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Contemporary Arab Women Directors IV

For the fourth year in a row, Casa Árabe has organized a film series devoted to Arab women filmmakers, with the cooperation of the “Cinema by Women” Film Festival. It will be taking place from November 4 to December 9 at our headquarters in Madrid and Cordoba.

Included amongst these screenings will be two documentaries and two fictional feature films:

- On the Fence, by Nesrine Lotfy Elzayat (Egypt, 2020, 72 min.) Documentary
- A Story of Love and Desire (Une histoire d’amour et de désir), by Leyla Bouzid (France, Tunisia, 2021, 102 min.) Fiction
- Farha, by Darin J Sallam (Jordan, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, 2021, 92 min.) Fiction
- 17, by Widad Shafakoj (Jordan, 2017, 73 min.) Documentary

With the exception of A Story of Love and Desire, all of the films are being shown in Spain for the first time ever at these Casa Árabe premiere screenings.

The film series will be held on Fridays at 7:30 p.m., from November 4 through December 2, in Madrid, and from November 18 through December 9, in Cordoba.
Contemporary Arab Women Directors IV
Frame from the film “A Story of Love and Desire”
  • Film: “On the Fence”
    Film poster

    Film: “On the Fence”

    November 04, 20227:30 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. Sales in advance at www.casaarabe.es up to the day of the screening at 12:00 p.m. Those tickets not sold online will be made available for purchase on the day of the screening at Casa Árabe’s headquarters, as of one hour before each screening (payment in cash or by debit/credit card). Assigned seats with tickets.
    Films shown in the original language version with subtitles in Spanish.
    On Friday, November 4, the film series we have dedicated to contemporary Arab women directors is starting in Madrid, and we are organizing it with the cooperation of the Cinema by Women Film Festival. Buy your ticket online now at a discounted price.
    This screening of the film at Casa Árabe is the first to take place in Spain.

    On the Fence, by Nesrine Lotfy Elzayat (Egypt, 2020, 72 min.) Documentary
    The film follows Nesrine’s round-trip journey between Cairo, where she currently lives with her mother, and Timma, the hometown where she spent her childhood and where her father is buried, in search of the old family home about to collapse. In Timma, a small town in Upper Egypt, 1,000 kilometers away from Cairo, she is forced to cover her head with a scarf and stick to the rules of a conservative society. In order to preserve her father’s memory, she rebels against the idea of having to sell the house and tries to clean it up and refurbish it. While cleaning, she finds some tapes which her father recorded, along with some notes written in his handwriting and a whole stick of memories which lead Nesrine on an inner journey.

    Awards and Festivals: The film “On the Fence” premiered at the Cairo Film Festival in December 2020. It won the Special Jury Prize at the Amman Film Festival (2021); Bangkok International Film Festival (2021), Ciudad del Este Independent Film Festival, Paraguay (2021); Malmö Arab Film Festival, Sweden (2022).

    Nesrine Lotfy El-Zayat was born in Upper Egypt, in the region of Sohag. She studied Sociology at South Valley University. She worked as a film critic and journalist for the newspaper Rosa El-Youssef. She has made two short-subject documentary films: the first, titled “Ward No.6,” has been shown on Channel 3 in
    France; it won the Jury Prize in the Human Rights Competition at the Baghdad International Film Festival and the Jury Prize for Best Short Documentary Film at the Egyptian National Film Festival in 2009. The second, titled “The Black Dress,” was made in 2013 and got screened at festivals in Egypt, India, France and Morocco.

