.

Among the world premieres are Manijeh Hekmat and Faeze Azizkhani’s Iranian drama “Fear & Trembling,” exploring an older woman’s struggles with isolation, and Nikhil Mahajan’s “Raavsaheb,” an Indian crime thriller examining man-animal conflict in tribal lands.

The slate includes festival circuit standouts like Louise Courvoisier’s “Holy Cow” (France), which nabbed the Un Certain Regard Youth Prize at Cannes 2024, and Saulė Bliuvaitė’s “Toxic” (Lithuania), winner of the Golden Leopard at Locarno 2024. Bogdan Mureșanu’s Romanian revolution drama “The New Year That Never Came” arrives fresh from winning Venice’s Horizons and Fipresci awards.

The lineup also includes Belkis Bayrak’s “Gulizar” (Turkey), which played at Toronto and San Sebastian, and George Sikharulidze’s “Panopticon” (Georgia-u.

The International Film Festival of Kerala (Iffk) is set to return for its 29th edition, bringing together filmmakers, cinephiles, and industry voices from around the world to Thiruvananthapuram from December 13 to 20, 2024. Known for its celebration of global storytelling and commitment to diverse perspectives, Iffk’s International Competition promises to spotlight a powerful collection of films that delve into cultural, social, and political themes with depth and artistry.

This year’s selection for the International Competition reflects the festival’s dedication to amplifying unique voices across borders. Each film in the lineup not only represents its distinct region but also resonates with universal human experiences, inviting audiences into narratives that blend personal and political, intimate and epic. Here’s a closer look at the ten films that will compete for top honors at Iffk 2024.

An Oscillating Shadow / Una sombra oscilante Director: Celeste Rojas Mugica Countries: Chile, Argentina, France East of Noon Director: Hala Elkoussy Countries: Egypt,...

Marrakech International Film Festival has unveiled the full line-up for its 21st edition which will open with Justin Kurzel’s crime thriller The Order onNovember 29 and run to December 7.

Kurzel’s debut featureSnowtownwon thefestival’s jury prize in 2011, and the filmmaker returned in 2022 to serve on the jury.

This year’s jury will be presided over by Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, replacing Thomas Vinterberg, and will award the Étoile d’Or for best film to one of 14 first- and second-time features in the international competition.

In total, the festival will screen 70 films from 32 countries, including 14 documentaries, 12 Moroccan titles, nine world...

Jonathan Millet’s thriller about Syrian exiles in France “Ghost Trail” took the Golden Star for narrative film at this year’s El Gouna Film Festival, with Julien Colona’s “The Kingdom” and Shuchi Talati’s “Girls Will Be Girls” taking the Silver and Bronze Star awards respectively. The awards ceremony wrapped the seventh edition of the prestigious Egyptian festival, held at the resort town of El Gouna between Oct. 24-Nov. 1.

Adam Bessa also took the best actor award for “Ghost Trail,” with Laila Abbas’s comedy about the Islamic Sharia Law “Thanks for Banking With Us!” and Meryam Joobeur’s drama about a Tunisian family navigating their son’s strenuous return from war “Who Do I Belong To” received the El Gouna Star for the best Arab film. Documentary-wise, Farah Kassem’s “We Are Inside” received the Golden Star for documentary film, with Johan Grimonprez’s “Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat...

French filmmaker Jonathan Millet’s thriller Ghost Trail won El Gouna Film Festival’s $50,000 Golden Star award for best narrative film. The festival ran October 24-November 1.

Lead Adam Bessa also won best actor for his performance as a young man on a mission to track Syrian regime leaders in France, where he must confront his former torturer. The film world premiered at Cannes’ Critics’ Week sidebar.

The $25,000 Silver Star award went to Julien Colonna’s war drama The Kingdom, while Indian romantic drama Girls Will be Girls by Shuchi Talati won the $15,000 Bronze Star and the Fipresci award.

