Two Arab films to premiere at International Critics’ Week in Cannes
Two Arab films to premiere at International Critics’ Week in Cannes /node/1873231/lifestyle
Two Arab films to premiere at International Critics’ Week in Cannes
Egyptian director Omar El-Zohairy’s film “Feathers” tells the story of a mother who dedicates her life to her husband and children. (semainedelacritique.com)
Two Arab films to premiere at International Critics’ Week in Cannes
Updated 09 June 2021
Arab News
DUBAI: Two Arab films have been selected to premiere at International Critics’ Week, set to take place alongside the Cannes Film Festival in July.
Egyptian director Omar El-Zohairy’s film “Feathers” tells the story of a mother who dedicates her life to her husband and children.
When a magic trick goes wrong at her four-year-old son’s birthday party, an avalanche of coincidental absurdities befalls the family. The magician turns her husband, the authoritarian father, into a chicken.
The mother is now forced to come to the fore and take care of the family while trying to bring her husband back. As she tries to survive, she goes through a rough transformation.
When a magic trick goes wrong at her four-year-old son’s birthday party, an avalanche of coincidental absurdities befalls the family. (semainedelacritique.com)
Zohairy’s first short film, “Breathe Out (Zafir),” premiered at the 8th Dubai International Film Festival and won the Muhr Special Jury Prize for Short Films.
His second short film, “The Aftermath of the Inauguration of the Public Toilet at Kilometre 375,” was the first Egyptian film to be selected for the Cinéfondation competition at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, the film went on to win several awards around the world.
The second film selected to compete at the event, which will run from July 7-15, is Tunisian-French filmmaker Leyla Bouzid’s “Une histoire d’amour et de désir” (“A Tale of Love and Desire”).
The second film selected to compete at the event is Tunisian-French filmmaker Leyla Bouzid’s “Une histoire d’amour et de désir.” (semainedelacritique.com)
The film’s story revolves around Ahmed, an 18-year-old, who is French but of Algerian origin and grew up in the suburbs of Paris.
At university, he meets Farah, a young joyful Tunisian girl, who has just arrived in Paris. While discovering a collection of sensual and erotic Arab literature he never could have imagined existed, Ahmed falls in love with Farah.
This film is Bouzid's second feature film. In 2015, she premiered her first feature movie “As I Open My Eyes,” which was awarded at the Venice Film Festival before being screening at festivals around the world.
Paul Weller, Primal Scream and Annie Mac back Kneecap amid political backlash over pro-Palestine message
Updated 59 sec ago
Arab News
DUBAI: English singer Paul Weller, Scottish rock band Primal Scream and Irish host and DJ Annie Mac voiced their support this week for Irish rap group Kneecap, who recently came under fire for displaying a “Free Palestine” message during their performance at the Coachella festival in the US.
The artists joined over 40 others in signing an open letter organized by Kneecap’s record label, Heavenly Recordings, which condemns what it describes as a deliberate attempt to suppress the group’s voice and remove them from public platforms.
The backlash against Kneecap intensified after videos from past performances resurfaced — one from a November 2023 concert in London that appeared to show a member expressing support for Hamas and Hezbollah, and another in which a group member is seen shouting: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.”
British politician Kemi Badenoch, who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Conservative Party since November 2024, has since called for legal action to be taken against the group.
Meanwhile, Glastonbury Festival is facing calls to withdraw Kneecap from its upcoming lineup, and several scheduled performances, including one at the Eden Project in Cornwall, have been cancelled.
In an open letter, Kneecap’s label, Heavenly Recordings, claimed the group was facing a deliberate and coordinated effort to silence them and remove their presence from the music scene.
The letter reads: “As artists, we feel the need to register our opposition to any political repression of artistic freedom.”
“In a democracy, no political figures or political parties should have the right to dictate who does and does not play at music festivals or gigs that will be enjoyed by thousands of people.”
“Kneecap are not the story. Gaza is the story. Genocide is the story,” it says. “And the silence, acquiescence and support of those crimes against humanity by the elected British Government is the real story.”
“Solidarity with all artists with the moral courage to speak out against Israeli war crimes, and the ongoing persecution and slaughter of the Palestinian people,” the letter added.
