The Moroccan film 'The Damned Don’t Cry' by Fyzal Boulifa will open the 14th edition of ALFILM.
Arab Film Festival Berlin (ALFILM) has announced the dates and details of its 14th edition, scheduled to take place from April 26-May 2, 2023, in Berlin.
ALFILM will take place in Berlin at Arsenal Cinema and City Kino Wedding.
ALFILM will present more than 43 feature fiction, documentaries, shorts and animation films in its three sections: ALFILM Selection, ALFILM Spotlight, and ALFILM Atelier.
The Moroccan film The Damned Don’t Cry by Fyzal Boulifa will open the 14th edition of ALFILM. Nominated for the Queer Lion during the 2022 Venice International Film Festival where it premiered, the film, together with many others within the 14th ALFILM programme, brings to the forefront issues pertinent to non-normative sexualities and challenging traditional gender identities. The short film programme Renegotiating Gender Scripts will showcase films from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Lebanon which attempt in diverse innovative ways to question the grip of heteronormative notions about gender and sexuality.
The Guest of Honour is Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri. Three of his newest works will be screened in his presence including The Blue Caftan by Moroccan director Myriam Touzani, the Lebanese production Beirut Hold’em by Michel Kammoun and Alam by Firas Khoury from Palestine. Saleh Bakri will also give a Master Class dedicated to his extensive career and involvement with Arab and particularly Palestinian Cinema.
The 14th ALFILM Selection also focuses on Palestinian cinema 75 years after the Nakba. Showcasing the aesthetic and formal variety of the current Palestinian film productions, the screenings of Jumana Manna’s intimate documentary Foragers, Firas Khoury’s coming-of-age story Alam, and Maha Haj’s black comedy Mediterranean Fever will all be followed by discussions with the film’s directors. Furthermore, a panel discussion dedicated to this subject will take place in the framework of the ALFILM Atelier.
The documentary section of the 14th ALFILM Selection features strong female voices fighting to bring their stories and those of their communities to the front. Hala Galal’s From Cairo centres on three female protagonists fighting to regain control over their bodies in a conservative and patriarchal Egyptian society. In Fields of Words: Conversations with Samar Yazbek is a dialogue between renowned Syrian writer-in-exile Samar Yazbek and Lebanese filmmaker Rania Stephan. The film explores, through the lens of two remarkable women, the power and limitations of cinema and literature in narrating war, death, and violence.
The 14th ALFILM Spotlight titled Ghosts, Griefs, and Lost Dreams: Visions of the City in Arab Cinema will showcase films from Casablanca to Damascus, passing by Algiers, Tunis, Cairo, Gaza, Jaffa and Beirut. The 14 films of the Spotlight reflect on the ability of cinema to represent and accompany urban transformations as well as on the new challenges facing filmmakers from the Arab world living in the diaspora in portraying their cities of origin.
Many established and emerging filmmakers from different parts of the Arab world will be present in Berlin during the festival. They will share their experiences and thoughts on cinema with our audience in the Panel discussions, Master classes and Film Talks that will take place in the framework of the 14th ALFILM Atelier. Inaugurated last year, this new pillar of the festival will offer industry professionals and film lovers the chance to reflect on the current state of Arab Cinema.
Finally, drawing back on a long tradition that was interrupted due to the pandemic, the festival party, Dance HabibiDance, will take place this year on Sunday, April 30 in ACUD Club in cooperation with AL.Berlin.