The latter...

After canceling the 2022 edition for a “reset” and postponing the 2023 edition from October to December due to the war in Gaza, the El Gouna Film Festival is back in full force for its seventh edition, taking place between Oct. 24-Nov. 1 in the Egyptian resort town.

The postponements and uncertainty challenged artistic director Marianne Khoury, who started at the job a few months before the festival’s sixth iteration and took over from Amir Ramses. “Last year was difficult because we had to postpone it three times but, in the end, we had a really nice edition,” Khoury told Variety.

“I think I joined at a good time when there was a need to change,” she added. “El Gouna started strong. The program was always strong but the media always concentrated the coverage on the glamor and red carpet. When I joined, I wanted to rebalance that a little bit and...

Festival hits Anora, Emilia Perez and Maria, a new Stockholm Series strand for TV works, and a theme of ‘Men in Crisis’ are among the highlights of this year’s Stockholm International Film Festival (November 6-17), the programme of which has been announced today (October 9).

The international feature competition includes Alonso Ruizpalacios’ Berlin title La Cocina; RaMell Ross’ Telluride premiere Nickel Boys; and Gustav Moller’s Denmark-Sweden-France co-production Sons. It has an even split of 10 titles directed by women, and 10 by men.

Scroll down for the full list of Stockholm Competition titles

The 16-title documentary competition includes the world premiere of Garbo: Leave Me Alone,...

The First Feature Competition at the 68th BFI London Film Festival 2024 is an exciting platform that celebrates bold, imaginative debuts from new directors. This year, the competition is as diverse as ever, showcasing fresh talent and unique stories from around the world, all vying for the prestigious Sutherland Award, which honors the most original and visionary directorial debut.

One of the standout entries is Crocodile Tears, a genre-blending film from writer-director Tumpal Tampubolon. This atmospheric and eerie debut is a testament to the thriving cinema culture in Southeast Asia, immersing viewers in a world where boundaries between genres and emotions blur effortlessly. Another notable contender is Hanami, Denise Fernandes’ stunning tribute to her homeland, Cape Verde. This coming-of-age drama beautifully captures the magic and rawness of life in the West African islands, a poignant exploration of identity and home.

Neo Sora’s Happyend brings a different flavor to the competition,...

Payal Kapadia’s Cannes grand prix winner All We Imagine As Light and Mohammad Rasoulof’s special prize recipient The Seed Of The Sacred Fig, along with Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Venice selection Harvest are among the international competition selections at the 60th Chicago International Film Festival running October 16-27.

A packed line-up also brings Joshua Oppenheimer’s Telluride entry The End to the International Feature Competition, along with the North American premiere of The Quiet Son from Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin, which debuted on the Lido.

There are world premieres for Clarissa Campolina and Sérgio Borges’s Suçuarana...

Payal Kapadia’s Cannes grand prix winner All We Imagine Is Light and Mohammad Rasoulof’s special prize recipient The Seed Of The Sacred Fig, along with Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Venice selection Harvest are among the international competition selections at the 60th Chicago International Film Festival running October 16-27.

A packed line-up also brings Joshua Oppenheimer’s Telluride entry The End to the International Feature Competition, along with the North American premiere of The Quiet Son from Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin, which debuted on the Lido.

There are world premieres for Clarissa Campolina and Sérgio Borges’s Suçuarana...

The 68th BFI London Film Festival has unveiled its star-studded 2024 lineup, featuring Angelina Jolie, Elton John, Daniel Craig, Florence Pugh, Andrew Garfield, Saoirse Ronan, and more in a program boasting 39 world premieres and 12 international premieres among its 253 feature, short, series and immersive works.

The festival’s headline gala screenings will showcase a range of high-profile films. The world premiere of Steve McQueen’s “Blitz” starring Ronan opens the festival, while Morgan Neville’s “Piece by Piece” closes it.