    In the media:
  • Film: “A Story of Love and Desire”
    Film poster

    Film: “A Story of Love and Desire”

    November 18, 20227:30 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. Sales in advance at www.casaarabe.es up to the day of the screening at 12:00 p.m. Those tickets not sold online will be made available for purchase on the day of the screening at Casa Árabe’s headquarters, as of one hour before each screening (payment in cash or by debit/credit card). Assigned seats with tickets.
    Films shown in the original language version with subtitles in Spanish.
    Second screening in Madrid in the series we have devoted to contemporary Arab women directors to collaborate with the Cinema by Women Film Festival. The film we are screening is a fictional feature by Leyla Bouzid. Tickets are now being sold online.
    A Story of Love and Desire (Une histoire d’amour et de désir), by Leyla Bouzid (France, Tunisia, 2021, 102 min.) Fiction

    Ahmed is an 18-year-old French teen of Algerian origin who grew up in Paris’ suburbs. At university, he meets Farah, a young Tunisian girl who has just arrived in Paris. Ahmed falls madly in love with her and discovers a whole new world of sensual, erotic Arabic literature that he had been completely unaware of up to then. Though completely overwhelmed with passion, Ahmed attempts to fight back.

    Leyla Bouzid’s second feature film, after the successful movie “A peine j’ouvre les yeux” (2015), set in 2010 just before Tunisia’s revolution. In this case, Farah is once again the name of the young main character, who also embodies the desire for emancipation as a woman.

    Awards and festivals: Film screened at the closing ceremony of Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival (2021); “Valois de Diamant” Award for best film and best male performance, at the Angoulême Film Festival (2021); “Etalon de bronze” at Fespaco (2021); African Film Festival of Tarifa.

    Copy on loan from the African Film Festival of Tarifa

    In the media:
  • Film: “Farha”

    Film: “Farha”

    November 18, 20227:30 p.m.
    CORDOBA
    Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Samuel de los Santos Gener, 9). 7:30 p.m. Free entry until the room’s capacity is reached.
    Screenings in the original language with Spanish subtitles.
    Over the next few months in Cordoba, we will be hosting a film series dedicated to contemporary Arab women directors, beginning on Friday, November 18 with this fictional feature film by Jordanian director Darin J. Sallam.Come and enjoy!
    Farha, by Darin J Sallam (Jordan, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, 2021, 92 min) Fiction
    A 14-year-old girl in 1948 Palestine watches from a locked basement as catastrophe consumes her home. Young Farha dreams of going to school in the city with her best friend Farida, but she knows that as the daughter of the mukhtar (the authority figure in her village), she faces an uphill battle against tradition. Girls Farha’s age are expected to get married. It is 1948, and British control over Palestine is coming to an end. What Farha and her father don’t know yet is that forced displacement is already taking place throughout the region. When Israeli bombs hit their village, Farha’s father locks her in the basement of their house, promising to return as soon as he can. As Farha waits and peers through the cracks, the village she was so excited to leave becomes a shambles, threatening to put an end to the future she had planned and leaving nothing but memories in its wake.

    Debut film by Jordanian director Darin J. Sallam, which has received excellent reviews at all the festivals where it has been screened. Her prior short-subject films are the award-winning titles Still Alive, The Dark Outside and The Parrot.

    Awards and festivals: best Euro-Mediterranean film, best director and best actress at the Aswan International Film Festival (2022); special mention at the Red Sea International Film Festival (2021); jury prize, Malmö Arab Festival (2022); Toronto International Film Festival (2021); Palm Springs Festival (2022); Göteborg Festival (2022); Reel Palestine Festival (2022); Rome Festival (2021)

    In the media:
  • Film: “Farha”

    November 25, 20227:30 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. Sales in advance at www.casaarabe.es up to the day of the screening at 12:00 p.m. Those tickets not sold online will be made available for purchase on the day of the screening at Casa Árabe’s headquarters, as of one hour before each screening (payment in cash or by debit/credit card). Assigned seats with tickets.
    Films shown in the original language version with subtitles in Spanish.
    This fictional feature film by Jordanian director Darin J. Sallam is the third screening dedicated to contemporary Arab women directors at our Madrid headquarters. It will be held in Madrid on November 25, and tickets are already available online.
    This screening of the film at Casa Árabe is the first to take place in Spain.

