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.

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.

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.

“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)

Morocco.

“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)