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The 11th ARAB Film Festival
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Here are five films that show the presence of contemporary Arabic culture and society through various genres of drama, comedy, horror and documentary.
Sawah
- Drama/Comedy
- 2019
- 85min
- color
- 15 and over (15+)
Egyptian DJ Skaarab’s (Samir) dream to take part in a prestigious DJ championship in Brussels is shattered to pieces when his flight is redirected to Luxembourg because of a major strike in Belgium. The real adventures begin when he loses all his papers and gets mistaken for a refugee. The colourful film shows DJ Skaarab’s adventures and new encounters on the way to recover his identity.
Director
Adolf El Assal
Born in Alexandria, Egypt in 1981, Adolf El Assal grew up in Dubai, London and Luxembourg. After graduating with a MA in Filmmaking from Kingston University in the United Kingdom, he won his spurs while working on several video clips and TV shorts, and worked as a producer on Divizionz (2008) which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and went on to be selected at over 100 festivals. He has since directed a couple of short films including the award-winning La Fameuse Route... (2011) and Mano de Dios (2011). He completed his first feature, The Notorious Guys in 2014. Sawah (2019) is his latest feature film.
Jecheon International Music & Film Festival
| Seoul |
aco7.16(Thu) 19:30 7.19(Sun) 11:30 |
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| Busan |
7.16(Thu) 15:20 7.19(Sun) 12:40 |
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Capernaum
- Drama
- 2018
- 126min
- color
- 15 and over (15+)
Capernaum takes place in a slum in Lebanon and depicts a story about a 12-year-old boy, Zain, of his conflicts in a situation where he can’t be comforted by his parents. The film focuses on the reality that Zain has no choice but to sue them. The cast are non-professional actors who have gone through similar situations in their actual lives, and this way of storytelling immerses the audience and profoundly moves them.
Director
Nadine Labaki
Nadine Labaki is a Lebanese actress and director who became known as an actress first. She made her directorial debut with her first feature film Caramel, which was greatly loved by all Lebanese people enough to be the top Lebanese box office movie for 16 weeks. Labaki majored in theater & film at IESAV of St. Joseph University in Beirut. Her winning the Cannes Jury Prize in 2018 for her film Capernaum earned her global fame. Not only as an director, but she is also continuing her career as an actress, playing a major role in the film Costa Brava, Lebanon, which was invited to world’s renowned film festivals.
| Seoul |
7.17(Fri) 16:30 7.21(Tue) 19:30 |
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| Busan |
7.19(Sun) 17:00 7.21(Tue) 17:00 |
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Tazzeka
- Comedy
- 2018
- 95min
- color
- 12 and over (12+)
Growing up in the Moroccan village of Tazzeka, Elias learned the secrets of traditional Moroccan cuisine from his grandmother, who raised him. Years later, meeting a top Paris chef and a young woman named Salma inspires him to leave home. However, Elias gets news that his grandmother is ill.
Director
Jean-Philippe Gaud
Jean-Philippe Gaud graduated from "La Femis" in Paris, France. Following his graduation, he produced his first short Mabrouk Moussa, and he has been collaborating with various directors in fiction and non-fiction. With his own screenplay, he directed and edited Teheran(2009) and established his production company, "Takka Films" in 2015. He worked on Tazzeka for a long period from 2011 to 2018. Tazzeka offers small bits of fun and excitement to the audience with beautiful sceneries and delicious Morocco cuisine, along with the personal stories of each character.
| Seoul |
7.16(Thu) 14:00 ac7.20(Mon) 19:30 |
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| Busan |
7.18(Sat) 12:50 7.21(Tue) 14:40 |
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Dachra
- Occult
- 2018
- 114min
- color
- 15 and over (15+)
Dachra can likely be seen as the first-ever genre film made in Tunisia. Tunisia is located in the very north of Africa and has a combination of western Europe and northern African culture. The director, Abdelhamid Bouchnak, well-oriented this feature by utilizing Hollywood-like elements and motifs along with Tunisia’s unique culture and religion-based settings. The film is fabricated in the way of modifying a Hollywood horror film while deepening Tunisia’s traditions and uniqueness.
Director
Abdelhamid Bouchnak
Abdelhamid directed, produced, and edited Dachra. Born in 1984, he is a promising filmmaker who studied at ESAC Gammarth University. His thesis Miroir(2008) screened and won at CFF (Carthage Film Festival), also known as Journées cinématographiques de Carthage. Since 2012, he has produced and directed numerous clips, web series, and short films. Furthermore, his TV series Nouba(2019) was greatly applauded.
| Seoul |
7.17(Fri) 11:30 ACO7.19(Sun) 16:30 |
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| Busan |
7.17(Fri) 17:15 7.20(Mon) 17:20 |
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A.I. at War
- Documentary
- 2021
- 107min
- color
- 12 and over (12+)
In the war zones of Mosul and Raqqa, then in Paris during the Yellow vests uprising, the director confronts Sota, an AI robot, with the tragedy of mankind. As the story unfolds, the relationship that develops between man and machine questions our human condition and our future.
Director
Florent Marcie
Born in France in 1968, he first started photography in 1989 in the midst of the Romanian Revolution and then started to make documentaries. He mostly directed documentaries related to war. He made various documentary films featuring countries such as Chechnya and Libya. Syria was also featured in the film A.I. at War in 2021. From shooting and directing to editing.Florent Marcie takes charge of all tasks, and his films focus on how people respond when a war breaks out.
| Seoul |
7.18(Sat) 14:00 7.21(Tue) 11:30 |
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| Busan |
7.18(Sat) 17:10 7.21(Tue) 19:30 |
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