All the five films will have two screening during the event.
During the sixth edition of Zawya’s Cairo Cinema Days, which opened on May 17, MAD Solutions will be represented by five titles.
The lineup includes five feature-length films — Under the Fig Trees, Alam, The Damned Don’t Cry, The Island of Forgiveness, and Nezouh.
Soudade Kaadan’s Nezouh takes place against the backdrop of the Syrian Civil War, where a missile destroys the ceiling of the house Of 14-Year-Old Zeina. As a result, she sleeps for the first time under the stars and makes friends with Amer (Nizar Alani) — the boy next door.
When the violence escalates, Hala (Kinda Alloush) — Zeina’s mother — decides to leave, getting into an argument with her husband, Motaz (Samer Al-Masri), who refuses to become a refugee and tries everything to stop his family from leaving their house.
The film will be screened twice — once at 7 pm on May 18 and the second at 7 pm on May 31.
Firas Khoury’s Alam follows the story of a Palestinian teenager named Tamer. Tamer and his friends lead typical teenage lives until one day, he is swept off his feet by the arrival of the beautiful Maysaa. As he grows closer to her, Tamer agrees to take part in a mysterious and life-changing operation dubbed ‘Alam.’
Written and directed by Firas Khoury, Alam stars Mahmood Bakri, Sereen Khass, Saleh Bakri, Mohammad Karaki, Ahmad Zaghmouri, and Muhammad Abed Elrahman.
Alam will also have two screenings — one at 7 pm on May 22 and the other at 7 pm on June 2.
Erige Sehiri’s social drama Under the Fig Trees will be screened twice — once on May 19 at 7 pm and again on the 29 at 10 pm.
Taking place over the course of a day, Under the Fig Trees presents an intergenerational dialogue between a group of teens and older folk as they work the summer harvest, catch feelings, attempt to understand each other, and navigate the complicated terrain of building deeper ties.
MAD’s penultimate entry is Fyzal Boulifa’s feature film The Damned Don’t Cry, which follows Fatima-Zahra and her adolescent son Selim as they move from place to place, forever trying to outrun the latest scandal she’s caught up in. When Selim discovers the truth about his past, Fatima-Zahra vows to seek a fresh start.
Arriving in Tangier, they each find new opportunities that promise the legitimacy they crave, but not without threatening their fragile love for one another.
The film stars Abdellah El-Hajjouji, Aicha Tebbae, and Antoine Reinartz, and was nominated for the GdA Directors’ Award at the Venice International Film Festival.
The Damned Don’t Cry is scheduled to screen on May 19 at 7 pm and the 29 at 10 pm.
Ridha Behi’s The Island of Forgiveness, starring Claudia Cardinale, Katia Greco, and Paola Lavini, will have two screenings — the first on May 28 at 7 pm and the second on June 9 at 7 pm.
