by Alex Deleon LUST (Al Shooq) is an Egyptian film set in Egypt's second city, Alexandria, on the Mediterranean. However the part of the city we see is no tourist dream -- but a poverty stricken warren of side streets where the central figure, Umm Shooq, a charismatic possessed lady, and her two mod daughters live. When her youngest son falls seriously ill with a kidney condition and needs dialysis treatment --very expensive -- she is forced to beg on the streets to raise the money. When she...

  I posted this article (below) back in October after having attended the screening of this documentary, Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace (2009), at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival 2010. In light of the recent controversy in Egypt and impinging further contention, I feel that this film could not have been released at a better time, nor can it be more relevant. A fellow filmmaker and Cairo native stated this in regards to the situation as is today: "The difference betwee...

GOA, June 29, 2008: For a country sometimes viewed as 'the enemy' in geopolitical rivalries or the cricket-field, the films of neighbouring Pakistan, currently being screened at the South Asian Film Festival here in Goa, are drawing significant interest and appreciation.Screened in Panaji (also called Panjim or Ponnje) -- though with a small audience, reflecting the overall lack of publicity for the first SAFF being held here -- was reporter Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy's documentary 'Pakistan's Doubl...

The Middle East International Film Festival - Abu Dhabi (MEIFF) today revealed its Closing Night Film, director Paul Haggis's IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH, which is a story about a war veteran and his wife who are in search of their son, a soldier who recently returned from Iraq but has since gone missing. The Festival also named Nadine Labaki, director of CARAMEL, as the recipient of the Variety Middle East Filmmaker of the Year Award. In support of Emirati filmmakers, the Abu Dhabi Media Company will...

In this V edition the participation with respect to previous years has been tripled.AMAL means hope in Arab, the same hope that has been the motor of our Foundation since 1984, and of the Euro Arab Film Festival since 2003; promoting an active work in the cultural exchange. This hope is the one that moves us to try to improve every year and to increase the participation and quality of the Festival. Our values continue being the same as in the first edition: to approach to the West the reality of...

Today’s Iraq Provides Setting for Landmark Syria/UK Co-ProductionWriter/director Nabil Maleh’sTHE HUNT FEASTCurrently filming in Syria and Lebanon. To Be Unveiled At Cannes 2004The story of an escaped high-ranking officer of the former Iraqi regime on the run with millions of dollars earmarked for an insurgency campaign against the occupying American forces, is the subject of a landmark Syrian/UK co-production feature film currently shooting in Syria and Lebanon, which gets its first unveili...