Arab films head to Toronto International Film Fest

Three feature films by Arab filmmakers, supported by DIFF’s Dubai Film Market (DFM), will showcase at the 40th Toronto Film Festival (TIFF), running from September 10th to September 20th, 2015.

The line-up includes Palestinian filmmaker Hany Abu Assad, whose Golden Globe winning feature Paradise Now opened DIFF in 2005 and he most recently opened the festival’s 10th edition with Omar, which garnered Abu Assad his second Oscar nomination. This year, the filmmaker returns to the screen with the highly anticipated biopic The Idol, supported by Enjaaz, the Dubai Film Market’s post-production and production financing programme that has funded more than 100 films since its inception. The film will receive a ‘Special Presentation’ at TIFF and follows the story of Mohammad Assaf, the Gazan wedding singer who became a worldwide sensation after winning the live-singing competition Arab Idol in 2013.

Joining The Idol, award winning Palestinian filmmaker Mai Masri’s 3000 Nights, also supported by Enjaaz and a past project in the DFM’s Interchange programme, will enjoy its world premiere in TIFF’s ‘World Contemporary Cinema’ section. Inspired by the true stories of the children who were born in Israeli prisons and the young girls coming of age behind bars, 3000 Nights focuses on a young Palestinian woman who discovers that she is pregnant just as a group of her fellow inmates launch a revolt against the prison administration.

Tunisian director Leyla Bouzid is certainly one to watch as her first feature As I Open My Eyes, which was presented at the DFM’s co-production market the Dubai Film Connection (DFC) in 2013, garners the global spotlight in TIFF’s “World Contemporary Cinema” section. Set on the eve of Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution, the film follows an up-and-coming underground band as they are pulled in all directions by creative energy, authoritarian oppression, and rebellion.