Other gala screenings include R.J. Cutler and David Furnish’s “Elton John: Never Too Late,” Sean Baker’s “Anora,” Ali Abbasi’s “The Apprentice” starring Sebastian Stan, Andrea Arnold’s “Bird,” Edward Berger’s “Conclave” with Ralph Fiennes, Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez,” Mike Leigh’s “Hard Truths,” Ben Taylor’s “Joy,” Pablo Larraín’s “Maria” featuring Jolie, Marielle Heller’s “Nightbitch” starring Amy Adams, Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Room Next Door...

The BFI London Film Festival (Lff) 2024 will screen documentaries about “witches,” and zoos and animal rescue centers in Argentina, first features from directors of varied backgrounds, and Ali Abbas’ Donald Trump film The Apprentice in its gala lineup organizers said on Wednesday as they unveiled the full program for this year’s event.

Overall, Lff will screen 253 titles, including features films, shorts, series, and immersive works, that hail from 79 countries and feature 64 languages. Of the total, 112 works are made by female and non-binary filmmakers, or 44 percent of the program, the fest said.

The London doc lineup includes the likes of Elizabeth Sankey’s 90-minute goth-y Witches, which posits a connection between historical witchery and post-partum psychological suffering and debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Meanwhile, the first feature program at Lff includes Denise Fernandes’ Hanami, which recently world-premiered at the Locarno Film Festival, and Neo Sora’s Happyend, which debuted...

Pan-Arab distributor Mad Solutions has picked up international rights to Tunisian auteur Ala Eddine Slim’s mystery drama “Agora” ahead of its world premiere in competition at the Locarno Film Festival.

The film revolves around three missing people who suddenly return to a remote town in Tunisia, prompting tensions within their families and community. A local police inspector named Fathi tries to unravel the mystery of their initial disappearance and unexpected return with the help of her friend Amine. Then, a second inspector arrives from the capital. The somewhat supernatural film’s events unfold as if they were taking place in the dreams of two animals – a blue dog and a black crow – as the director has put it in an interview with Variety.

Slim’s two previous works, both featuring minimal dialogue and atmospheric images, garnered significant critical acclaim: “The Last of Us” (2016) won the Lion of the Future Prize at Venice.

The Mediterrane Film Festival kickstarted its second edition with the international premiere of Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte’s “The Count of Monte Cristo.”

The film, shown at the heart of Malta’s capital of Valletta on Saturday night, was followed by a reception at the historic Mdina Ditch Gardens, in which Malta Film Commissioner Johann Grech highlighted the importance of the festival as an event to “unite the nations of the Mediterranean through film.”

The sentiment echoes this year’s festival theme of Unity Through Film, with Grech adding that he hopes the festival will bring nations together to “share stories that celebrate not only our diversity but also our shared outlook.” The film commissioner emphasised the success of the festival’s first edition, claiming the return to the local economy “far exceeded our investment, showing once again what a force for good film is in our country.

The Mediterrane Film Festival announced its complete program ahead of its second edition, taking place in Malta’s capital of Valetta from June 22-30. New titles selected include recent Cannes highlights in Coralie Fargeat’s Demi Moore-led body horror “The Substance” and Roberto Minvervini’s “The Damned,” which join previously announced films like Yorgos Lanthimos’s “Kinds of Kindness” and Jane Schoenbrun’s “I Saw The TV Glow.”

Further program additions include Mahdi Fleifel’s Directors’ Fortnight standout “To a Land Unknown,” which Variety labeled “a confident, angry, fully-realized drama,” and Truong Minh Quy’s Un Certain Regard breakout “Viet and Nam.” An extended version of the Malta-shot “Jurassic World: Dominion” will play as part of the Malta Expanded strand, while on the retrospective end of the program, the festival will honor David Bowie with screenings of Nicolas Roeg’s “The Man Who Fell to Earth” and Lisa Azuelos’s “My Way,...

