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Special on Hiam Abbass

From April 14, 2018 until April 15, 20187:30 p.m.
MADRID
Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Alcalá, 62). 7:30 p.m. 5 euros: general tickets at the box office.
4 euros: tickets purchased online, the officially unemployed, Casa Árabe Language Center students and Youth Card holders, by showing the proper documentation. You may only receive one discount. Advance sales at www.casaarabe.es in advance, or you may purchase on the day of the screening at the Casa Árabe headquarters, as of one hour before each film screening. Assigned seats with tickets.
Films shown in the original language version with subtitles in Spanish.

On the occasion of the sneak premiere of the film “Alma Mater” at Casa Árabe, starring actress Hiam Abbass, the institution and production company Surtsey Films have devoted a special program to her.

For one weekend, you will be able to see two of the most emblematic films in which the actress has played roles. The Lemon Tree and The Visitor.

Hiam Abbass was brought up in a town north of Galilee, in Israel. In 1987, she made her film debut in Wedding in Galilee by Michel Khleifi, in which she plays a woman raped by her husband. After some time in London, Hiam Abbass took up residence in France in the late eighties. She played an FLN militant in Living in Paradise, and Depardieu’s wife in “A Loving Father.” However, the actress achieved fame thanks to her role as a mother who takes up bellydancing in Satin rouge (Red Satin), by Tunisian director Raja Amari (2002). She also played the mother of a kamikaze in Paradise Now (2005) and that of the emancipated sister in The Syrian Bride a film by Eran Riklis, who would later give her the role of the stubborn heroine in Lemon Tree (2008). Though she has worked with the most acclaimed filmmakers in the Middle East, from Yousry Nasrallah to Amos Gitaï (Free Zone in 2005), the actress is also highly sought out in France: directed by Patrice Chéreau and Jean Becker (The Gardener), she lent her voice to animated characters in Azur & Asmar. This actress without borders has also crossed paths with American filmmakers Jarmusch (The Limits of Control) and Thomas McCarthy (The Visitor). Later, a nomadic film director, Julian Schnabel, entrusted her with the role of Hind Husseini, who runs an orphanage for Palestinian children in the film Miral, presented in Venice in 2010. In recent years, we have seen her in the productions by some of the most acclaimed directors in world film: Munich (Steven Spielberg), Exodus (Ridley Scott) and Blade Runner 2049 (Denis Villeneuve).
Special on Hiam Abbass
  • Lemon Tree

    Lemon Tree

    April 14, 20187:30 p.m.
    MADRID
    Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Alcalá, 62). 7:30 p.m. 5 euros: general tickets at the box office.
    4 euros: tickets purchased online, the officially unemployed, Casa Árabe Language Center students and Youth Card holders, by showing the proper documentation. You may only receive one discount. Advance sales at www.casaarabe.es in advance, or you may purchase on the day of the screening at the Casa Árabe headquarters, as of one hour before each film screening. Assigned seats with tickets.
    Films shown in the original language version with subtitles in Spanish.
    Screening of the film by Eran Riklis (Israel, 2008, 106 min.) as part of the special event which Casa Árabe has devoted to actress Hiam Abbass.
    Salma is a Palestinian widow who has to deal with her new neighbor, none other than the Israeli Defense Minister, when he moves into a house located across from her lemon tree field, along the border between Israel and the West Bank. The Israeli army wastes no time in declaring Salma’s trees a threat to the minister’s security and orders they be torn up. With the help of Ziad Daud, a young Palestinian lawyer, Salma goes as far as the Israeli Supreme Court to save her trees. Her struggle arouses the interest of Mira Navon, the Defense Minister’s wife, trapped in her new house in an unhappy life. Despite their differences and the many borders separating them, an invisible bond ties these two women together. A relationship also forms between the young lawyer and the widow, which will not be looked upon kindly by anyone.

    Salma’s legal and personal journey take her to the heart of a dark, complex chaos not totally devoid of humor in the fight taking place in the Middle East, where so many are alone in their struggle to survive.
  • The Visitor 

    The Visitor 

    April 15, 20187:30 p.m.
    MADRID
    Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Alcalá, 62). 7:30 p.m. 5 euros: general tickets at the box office.
    4 euros: tickets purchased online, the officially unemployed, Casa Árabe Language Center students and Youth Card holders, by showing the proper documentation. You may only receive one discount. Advance sales at www.casaarabe.es in advance, or you may purchase on the day of the screening at the Casa Árabe headquarters, as of one hour before each film screening. Assigned seats with tickets.
    Films shown in the original language version with subtitles in Spanish.
    Thomas McCarthy directed this film, produced in the United States in 2007 (108 min.), which forms part of the special film event devoted to Hiam Abbass.
    Walker lives a very run-of-the-mill existence. He is a university professor with very few courses, and he is trying to learn to play the piano, despite a serious lack of talent. One day, he is asked to take part in a conference at New York University to read an article to which he contributed. The surprise comes that day when he gets home: he will discover that a couple of immigrants have decided to use his home as a shelter. Tarek Khali, a Syrian musician, and Zainab, a street vendor from Senegal, make up the pair of squatters who will win over Walter’s sympathy, allowing them to continue living with him. Walter ends up growing fond of them and does everything possible to help them and avoid their deportation.

Related content

Sneak preview of the film “Alma Mater” at Casa Árabe

The film is being screened for the first time ever in Spain after being shown at the European Film Festival in Seville. The film’s director, Philippe Van Leeuw, will be attending the premiere at Casa Árabe and will take part in a talk with the audience.
April 9, 2018 MADRID