    Farha, by Darin J Sallam (Jordan, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, 2021, 92 min.) Fiction
    In 1948 Palestine, a 14-year-old girl watches from a locked basement as catastrophe consumes her home. Young Farha dreams of going to school in the city with her best friend Farida, but she knows that as the daughter of the mukhtar (the authority figure in her village), she faces an uphill battle against tradition. Girls Farha’s age are expected to get married. It is 1948, and British control over Palestine is coming to an end. What Farha and her father don’t know yet is that forced displacement is already taking place throughout the region. When Israeli bombs hit their village, Farha’s father locks her in the basement of their house, promising to return as soon as he can. As Farha waits and peers through the cracks, the village she was so excited to leave becomes a shambles, threatening to put an end to the future she had planned and leaving nothing but memories in its wake. Debut film by Jordanian director Darin J. Sallam, which has received excellent reviews at all the festivals where it has been screened. Her prior short-subject films are the award-winning titles Still Alive, The Dark Outside and The Parrot.

    Awards and festivals: best Euro-Mediterranean film, best director and best actress at the Aswan International Film Festival (2022); special mention at the Red Sea International Film Festival (2021); jury prize, Malmö Arab Festival (2022); Toronto International Film Festival (2021); Palm Springs Festival (2022); Göteborg Festival (2022); Reel Palestine Festival (2022); Rome Festival (2021)

    In the media:
  • Film: “A Story of Love and Desire”

    Film: “A Story of Love and Desire”

    November 25, 20227:30 p.m.
    CORDOBA
    Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Samuel de los Santos Gener, 9). 7:30 p.m. Free entry until the room’s capacity is reached.
    Screenings in the original language with Spanish subtitles.
    On Friday, November 25, we will be hosting the second screening in Cordoba within the film series we have dedicated to contemporary Arab women filmmakers, with this fictional feature by Leyla Bouzid. Don’t miss it!
    A Story of Love and Desire (Une histoire d’amour et de désir), by Leyla Bouzid (France, Tunisia, 2021, 102 min.) Fiction
    Ahmed is an 18-year-old French teen of Algerian origin who grew up in Paris’ suburbs. At university, he meets Farah, a young Tunisian girl who has just arrived in Paris. Ahmed falls madly in love with her and discovers a whole new world of sensual, erotic Arabic literature that he had been completely unaware of up to then. Though completely overwhelmed with passion, Ahmed attempts to fight back.

    Leyla Bouzid’s second feature film, after the successful movie “A peine j’ouvre les yeux” (2015), set in 2010 just before Tunisia’s revolution. In this case, Farah is once again the name of the young main character, who also embodies the desire for emancipation as a woman.

    Awards and festivals: Film screened at the closing ceremony of Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival (2021); “Valois de Diamant” Award for best film and best male performance, at the Angoulême Film Festival (2021); “Etalon de bronze” at Fespaco (2021); African Film Festival of Tarifa.

    Copy on loan from the African Film Festival of Tarifa

    In the media:
  • Film: “17”
    Photo frame from the documentary.

    Film: “17”

    December 02, 20227:30 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. Sales in advance at www.casaarabe.es up to the day of the screening at 12:00 p.m. Those tickets not sold online will be made available for purchase on the day of the screening at Casa Árabe’s headquarters, as of one hour before each screening (payment in cash or by debit/credit card). Assigned seats with tickets.
    Films shown in the original language version with subtitles in Spanish.
    On Friday, December 2, the film series that we have been showing on contemporary Arab women directors over the last few weeks will be coming to an end in Madrid. On this occasion, we shall do so with a documentary about the Jordanian U-17 women’s football team. Buy your ticket online now so you don’t miss out.
    “17,” by Widad Shafakoj (Jordan, 2017, 73 min.) Documentary
    “17” is a story about the lives of young women who are passionate about football, a sport they have been told is only for men. The film follows Jordan’s U-17 women’s national football team as they prepare for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, which was held for the first time in an Arab country, Jordan, in 2016. The girls, who come from very different social backgrounds, join forces to surmount a series of shared challenges as national team players. The documentary was shot during the crucial months leading up to the World Cup, with testimonials from Olympic gold medalist Ahmad Abu Ghosh and former Barcelona football player Xavi Hernández.