Pakistani truck art elevates heavy transport into mobile masterpieces
Roots of Pakistani truck art go back to British colonial rule, when owners began adorning their vehicles
Trucks also bear poetry, religious messages and personal slogans, reflecting drivers’ aspirations and humor
Updated 41 min 34 sec ago
AP
RAWALPINDI: Trucks thunder along Pakistan’s dusty highways and through bustling city streets, like rolling canvases ablaze with color and poetry, transforming heavy transport into mobile masterpieces and offering a window into the country’s folk culture.
The roots of Pakistani truck art go back to British colonial rule, when owners began adorning their vehicles with intricate floral patterns, calligraphy, and cultural motifs.
Various household decorative items painted in truck art patterns are displayed for sale at a shop in Islamabad, Pakistan, on April 22, 2025. (AP)
What started as modest embellishments has evolved into artistry. Painters, welders, electricians, and metalworkers collaborate to elevate commercial trucks into personalized symbols of pride and regional identity.
There are camel bone inlays in Balochistan, intricate wood carvings in Peshawar, and disco-inspired detail in Rawalpindi.
Muhammad Ashfaq, a 55-year-old from Rawalpindi, has been painting trucks for over four decades.
Artisan Muhammad Ashfaq, 55, sits for a portrait at his workshop in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on April 27, 2025. (AP)
“Each client comes with their own vision and budget,” said Ashfaq. “We ask which style they prefer: Peshawar, Hazara, Swat, Pindi, Mandi Bahauddin, or Karachi.”
Pindi style is considered the most flamboyant, characterized by vivid colors, elaborate stickers, mirror work, and dense layering of design elements.
“Pindi style is like a bride getting ready for her wedding,” says Farrukh Sana, a truck driver who recently upgraded his vehicle with the vibrant design. “We feel happy when people admire our truck. It’s a symbol of hard work and beauty.”
A worker fixes the side mirror of a newly refurbished decorated truck at a yard for workshops in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on April 21, 2025. (AP)
Styles vary according to cost and components, as well as color and complexity.
A full refurbishment of a truck can cost between 2 to 5 million rupees (about $7,000 to $17,790), depending on the materials used and if major elements like the tires and the chassis are replaced.
Driver Farrukh Sana checks items inside the cabin of a newly refurbished truck painted with traditional artwork at a yard for workshops in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on April 21, 2025. (AP)
But, beyond mere decoration, the trucks also bear poetry, religious messages, and personal slogans, reflecting the aspirations, humor, and emotions of their drivers.
Truck art has transcended cargo vehicles, finding its way onto rickshaws, buses, and even household decor.
An artisan makes traditional patterns with colorful stickers used to decorate trucks at a yard for workshops in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on April 19, 2025. (AP)
It first caught global attention in the 1970s, when foreign tourists started photographing the unusually bright vehicles. Since then, truck art has inspired international exhibitions and influenced contemporary fashion and product design.
The distinctly South Asian tradition endures despite Pakistan’s economic hardships. Artisans like Ashfaq remain devoted to the craft, while drivers like Sana view their trucks as more than a livelihood. They are seen as roving cultural ambassadors.
Driver Farrukh Sana looks out from the window of a newly refurbished truck at a yard for workshops in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on April 19, 2025. (AP)
“Every driver dreams of making his truck look unique,” Sana says with pride. “When we drive it out and people turn their heads, we know we’ve created something special.”
Syrian artists explore themes of forgiveness in Damascus exhibition
‘The Path’ is a group show that curator Marwan Tayara says is ‘about healing’
Updated 33 min 44 sec ago
ROBERT BOCIAGA
DAMASCUS: In a city battered by years of conflict, a quiet revolution was unfolding earlier this month inside an unfinished concrete shell.
“The Path,” a two-week exhibition curated by the Madad Art Foundation and staged in the once-abandoned skeletal Massar Rose Building in Damascus, confronted Syria’s pain, but, curator Marwan Tayara stressed: “This is not about politics. It’s about healing.”