The Mediterrane Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for its second edition (June 22-30), with Cannes premiere The Count Of Monte Cristo set to open the event.

Scroll down for the full line-up

Directed by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière, the film is among seven titles in the out of competition strand, which also includes Jane Schoenbrun’s Sundance title I Saw The TV Glow and Tarsem Singh’s Dear Jassi.

The 15-strong competition section features Cannes competition titles Kinds Of Kindness and The Substance, and Berlin premiere The Strangers case starring Omar Sy,

Seven films compete in the environment-themed Mare Nostrum section,...

Malta’s Mediterrane Film Festival has set the full competition and industry lineup for its second edition, which runs June 22 to 30 in the country’s capital, Valletta.

The programme includes 15 films in competition, seven out-of-competition, and seven films competing in the environment-themed Mare Nostrum section, topped up by 14 immersive projects.

Select competition titles include Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest Kinds of Kindness, Coralie Fargeat’s body horror The Substance, and The Damned by Italian filmmaker Roberto Minvervini. All three films debuted at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Scroll down to see the full lineup. Deadpool and Terminator: Dark Fate director Tim Miller will serve on the competition jury.

The festival has also set its industry lineup, featuring a series of masterclass sessions. Speakers include editor Yorgos Mavropsaridis, production designer Nathan Crowley, casting director Margery Simkin, and composer Simon Franglen...

Fresh out of its world premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, Yorgos Lanthimos’s “Kinds of Kindness” is one of the titles headed to this year’s Mediterrane Film Festival, taking place in Malta between June 22-30.

Other highlights in the festival’s first wave of programming include Jane Schoenbrun’s Sundance breakout “I Saw the TV Glow” and Meryam Joobeur’s Berlinale competition entry “Who Do I Belong To.”

The festival’s sophomore edition marks the first under the curatorial guise of Artistic Director Teresa Cavina, appointed earlier in the year. Cavina reorganized the festival’s program into four strands: In Competition, featuring films from across the Mediterranean; Out of Competition, featuring films from the rest of the world; Mare Nostrum or Our Sea, showcasing films dedicated to sustainability and the environment; and Future Visions, focusing on experimental VR projects.

In a statement, Cavina said that this...

Malaysian drama Snow In Midsummer and Danish feature Sons have won the top prizes at the Hong Kong International Film Festival’s (Hkiff) Firebird Awards.

Snow In Midsummer, directed by Chong Keat-aun, won the Firebird Award for best film in the Chinese-language Young Cinema Competition. The film, which premiered in Venice’s Giornate Degli Autori section last September, revisits the tragic race riots that occurred in Kuala Lumpur on May 13, 1969.

Gustav Moller’s Sons won the top Firebird Award in the World category. The Denmark-Sweden co-production, about a prison officer who is faced with a dilemma when a young man...

Bright Sparks In Hong Kong

“Snow in Midsummer,” which quietly probes the 1969 massacre of Malaysian Chinese during post-election turmoil, was named the winner of the best film for young cinema competition (Chinese-language) at the Hong Kong International Film Festival. Liang Ming was named best director for “Carefree Days,” while the film’s female lead Lyu Xingchen collected the best actress award. Jason King won the best actor award for his performance in “A Journey in Spring.”

In the equivalent competition for non-Chinese films Gustav Moeller’s “Sons” was named the Firebird winner. Meryam Joobeur won the best director award for her “Who Do I Belong To.” The best actor award went to Vangelis Mourikis for his role in “Arcadia.” Minna Wuendrich was named best actress for her performance in “Ivo.” The jury also gave a special mention to “Pepe,” directed by Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias.

In the documentary competition,...

Malaysia-Singapore-Taiwan co-production Snow in Midsummer and Swedish title Sons took top prizes in the Young Cinema Competition at the 48th Hong Kong International Film Festival (Hkiff).

Winners of the festival’s 15 Firebird Awards and Fipresci Prize were announced at an awards gala held at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.