    Widad Shafakoj’s films are characterised by a strong sense of social commitment and defending human rights, including the problems of orphans in Jordan, Syrian refugees in the Al Zaatari refugee camp, and the vulnerable status of women who deliberately try to get put into prison in order to feel safe when faced with the risk of being killed by their families accused of honor crimes.

    More information about the film (in English)
  • Film: “On the Fence”

    Film: “On the Fence”

    December 02, 20227:30 p.m.
    CORDOBA
    Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Samuel de los Santos Gener, 9).Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Samuel de los Santos Gener, 9). 7:30 p.m. Free entry until the room’s capacity is reached.
    Screenings in the original language with Spanish subtitles.
    With this documentary by Egypt’s Nesrine Lofty Elzayat, the third screening dedicated to contemporary Arab women directors will be taking place at our headquarters in Cordoba. It will be held on Friday, December 2. Come and enjoy!
    This screening of the film at Casa Árabe is the first to take place in Spain.

    On the Fence, by Nesrine Lotfy Elzayat (Egypt, 2020, 72 min.) Documentary The film follows Nesrine’s round-trip journey between Cairo, where she currently lives with her mother, and Timma, the hometown where she spent her childhood and where her father is buried, in search of the old family home about to collapse. In Timma, a small town in Upper Egypt, 1,000 kilometers away from Cairo, she is forced to cover her head with a scarf and stick to the rules of a conservative society. In order to preserve her father’s memory, she rebels against the idea of having to sell the house and tries to clean it up and refurbish it. While cleaning, she finds some tapes which her father recorded, along with some notes written in his handwriting and a whole stick of memories which lead Nesrine on an inner journey.

    Awards and festivals: The film “On the Fence” premiered at the Cairo Film Festival in December 2020. It won the Special Jury Prize at the Amman Film Festival (2021); Bangkok International Film Festival (2021), Ciudad del Este Independent Film Festival, Paraguay (2021); Malmö Arab Film Festival, Sweden (2022).

    Nesrine Lotfy El-Zayat was born in Upper Egypt, in the region of Sohag. She studied Sociology at South Valley University. She worked as a film critic and journalist for the newspaper Rosa El-Youssef. She has made two short-subject documentary films: the first, titled “Ward No.6,” has been shown on Channel 3 in France; it won the Jury Prize in the Human Rights Competition at the Baghdad International Film Festival and the Jury Prize for Best Short Documentary Film at the Egyptian National Film Festival in 2009. The second, titled “The Black Dress,” was made in 2013 and got screened at festivals in Egypt, India, France and
    Morocco.

    In the media:
  • Film: “17”

    Film: “17”

    December 09, 20227:30 p.m.
    CORDOBA
    Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Samuel de los Santos Gener, 9).Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Samuel de los Santos Gener, 9). 7:30 p.m. Free entry until the room’s capacity is reached.
    Screenings in the original language with Spanish subtitles.
    On Friday, December 9, the film series we have been showing on contemporary Arab women directors for the last few weeks will be coming to an end. On this occasion, we shall do so with a documentary about the Jordanian U-17 women’s football team. We’ll be expecting you!
    “17,” by Widad Shafakoj (Jordan, 2017, 73 min.) Documentary
    “17” is a story about the lives of young women who are passionate about football, a sport they have been told is only for men. The film follows Jordan’s U-17 women’s national football team as they prepare for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, which was held for the first time in an Arab country, Jordan, in 2016. The girls, who come from very different social backgrounds, join forces to surmount a series of shared challenges as national team players. The documentary was shot during the crucial months leading up to the World Cup, with testimonials from Olympic gold medalist Ahmad Abu Ghosh and former Barcelona football player Xavi Hernández.

    Widad Shafakoj’s films are characterised by a strong sense of social commitment and defending human rights, including the problems of orphans in Jordan, Syrian refugees in the Al Zaatari refugee camp, and the vulnerable status of women who deliberately try to get put into prison in order to feel safe when faced with the risk of being killed by their families accused of honor crimes.

    More information about the film (in English)