Tayara — who co-founded Madad alongside the late Buthayna Ali, a fine arts professor whose vision of a show on forgiveness inspired “The Path” — continued: “For us, the artist is a patriot. The bakery feeds the body, and art feeds the soul. The soldier fights for his country, and so does the artist — but with ideas, with beauty.”
Lamia Saida pictured with her installation 'To Memory, Once More.' (Robert Bociaga)
Ali, who died in September, had envisioned a show that would offer something softer than some of Madad’s previous exhibitions around topics including war and disaster. “She wanted to make an exhibition about forgiveness but never had the chance,” artist Rala Tarabishi told Arab News. “We decided to do it as a gift for her — and for Syria.”
Even the venue was part of the show’s message. “This is a construction site,” said Tayara. “It’s symbolic. Syria is unfinished. But we’re building. Art has to be part of that process — not just rebuilding walls, but rebuilding identity.”
Tarabishi’s installation, “Embed,” was a forest of resin swords frozen mid-fall, through which visitors could walk. “When I embed my sword into the earth during a fight, I’m putting an end to it — in the most peaceful way,” she said. But none of the swords in “Embed” had yet reached that point. “The closer the sword is to the ground, the closer I am to forgetting, or forgiving,” Tarabishi explained. “Some things are harder to let go of.”
Visitors to 'The Path' in front of Dalaa Jalanbo’s 'Accumulation.' (Robert Bociaga)
For viewers, she hoped, it would be “as if the swords are memories or people who caused them pain. I wanted them to lean more into forgiveness, so they could live a more peaceful life.”
But for Tarabishi, forgiveness is anything but simple. “It’s very hard. Some things feel too big for us to truly forgive, so we just coexist with our pain instead.”
Eyad Dayoub’s installation, “Crossing,” was equally visceral. Suspended black and red wires hung like fishing nets. “Each level represents a period in Syria — full of darkness and blood,” Dayoub said. “The material looks like something that traps fish. I feel like I’ve been hunted by my country. I’m stuck — I can’t leave it, and I can’t love it either.”
Visitors to 'The Path' in front of Dalaa Jalanbo’s 'Accumulation.' (Robert Bociaga)
Creating the piece was part-therapy, part-confrontation. “Our dreams were lost. But I’m trying to find love again between me and my country,” he continued, adding that some visitors wept when he explained the symbolism of the piece. “People are ready to feel again. After war, we became numb. But I see us becoming sensitive again.”
If Dayoub’s wires evoked entrapment, Judi Chakhachirou’s work addressed instability. Her installation featured a trembling platform — a metaphor for emotional imbalance. “When someone hasn’t forgiven you — or you haven’t forgiven them — you feel unstable. You don’t know what’s wrong, but you’re not OK,” she said.
Her piece was a message to the living: “Take your chances now. Don’t leave people in your life hurt. Forgive — or at least try. Because one day, it’ll be too late.”
Rala Tarabishi in front of her installation 'Embed.' (Robert Bociaga)
The war has buried so much in silence, she added, that emotions — even tears — feel like progress. “Some people cried when they saw it. Others said it made them feel calm, like they finally understood what was bothering them,” she said. “I hope my next work will be more hopeful.”
For Mariam Al-Fawal, forgiveness is less emotional and more philosophical. Her interactive installation, “A Delicate Balance,” draws on Karl Popper’s formulation of the paradox of tolerance. Visitors can rearrange its colored puzzle pieces on wooden stands to construct a final, diverse pattern.
“If you tolerate all ideologies — including the intolerant — you destroy tolerance itself,” Al-Fawal explained. “Without exclusion, there can be no true inclusion. To see the full picture, you have to flip the pieces, adjust them. That’s how people work too. You can’t have one color, one shape; you have to embrace difference.”
Mariam Al-Fawal with her interactive installation 'A Delicate Balance.' (Robert Bociaga)
Al-Fawal’s puzzle asks viewers to build balance. “People interacted with it differently,” she said, “But most walked away with a shifted perspective. That’s why I made it interactive: the process carries the message.”
Lamia Saida contributed “To Memory, Once More,” which consisted of a set of blood-red, burned and shredded canvases suspended like raw meat.
“I thought if I wanted to express these memories visually, it had to be meat,” she explained. “That’s what they feel like. That’s why they hang. That’s why they bleed.”
