CINEMAS 2021

Hind Mezaina

Hind Mezaina is an artist, writer and an independent film programmer. She has curated film screenings across the UAE, including Louvre Abu Dhabi, Sharjah Art Foundation, The Africa Institute, The Theatre. She is also the founder of The Culturist blog (launched in 2009) and the co-founder of Tea with Culture podcast (launched in 2015)

DAY 1: A CELEBRATION OF PALESTINIAN INDEPENDENT CINEMA

Sunday, June 20
Rating: PG-15

GAZA MON AMOUR

Showtimes: 7:00 pm & 9:00 pm
Language: Arabic with English subtitles

DIRECTOR: Tarzan Nasser, Arab Nasser

France, Palestine, Germany, Portugal, Qatar, 2020, 87 min, Drama

Sixty-year-old fisherman Issa is secretly in love with Siham, a woman who works as a dressmaker at the market.

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DAY 2: CITY DREAMS

Monday, June 21
Rating: PG-15

ARAB BLUES (UN DIVAN À TUNIS)

UAE Premiere

Showtimes: 7:00 pm
Language: French with English subtitles

DIRECTOR: MANELE LABIDI

France, 2019, 90 min, Comedy

Selma, a psychotherapist who, after living in Paris for most of her life, decides to return to her hometown in Tunisia to set up a new practice.

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Rating: PG-13

DREAMS OF THE CITY

(AHLAM AL- MEDINA)

Showtimes: 9:00 pm
Language: Arabic with English subtitles

DIRECTOR: Mohamad Malas

Syria, 1984, 130 min

Dib grows up against a backdrop of the political upheavals of the 1950s (the end of the military dictatorship in Syria and the nationalization of the Suez Canal, Nasser’s taking of power in Cairo, Egyptian and Syrian unification in 1958) and loses his childish illusions in the face of such violence and brutality.

DAY 3: FILM ESSAYS & HISTORYTHROUGH CINEMA

Tuesday, June 22
Rating: PG

MONOGRAPHS: MOTIFS Commissioned and presented by Asian Film Archive

UAE Premiere

Showtimes: 7:00 pm

Commissioned and presented by the Asian Film Archive, Monographs is a series of video essays, conceived as a platform to discourse upon the moving image within the context of Asia. Originated as a response to the uncertainties of the pandemic, and created during various states of isolation and solitude, these diverse works draw upon histories and archives, revealing new vistas of inquiry; ruminations that evince the filmmakers’ deep connections with cinema, society and the self.Total duration 89 min

GHOST LIKE US
Riar Rizaldi, 2020, 20 min, Bahasa Indonesia & English, with English subtitles

DEATH OF SOLDIER
Truong Minh Quý, 2020, 14 min, Vietnamese with English subtitles

BRAVE REVOLUTIONARY REDUBBED
Kush Badhwar & Renu Savan, 2020, 20 min, English & Hindi with English subtitles

IRANI BAG
Maryam Tafakory, 7 min, No dialogue, English subtitles

SAVED BY THE PARTY-STATE
Maja Korbecka, 15 min, Mandarin & English with English subtitles

HER FIVE LIVES
Saodat Ismailova, 13 min, No dialogue

Rating: PG-13

CANE FIRE

UAE Premiere

Showtimes: 9:00 pm
Language: Hawaiian with English subtitles

DIRECTOR: ANTHONY BANUA-SIMON

USA, 2020, 90 min, English, Pidgenglish, Documentary

Examining the past and present of the Hawaiian island of Kauaʻi, interweaving four generations of family history, numerous Hollywood productions, and troves of found footage to create a kaleidoscopic portrait of the economic and cultural forces that have cast indigenous and working-class residents

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Post screening discussion:With David C. Kang about the film and its wider context. David C Kang is a writer, strategist, content creator and producer/director. He is also the executor of a rare collection of VHS and DVD titles that once comprised the inventory of a New York video store, with plans to create both a digital archive and a mobile installation about the birth of independent cinema and the end of the DVD era. Moderated by Hind Mezaina

DAY 4: FOUND FOOTAGE, HOME MOVIES AND SOCIAL HISTORIES

Wednesday, June 23
Rating: PG

MY MEXICAN BRETZEL

UAE Premiere

Showtimes: 7:00 pm
Language: English

DIRECTOR: Nuria Giménez

Spain, 2019, 72 min, Docufiction

The painstakingly edited home movies accompany Vivian's thoughts and observations, and more abstract visual material represents her fears, secret desires and tormenting dreams.

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Rating: PG

THE FORBIDDEN REEL (L’HISTOIRE INTERDITE)

UAE Premiere

Showtimes: 9:00 pm
Language:Pashtu with English subtitles

DIRECTOR: Ariel Nasr

Canada, 2019, 119 min, Documentary

Heroic filmmakers risk their lives to save the destruction of reels in Afghanistan

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DAY 5: TRAILBLAZING WOMEN IN MUSIC

Thursday, June 24
Rating: PG-15

SHUT UP SONA

UAE Premiere

Showtimes: 7:00 pm
Language: English, Hindi with English subtitles

DIRECTOR: Deepti Gupta

India, 2019, 84 min, Documentary

Indian singer Sona Mohapatra uses her powerful voice not only to entertain, but to speak out against Indian music industry practices.

