Cinema
All topics-
Hollywoodʹs flirtation with 1001 Nights
The Aladdin controversy
Currently a worldwide blockbuster, the latest Aladdin movie hoped to do a better job of the story than the 1992 animated Disney film, which features a number of racist stereotypes when viewed through todayʹs lens. Is this likely in view of the Aladdin storyʹs dubious origins? Stefan Weidner provides some background
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Interview with filmmaker Mariam Ghani
The power of propaganda
In "What We Left Unfinished", Afghan-Lebanese-American filmmaker Mariam Ghani discusses the forgotten era of Afghan Communism and its ties to arts, culture and propaganda. Interview by Emran Feroz
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Remembering victim Hatun Surucu
"A Regular Woman" – the story of an honour killing
Feature film "A Regular Woman" by director Sherry Hormann tells the true story of Hatun Aynur Surucu, shot was dead in 2005 by her own brother to "protect the family honour". The haunting work gives a voice to the victim. By Ceyda Nurtsch
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Nabil Ayouchʹs "Razzia"
Soaked in sorrow
With his new film "Razzia", the French-Moroccan filmmaker Nabil Ayouch has once again turned to social criticism. Yet, his multi-perspective narrative about five misfortunate Moroccans never really takes off. By Schayan Riaz
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Tunisian film "Dachra"
Horror meets black magic
Long queues outside the cinemas and tickets like gold dust. Tunisiaʹs first horror film "Dachra" is currently smashing box-office records across the country. By Sarah Mersch
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Egyptian film-maker Youssef Chahine
The great visionary of Arab cinema
Obsessive, argumentative, yet well ahead his time artistically and in terms of the subject matter his films addressed: 11 years after his death director Youssef Chahine remains a lodestar for the emerging Arab independent film scene. Christopher Resch explains why
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Interview with Lebanese film director Nadine Labaki
"Children are the first to pay for our wars"
In "Capernaum", Nadine Labaki tells the dismal story of Zain, a boy living on the streets of Beirut. She calls the system behind it "modern slavery". Paul Katzenberger spoke to the Lebanese director
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Berlinale 2019: Hassan Faziliʹs "Midnight Traveler"
That our voices wonʹt be silenced
Threatened with death by the Taliban, director Hassan Fazili fled to Europe with his family, filming their odyssey on his mobile phone. Itʹs not the first time that the refugee trek to Europe has been documented, yet the result is a film that not only serves as a political chronicle of our time, but is also a work of art. By Rene Wildangel
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Berlinale 2019: Marwa Zein's "Khartoum Offside"
Football, film and freedom in Sudan
Marwa Zein has made an impressive documentary about the Sudanese women's football team, if only the national football association would recognise it as such. The players are neither allowed to represent their country at international level nor set up a domestic women's football league. By Rene Wildangel
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Berlinale 2019: "Born in Evin"
Confronting a very personal trauma
When Ayatollah Khomeini came to power in Iran in 1979, he persecuted his opponents with severity. Maryam Zaree was born in a prison for political prisoners. With her film "Born in Evin" she breaks her silence. By Laura Doing
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Berlinale 2019: "Fortschritt im Tal der Ahnungslosen"
Questing for a lost homeland
In the "Valley of the Clueless" in Saxony, where Arab contract workers were once employed alongside GDR factory workers, East Germans and refugees meet for a peculiar trip down memory lane. Rene Wildangel reports from this year's Berlinale
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Mohamed Ben Attiaʹs "Dear Son"
O Sami, my son, my son
Of the many books, plays and films inspired by the story of the Islamic State movement, "Dear Son" by Tunisian director Mohamed Ben Attia offers something different. Far from the drama of the battlefield, he focuses on the anguish of the family that the fighter leaves behind. By Schayan Riaz