Massar Rose Building in Damascus, Syria. (Robert Bociaga)
Syria’s trauma, for Saida, is not abstract —it is textured, fleshy, and inescapable. And yet, through art, it is manageable. “Art is more than therapy,” she continued. “When I make something honest, I feel like I forgive people. I find stability.”
Her final painting is a single, steady line. “It’s the calm I reached after expressing everything else,” she said.
More than 400 visitors visited the exhibition daily, according to the organizers. Some brought questions. Some brought grief. Others brought quiet. “Even political officials came,” Tayara said. “Not to control. Just to understand.”
What started as a tribute to a beloved teacher has become a mirror for the country. “All Syrians have this memory of grief,” said Tarabishi. “Whether from war or daily life — it’s what binds us.”
Madad hopes to bring “The Path” to other cities too.
“We believe in the power of art,” said Tayara. “It won’t rebuild Syria alone. But it might rebuild the spirit. That’s where everything begins.”
Marvel’s misfit superheroes find community in ‘Thunderbolts*’
Stars Florence Pugh and David Harbour discuss the latest Marvel movie
Updated 01 May 2025
Shyama Krishna Kumar
DUBAI: In the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe movie “Thunderbolts*,” directed by Jake Schreier, the focus isn’t just on larger-than-life action; it’s on the messy, complicated relationships between a team of misfits learning to trust each other.
For stars David Harbour and Florence Pugh, that emotional core was the most important part of the process.
“For me, most of the preparation was about really fleshing out these character arcs,” Harbour, who plays Soviet super soldier Red Guardian, told Arab News. “This movie sinks or swims not on its IP, but on its really complex relationships between these characters that you don’t know that much about. Our job was to infuse it with a lot of heart, humor, life and soul.”
Pugh — who made her MCU debut in 2021’s “Black Widow” as the trained assassin Yelena Belova and is now headlining her first MCU movie — echoed that sentiment.
“There was so much heart and pain already there,” she said. “When you’re playing large characters, you have to find ways to make it feel authentic, especially when you’re dealing with accents or heavy dialogue. A lot of our rehearsal process was about finding cleaner ways to get to the point — rewriting a few lines, making sure the characters said exactly what they needed to say to one another.”
Florence Pugh and director Jake Schreier on set. (Supplied)
The cast spent two weeks in rehearsals, crafting scenes that highlighted the tangled emotions between their characters. “It was great fun, especially when you have a director who really wants you to be fully involved and make it your own,” Pugh said.
The film follows a motley crew of anti-heroes — Yelena, Red Guardian, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), Robert “Bob” Reynolds (Lewis Pullman), and Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) — who must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts as they take down a common enemy.
Beyond individual dynamics, the movie taps into deeper themes of isolation and the need for connection — what Harbour describes as the “epidemic of loneliness” in the modern world.
“When these characters first come together, there’s a lot of lying about how they’re doing, a lot of pretending,” Harbour said. “People are afraid. They’re isolated. We feel connected because of these devices we carry, but they don’t really provide the sustenance we need as human beings.”
Pugh elaborated on that point. “We’ve reached a point where so many people have so many insecurities, and they feel like they’re not right, and they feel like they’re not getting it right, and (what they see on social media) is making them feel like their life isn’t as beautiful or as colorful or as perfect as those posts,” she said. “And I think when we watch characters that have these immense flaws also trying to figure it out, it helps. Of course it helps.”
Harbour believes the film captures the essence of personal salvation: finding strength in community.
(From left) David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, Wyatt Russell and Florence Pugh in 'Thunderbolts'. (Supplied)
“I worry about that phrase ‘We have to save ourselves,’ because I actually think it’s that we have to save each other,” he said. “We have to not sit there alone going, like, ‘I gotta do something.’ I feel like that’s the anxiety that’s killing us. The vulnerability of, like, ‘Maybe I ask someone,’ or ‘I find a group of people who are willing to take me as I am and to see the good in me.’ That’s one of the most beautiful moments in this movie.”
Schreier, director of the acclaimed 2023 comedy-drama series “Beef,” said Marvel president Kevin Fiege encouraged him to take a different approach to this particular superhero story.