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Rating: PG

SISTERS WITH TRANSISTORS

UAE Premiere

Showtimes: 9:00 pm
Language:English

DIRECTOR: Lisa Rovner

United Kingdom, 2020, 85 min, Documentary

Narrated by legendary multimedia artist Laurie Anderson, Lisa Rovner’s superb Sisters with Transistors showcases the music of and rare interviews with female electronic pioneers.

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Post screening discussion:
With Megatronic, a culture producer, DJ and a music enthusiast specialising in conversations and musical trends from around the world. Moderated by Hind Mezaina

DAY 6: CITIES AND PEOPLE

Friday, June 25
Rating: PG

TOKYO RIDE

UAE Premiere

Showtimes: 2:00 pm
Language: English, Japanese with English subtitles

DIRECTOR: Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine

France, Japan, 2020, 90 min, Documentary

Revisiting the genre of the road movie in a very personal way, the film takes us on board of the architect Ryue Nishizawa's vintage Alfa Romeo for a day long wandering in the streets of Tokyo.

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Rating: PG-13

NASIR

UAE Premiere

Showtimes: 5:00 pm
Language:Tamil with English subtitles

DIRECTOR: Arun Karthick

India, Netherlands, Singapore, 2020, 78 min, Drama

As Nasir's day unfolds, we find him to be a nimble romantic, marshaling a love of song, children, friendship, and even God to rise into something resembling a life well lived.

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Post screening discussion:
With Surabhi Sharma, a filmmaker based in Abu Dhabi and Mumbai. Her documentaries, fiction, and video installations engage with cities in transition using the lens of labor, music, and migration. She is currently teaching in the Film and new Media Programme at New York University Abu Dhabi. Moderated by Hind Mezaina

Rating: PG

GHOST TROPIC

UAE Premiere

Showtimes: 7:00 pm
Language:French with English subtitles

DIRECTOR: Bas Devos

Belgium, 2019, 85 min, Drama, French

After a long day at work, 58-year-old Khadija falls asleep on the last train. When she wakes up, she has no choice but to make her way home on foot.

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Rating: PG-13

GHOSTS (HAYALETLER)

UAE Premiere

Showtimes: 9:00 pm
Language:Turkish with English subtitles

DIRECTOR: Azra Deniz Okyay

Turkey, France, Qatar, 2020, 90 min, Drama

In the near future, Turkey is suffering an nationwide power outage. Four individuals mirror the multiple aspects of a disoriented country on the verge of a flare-up.

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DAY 7: UNKNOWN FEMALE HISTORIES

Saturday, June 26
Rating: PG

BEYOND THE VISIBLE - HILMA AF KLINT

UAE Premiere

Showtimes: 2:00 pm
Language: English, German, Swedish with English subtitles

DIRECTOR: Halina Dyrschka

Germany, 2019, 93 min, Documentary

The subject of a recent smash retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum, af Klint was for years an all-but-forgotten figure in art historical discourse, before her long-delayed rediscovery.

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Rating: PG

HER SOCIALIST SMILE

UAE Premiere

Showtimes: 5:00 pm
Language:English

DIRECTOR: John Gianvito

USA, 2020, 93 min, Documentary

In his new film, John Gianvito meditates on a particular moment in early 20th-century history: when Helen Keller began speaking out passionately on behalf of progressive causes.

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HOMAGE TO CLASSIC ARAB CINEMA

Rating: PG

UNLOCKING DOORS OF CINEMA

UAE Premiere

Showtimes: 7:00 pm
Language:Arabic with English subtitles

DIRECTOR: Nezar Andary

Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, 2019, 61 min, Documentary

The film explores the fifty years of artistic contribution of the daring Syrian author Mohammad Malas.

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Post screening Q&A:
With the director, Nezar Andary, about the making of the film. Nezar Andary has taught cinema and the humanities, is the the Artistic Director of Al Sidr Environmental Film Festival in Abu Dhabi. He is also an accomplished writer, as the co-editor for Palgrave MacMillan book series ‘Focus on Arab Cinema’, he has over six books, the first written by Andary ‘Cinema of Muhammad Malas: Vision of a Syria Auteur’. Moderated by Hind Mezaina

Rating: PG-13

THE DREAM (AL-MANAM)

UAE Premiere

Showtimes: 9:00 pm
Language:Arabic with English subtitles

DIRECTOR: Mohamad Malas

Syria 1987, 45 min

Shot in 1980-81, the film is composed of interviews with different Palestinian refugees including children, women, old people, and militants from the refugee camps of Sabra, Shatila, Bourj el-Barajneh, Ain al-Hilweh and Rashidieh in Lebanon. In the interviews Mohamad Malas questions them about their dreams at night. The dreams always converge on Palestine: a woman recounts her dreams about winning the war; a fedai of bombardment and martyrdom; and one man tells of a dream where he meets and is ignored by Gulf emirs. During filming Malas lived in the camps and conducted interviews with more than 400 people. In 1982 the Sabra and Shatila massacres occurred, taking the lives of several people he interviewed, and he stopped working on the project. He returned to it in 1986 and edited the many hours of footage gathered into this 45 minute film, released in 1987.