Directed by Malaysian filmmaker Chong Keat-aun, Snow in Midsummer was named Best Film (Chinese Language) in the Young Cinema Competition, with the jury commending the director for “demonstrating extraordinary courage in recounting the traumatic experiences of Malaysian travelling players.”

The feature revolves around a Cantonese street opera troupe during a turbulent period in Malaysia’s political history in the late 1960s. Cast includes Wan Fang, Pearlly Chua, Rexen Cheng, Pauline Tan, Peter Yu and Alvin Wong.

Other winners in the Chinese-language category included the Best Director award for Chinese filmmaker Liang Ming for his film Carefree Days, while the film’s female lead,...

This month’s Hong Kong International Film Festival will showcase over 190 films from 62 countries and regions, including five world premieres, and 64 Asian premieres.

Running 12 days (March 28 – April 8), the festival will open with the Asian premiere of local director Ray Yeung’s “All Shall Be Well,” which won the Teddy Award at the recent Berlin festival.

The closing film is the Asian premiere of “All the Long Nights,” directed by Miyake Sho and starring Matsumura Hokuto and Kamishiraishi Mone, which also premiered in Berlin. Variety’s review of “Nights” called it “gently luminous.”

Chinese-language films selected for the Firebird competition include: “Borrowed Time,” “Brief History of a Family,” “Carefree Days,” Fresh off Markham,” “A Journey in Spring,” “Snow in Midsummer,” “Some Rain Must Fall” and “A Song Sung Blue.”

Foreign films for the Firebird competition’s other section include: “Arcadia,” “Arni,” “Ivo,” “Pepe,” “Sons,” “Sujo,” “The Tenants” and “Who Do I Belong to.

Ray Yeung’s All Shall Be Well has been set as the opening film of the 48th Hong Kong International Film Festival, which has unveiled its full lineup today.

It will mark the Asian premiere of the Hong Kong feature, which debuted in the Panorama strand of the Berlinale last month and won the Teddy Award. Starring Patra Au and Maggie Li, it centres on a lesbian couple in their twilight years. After one of them dies, the other struggles to retain both her dignity and the home they shared for more than 30 years.

Miyake Sho’s All The Long Nights,...

In her debut film Who Do I Belong To, Tunisian-born, Canada-based filmmaker Meryam Joober explores the poignant narrative of Aicha, a mother faced with the daunting reality of her sons' association with Isis. The film is set in the tranquil yet secluded northern landscape of Tunisia. Joober examines themes of identity, maternal affection, and the pervasive impact of conflict on both a family and a small rural community. Central to the narrative is Aicha's complex journey as she attempts to reconcile her love for her son, Mehdi, who unexpectedly returns home with a pregnant wife from Syria, leading to a series of enigmatic disappearances that shroud the village. The inception of Meryam Joober's first film originated from an impromptu road trip across Tunisia with her...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Montreal-based filmmaker Meryam Joobeur made an international splash with her Oscar-nominated “Brotherhood,” winning considerable acclaim for a 2018 short about a rural Tunisian family wracked with heartache once the eldest son returns home after fighting for Isis. Premiering in competition in Berlin, Joobeur’s feature debut “Who Do I Belong To” builds on the same premise and keeps the same cast, but the filmmaker does not see her latest film as an extension or reimagining.

Instead, “Who Do I Belong To” reframes the narrative around a more female perspective, focusing on the family matriarch Aisha (Salha Nasraoui) who is torn between relief, grief and guilt when only one of her two escaped sons comes home. What’s more, he returns with a pregnant Syrian bride, unspeaking and unsettled beneath a full-body niqab. The feature also works in new tones, playing with magical realism and full-blown horror to better explore the story’s darkest corners.