“One of the real lessons of ‘Beef’ was that stories about something that feels smaller, or about emptiness, are no longer niche. They are actually universal. I think everyone goes through some version of that at some point in their lives, maybe to different degrees. But it isn’t small to tell a story like that. And so, this was a chance — on the biggest level — to see if a story like that could resonate at scale. That felt like a really wonderful opportunity.”
Kef Hayyak? Seeing Saudi neighborhoods through the eyes of emerging filmmakers
Updated 30 April 2025
Afshan Aziz
JEDDAH: Eighteen aspiring filmmakers have taken to the streets of their neighborhoods armed with nothing but their phones and a vision for the grassroots documentary challenge, “Kef Hayyak?”
The project, initiated by Art Jameel in collaboration with the Red Sea International Film Festival, invited participants to reflect the spirit of their communities in short documentaries.
Months after the February 2025 open call, the winners have been announced, and their films will premiere as part of the Red Sea Documentary Days this May at Hayy Cinema.
The program, which began as a concept in 2021 and has since grown into an annual platform, continues to break down barriers in filmmaking by expanding access to wider creative communities across Saudi Arabia. For the first time, the 2025 event also welcomed participants from Makkah, with one of the city’s filmmakers making it to the jury-selected top three.
The initiative culminates in a public screening at Hayy Cinema, featuring the three jury-selected winners — Eyad Al-Zahrani’s “Between,” Asia Lajam & Nad’s “A World Between Buildings,” and Alisha Khan’s “Nam Ghar, Jeddah” — alongside two audience favorites, “Hay Alakaber” by Amal Al-Zahrani and Othoub Al-Bedaiwi, and “From the Olives to the Sea” by Haya Al-Bhaisi and Mohammed Khalid.
A jury, comprising head of Hayy Cinema, Zohra Ait El-Jamar, director and actress, Fatima Al-Banawi, and director and actress, Ophelie Legris — evaluated the films based on creativity, relevance and narrative strength.
El-Jamar told Arab News: “‘Kef Hayyak?’ draws its essence from the name of Hayy Jameel and reflects our ongoing mission to connect with new audiences in meaningful ways. The project was first imagined in 2021, and after the success of its first edition, it has grown into an annual platform that empowers emerging filmmakers.
“Through this short documentary film competition, we invite aspiring talents to explore their neighborhoods using just their phones. I created the concept with the vision of breaking down barriers in filmmaking and expanding access to a wider creative community. It’s also a powerful way to document the ever-changing urban fabric of Jeddah — and now Makkah.
“We see this as a powerful launchpad for emerging talent, and we’re actively working to expand the program with deeper mentorship and professional opportunities in the years to come,” she added.
Audience Choice Award winner, Al-Zahrani, who hails from Makkah, said: “The movie covers a neighborhood that lacks identity and how it affects me and the residents in our day-to-day lives. Winning was such a heartwarming experience, seeing my work acknowledged and the story of my people and neighborhood embraced and loved. I plan to keep improving my documentary skills and hope to release a movie about a lawyer later this year.”
Khan’s winning documentary explores the Musrefah neighborhood of Jeddah and its vibrant Desi (Pakistani and Indian) community.
“My film ‘Naam Ghar, Jeddah’ is a documentary film which acts as a time capsule for me to look back on not only my neighborhood but the people living in it, especially the often-overlooked Desi community in Jeddah, where even the people themselves think the outer world is not interested in them,” Khan said.
“It aims to explore their dreams, identities and quiet resilience through simple, human questions, like what is your favorite color or what gives you happiness.”
Khan believes in the power of cinema to humanize and connect communities, emphasizing how platforms such as Hayy Jameel empower storytellers like herself. Her goal is to keep documenting life in Jeddah, capturing its present for future generations.
Al-Bhaisi told Arab News: “‘From the Olives to the Sea’ is a short documentary that explores the contrast and emotional connection between two places — Jeddah, where I feel a deep sense of belonging, and Gaza, the place I’m originally from but never fully connected with.
“Winning the Audience Choice Award honestly means the world to us. It shows that people connected with our story, and that’s all we ever wanted — to be heard, and to make others feel something real.”
