On the outskirts of Timbuktu, which has fallen into the hands of religious extremists, Kidane lives peacefully in the dunes with his wife Satima, his daughter Toya and Issan, his 12-year-old son. In the city, the local inhabitants are suffering under the regime of repression imposed by the Jihadists. The women have become like shadows who attempt to survive with dignity. Every day, improvised tribunals issue sentences as absurd as they are tragic. 

Cast: Ahmed Ibrahim dit Pino, Toulou Kiki, Abel Jafri, Hichem Yacoubi, Kettly Noël, Fatoumata Diawara

Awards: Oscars: Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film; 7 César Awards, including Best Film and Director; Cannes Film Festival: official section for competing feature films; Chicago Film Festival: Best Director; Satellite Awards: Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.

Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum, with a voice beyond compare, became a symbol of unity amongst Arab countries. This woman of great personality and talent achieved huge successes in music during the 1950’s and 1960’s, and as a popular figure she has become an icon of contemporary Arab culture.

Casa Árabe is showing this documentary on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Umm Kalthum’s death.

Farid, a young Frenchmen aged 26, must go to Algeria to save his father’s home. As a result, he discovers a country where he had never set foot and ends up meeting a whole series of surprising characters whose humor and simplicity will end up changing him profoundly. The film, by the same producers as “Intouchables,” formed part of the official non-competing selection at the Cannes Film Festival.

Cast: Tewfik Jallab, Jamel Debbouze, Fatsah Bouyahmed

Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum, with a voice beyond compare, became a symbol of unity amongst Arab countries. This woman of great personality and talent achieved huge successes in music during the 1950’s and 1960’s, and as a popular figure she has become an icon of contemporary Arab culture.

Casa Árabe is showing this documentary on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Umm Kalthum’s death.

“Two meters of this land would be enough for me,” wrote Palestinian poet Mahmud Darwich. Very close to his grave in Ramallah on a summer’s afternoon, a music festival is being prepared at an open-air theater and will be broadcast on television. In this film about the power of culture, which combines drama and documentary film, the main characters are non-professional actors.

Cast: Noemi Kahn, Raouf Haj-Yahia, Omaima Hamori, Linda Sadi, Samah Amer, Saja Basem, Anas Abu Oun.

Festivals: The film premiered at the FID Marseille 2012 (France) and since then has been screened at many international festivals, including the Cairo International Film Festival of 2012 (Egypt); the Tetouan International Festival of Mediterranean Cinema of 2013 (Morocco) and AFLAM - Rencontres Internationales des Cinémas Arabes of 2013 (France).

Egypt, summer of 2013. As one political power falls and another becomes established, Nehmedo, Hanan and another few women live between the dream of improving their status by marrying men from the Gulf region and their everyday lives marked by poverty, discrimination and violence, in a marginalized village to the south of Giza.

With the participation of: Nehmedo, Hanan, Umm Usa, Shaima, Warda, Mervat, mother of Hanan, maternal grandmother of Hanan, Zeinab.

DOCUMENTARIST Festival, Istanbul, Turkey, 2014; Cines del Sur Festival, Granada, 2014; MITEU, Orense 2014.

On the outskirts of Timbuktu, which has fallen into the hands of religious extremists, Kidane lives peacefully in the dunes with his wife Satima, his daughter Toya and Issan, his 12-year-old son. In the city, the local inhabitants are suffering under the regime of repression imposed by the Jihadists. The women have become like shadows who attempt to survive with dignity. Every day, improvised tribunals issue sentences as absurd as they are tragic. 

Cast: Ahmed Ibrahim dit Pino, Toulou Kiki, Abel Jafri, Hichem Yacoubi, Kettly Noël, Fatoumata Diawara.

Awards: Oscars: Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film; 7 César Awards, including Best Film and Director; Cannes Film Festival: official section for competing feature films; Chicago Film Festival: Best Director; Satellite Awards: Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.

The documentary film “Nights of Insomnia” tells the story of a meeting between two people inevitably marked by the war in Lebanon. With the former director of the Christian militia’s secret services Assad Chaftari, and Maryam Saiidi, mother of a boy kidnapped during the fighting, this documentary takes an in-depth look at the wounds from the conflict and asks whether redemption and forgiveness are possible.

Farid, a young Frenchmen aged 26, must go to Algeria to save his father’s home. As a result, he discovers a country where he had never set foot and ends up meeting a whole series of surprising characters whose humor and simplicity will end up changing him profoundly. The film, by the same producers as “Intouchables,” formed part of the official non-competing selection at the Cannes Film Festival.

Cast: Tewfik Jallab, Jamel Debbouze, Fatsah Bouyahmed