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Panorama of Contemporary Arab Documentary Cinema III in Madrid
From January 23, 2012 until February 27, 2012
From February 3rd to 27th, Casa Árabe reruns the Panorama of Contemporary Arab Documentary Cinema third edition, focused on experiences and testimonies.
Directed by the Egyptian director Basel Ramsis, this Panorama includes documentary films which bring us closer to Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria and they share memory research premises. It also includes a special section on the female filmmaker Mai Masri.
Showings will be screened in original version with subtitles in Spanish. It will take place at Casa Árabe’s Auditorium in Madrid (c/ Alcalá, 62), at 19.30. Free entrance prior ticket collection –one per person- from 19.00 on.
I Am the One Who Brings Flowers to Her Grave, by Hala Alabdalla and Ammar Albeek (Syria).
A female filmmaker dreamed 20 years of producing certain films and never got it. Finally, she returns to her home country, Syria, to make her dreams come true in a film, meeting again friends, places and fragments of her past life.
Let Bygones Be Bygones, by Nadia Bouferkas and Mehmet Arikan (Algeria and France).
Forty years after the Algerian Civil War, those who collaborated with the occupation forces live next to those victims of them in a small town. Their stories and glimpses are linked in the past of this village which dwells ignored by the official history.
I loved so much… by Dalila Ennadre (Morocco).
Fadma’s stories, those of a 75 year old woman who in her twenties was a prostitute who offered her services to French Army officers in Morocco. She witnessed the end of the colonial period, what changed her life and destiny.
Kings and extras, by Azza El-Hasan (Palestine and Germany).
The PLO film archive went missing during the Israeli invasion of Beirut in 1982. The female filmmaker decides to follow the trail of the archive, to go back to those places and to the memories concerning that war. She will find forgotten pieces of work and a mysterious film which remained inside a camera for decades.
Our Forbidden Places, by Leila Kilani (Morocco and France).
In 2004 the King of Morocco established the Equity and Reconciliation Commission, an organ created to investigate the victims of the so-called “years of lead”. The film shows some of the victims, relatives of the missing people, volunteers and those who try to fight silence.
Women Talk, by Hala Galal (Egypt and France).
An analysis on the Egyptian women’s liberation movement, which questions those society changes and progress. This retrospective unveils personal stories from three different female generations from the same family.
SPECIAL SESSION FOCUSED ON MAI MASRI
Children of fire, by Mai Masri (Lebanon).
The filmmaker returns to her hometown, Nablus, at the beginning of the first Intifada. It is a depiction of the profile of the children characters in this uprising.
Children of Shatila, by Mai Masri (Lebanon).
Fifty years after their parents and grandparents exiled, Shatila’s children try to move forward facing the reality of being refugees. Issa and Farah bring us together to the creative process experienced by many children who live in a difficult reality.
Beirut Diaries: Truth, Lies and Videos, by Mai Masri (Lebanon).
Following the assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri the so-called “Independence Revolt” broke out. Lebanese people, most of them youngsters, occupied to the streets. What happened? How was this event linked to this people’s past and future? Mai Masri considers these and many other questions, and reflects on them through a young female witness, her feelings, her friends and the people around her.
Showings will be screened in original version with subtitles in Spanish. It will take place at Casa Árabe’s Auditorium in Madrid (c/ Alcalá, 62), at 19.30. Free entrance prior ticket collection –one per person- from 19.00 on.
Film synopsis
I Am the One Who Brings Flowers to Her Grave, by Hala Alabdalla and Ammar Albeek (Syria).
A female filmmaker dreamed 20 years of producing certain films and never got it. Finally, she returns to her home country, Syria, to make her dreams come true in a film, meeting again friends, places and fragments of her past life.
Let Bygones Be Bygones, by Nadia Bouferkas and Mehmet Arikan (Algeria and France).
Forty years after the Algerian Civil War, those who collaborated with the occupation forces live next to those victims of them in a small town. Their stories and glimpses are linked in the past of this village which dwells ignored by the official history.
I loved so much… by Dalila Ennadre (Morocco).
Fadma’s stories, those of a 75 year old woman who in her twenties was a prostitute who offered her services to French Army officers in Morocco. She witnessed the end of the colonial period, what changed her life and destiny.
Kings and extras, by Azza El-Hasan (Palestine and Germany).
The PLO film archive went missing during the Israeli invasion of Beirut in 1982. The female filmmaker decides to follow the trail of the archive, to go back to those places and to the memories concerning that war. She will find forgotten pieces of work and a mysterious film which remained inside a camera for decades.
Our Forbidden Places, by Leila Kilani (Morocco and France).
In 2004 the King of Morocco established the Equity and Reconciliation Commission, an organ created to investigate the victims of the so-called “years of lead”. The film shows some of the victims, relatives of the missing people, volunteers and those who try to fight silence.
Women Talk, by Hala Galal (Egypt and France).
An analysis on the Egyptian women’s liberation movement, which questions those society changes and progress. This retrospective unveils personal stories from three different female generations from the same family.
SPECIAL SESSION FOCUSED ON MAI MASRI
Children of fire, by Mai Masri (Lebanon).
The filmmaker returns to her hometown, Nablus, at the beginning of the first Intifada. It is a depiction of the profile of the children characters in this uprising.
Children of Shatila, by Mai Masri (Lebanon).
Fifty years after their parents and grandparents exiled, Shatila’s children try to move forward facing the reality of being refugees. Issa and Farah bring us together to the creative process experienced by many children who live in a difficult reality.
Beirut Diaries: Truth, Lies and Videos, by Mai Masri (Lebanon).
Following the assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri the so-called “Independence Revolt” broke out. Lebanese people, most of them youngsters, occupied to the streets. What happened? How was this event linked to this people’s past and future? Mai Masri considers these and many other questions, and reflects on them through a young female witness, her feelings, her friends and the people around her.
Films Screenings
| Friday 3rd February | I Am the One Who Brings Flowers to Her Grave |
| Monday 6th February | Let Bygones Be Bygones |
| Friday 10th February | I loved so much… |
| Monday 13th February | Kings and Extras |
| Friday 17th February | Our Forbidden Places |
| Monday 20th February | Women talk |
| Friday 24th February | Mai Masri Special Section: Children of fire and Children of Shatila |
| Monday 27th February | Mai Masri Special Section: Beirut Diaries: Truth, Lies and Videos |