Return of the Soldier: Joobeur Explores Ghosts of War

Matriarchs confronted by their radicalized children have slowly and painstaking formed a cinematic subgenre of their own in the past twenty years since the emergence of The Islamic State. Adding to this conversation is Who Do I Belong To (Mé el Aïn), a graceful, haunting ghost story by Tunisian-born filmmaker Meryam Joobeur, her narrative feature debut. Unspooling in three chapters, a Tunisian mother is conflicted when one of her prodigal sons returns from war, a presence which throws a dark shadow over their small community as she struggles to understand what has happened.…...

Aïcha (Salha Nasraoui) and her husband Brahim (Mohamed Hassine Grayaa) live on a farm in northern Tunisia. It’s a modern rural environment of goats, trucks, home cooking and tight-knit families. In Meryam Joobeur’s feature-length debut “Who Do I Belong To,” an early sequence of Aïcha shaving Brahim’s face — an act of intimacy and trust — introduces a key part of the director’s aesthetic strategy: Dp Vincent Gonneville’s frequent use of extreme close-ups on the actors’ faces. At times, the camera hovers so close that they almost stop looking like faces at all; there’s a landscape quality to facial features observed from this kind of intense proximity. In the shaving scene, Grayaa’s cheeks, lathered with shaving foam, call to mind mountains buried under drifts of snow.

You might expect from this introduction that Brahim, this monumental patriarch, will play a bigger part in the subsequently unfolding events,...

Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority (Gea) has launched a new film fund called Big Time Investment to boost production of quality Arabic movies and announced a slate of Egyptian feature films toplined by a biopic of Egyptian icon Umm Kulthum who is considered the Arab world’s greatest singer.

Prominent Egyptian director Marwan Hamed, whose epic “Kira and El Gen” about local resistance to British occupation, is recent hit, will direct the film titled “El Set.” Egyptian star Mona Zaki will play Kulthum who from the late 1920s onwards became the first prominent Arab singer to disseminate her work to the masses via the new technologies of the times: radio, the phonograph, cinema and television.

The fund was announced in Cairo by Gea chairman Turki Alalshikh who said Gea will serve as the roughly $130 million fund’s primary sponsor with the Ministry of Culture acting as a co-sponsor, according...

Meryam Joobeur’s Who Do I Belong To (Mé el Aïn) offers a timely perspective on war in the Middle East as her Arabic language Isis drama about a family in turmoil premieres in competition at the 2024 Berlin Film Festival.

The Canadian-Tunisian director deftly threads the themes of conflict, family and identity in a fantastical drama that centers on Aicha, a Tunisian mother played by Salha Nasraoui and greatly relieved to see her eldest son Mehdi (Malek Mechergui) unexpectedly return from fighting for the Islamic State in Syria.

But Aicha must deal with her husband Brahim (Mohamed Hassine Grayaa) feeling anger over their son’s betrayal for leaving their rural farm in Tunisia to embrace a violent war and return without his brother Amine and with a mysterious pregnant wife at his side. Soon, the presence of Mehdi and his niqab-clad wife casts a dark shadow that threatens to consume a tiny Tunisian village.

The Doha Film Institute has recruited Oscar nominee Jim Sheridan, French auteurs Claire Denis and Leos Carax, Canada’s Atom Egoyan and Oscar-nominated Mexican sound editor Martín Hernández to hold master classes and act as mentors during its upcoming Qumra Arab industry incubator.

The event, now celebrating its 10th edition, will run March 1-6 in the Qatari capital of Doha.

Qumra, which means “camera” in Arabic, blends together a creative workshop, co-production market and festival elements. It was established by the Doha Film Institute (Dfi) to help foster first and second works, mostly by Arab directors, and to create curated networking opportunities between the Arab and international film communities.

Egoyan will be making the trek to Doha segueing from Berlin, where he is internationally launching drama “Seven Veils” with Amanda Seyfried in tow. Sheridan is currently working on the docu-drama “Re-creation” about the murder of French film and TV producer...