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Hadara Cinema Centre Inside Cairo Opera House Behind Main Hall Zamalek, Cairo. Falaki Theatre El Falaki St. (AUC campus) Downtown, Cairo. Goethe-Institut Cairo 5, El Bustan St. Downtown, Cairo.
2013
Cairo International Womens Film Festival
www.cairowomenfilmfest.com
Introduction
The Cairo International Womens Film Festival, which has come to be known as Among Women Filmmakers, is an independent initiative designed to provide the best films made by women over the past two years. These films, represented at major international festivals are defined by high technical quality and diverse methods of expression. It is the first festival for womens films to be held annually in the Arab world, starting from 2008. Since then, it has been held as the Arab and Latin-American Women Film Festival and has become one of the leaders in womens cinema, not only in Egypt but also in the Arab world. Over the past five years, the festival hasarranged for screening its films in other countries such as Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine, Spain, Bolivia, Argentina, Cuba, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Mexico, El Salvador, Paraguay, Germany and Slovenia. With the festivals success in attracting large numbers of viewers and stimulating exciting cinematic, social and political discussions, there emerged a need to expand. In its sixth session, which will be held from 16 - 22 November, the festival is becoming an international womens film festival, including movies from all over the world. This means twice number of films presented and venues needed for screenings and various sections of the festival, in addition to increasing the number of parallel activities such as video workshop, roundtable and lecture. By inviting some filmmakers to Cairo to attend film-screenings and engage in discussion with the public, the festival is a meeting point and an opportunity for an exchange of experiences between the public and many women filmmakers in the Arab region and the world. The festival presents fiction films, documentaries and animation from more than 20 countries, from Argentina to Romania, from Palestine to India and from Brazil to Algeria. In addition, there is a great diversity in country participation as well as in terms of films presented, visual language and content, there by reflecting the latest cinema trends worldwide. The festival objective is to bring its films to the largest sector of cinema audience. Accordingly, all the films shown are free of charge, open to the public, and translated into Arabic. In appreciation of the role of the Egyptian public in support of the festival over the past years, and in affirmation of our confidence in their assessment of the films shown, the festival offers a 36,000 Egyptian pound one prize for Best Film. The prize will go to the film that gets the largest number of votes cast by the public after watching each film. Finally, we hope that the festival will be a real channel for presenting the best films made by women in the world, and will contribute to raising exciting cinematic and social issues. Amal Ramsis Festival initiator and director
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A young unemployed woman applies to a fortune-telling caf lying that she has experience. While she reads the coffee cups of different women, she also tries to find a way out herself. Divorced, disconnected from her family, about to be thrown out of her flat, she is surrounded with troubles. Her mind is made up: she will escape to America. But how? She needs money, papers and a visa. Through the shapes emerging in coffee cups, she expresses her own frustrations and desires to match those of the customers. Will she be able to get away from present tense and try her luck for the future? Hadara Centre, 20.11.2013, Wednesday, 5 pm
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When Salma reached puberty, her parents locked her away from the world. She spent nine years trapped in one small room. Millions of young girls endure the same sort of fate, but Salma refused to let the long years of imprisonment break her spirit. Using hoarded scrap paper, she managed to smuggle out poems that expressed her hidden anger and pain. The poems scandalized her community but inspired readers all over South India. The film follows Salma as she returns to her village.
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The animated documentary feature-length Crulic The Path to Beyond tells the lifes story of Crulic, the 33 years old Romanian who died in a Polish prison while making hunger strike. The acclaimed Romanian actor, Vlad Ivanov, narrates Crulics ironic voice over from beyond the grave. A strong visual style, the result of beautiful hand drawn, collage, stop-motion and cut-cut animation techniques, blend to create a striking, surprisingly integrated and memorable film.
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A long distance call from a long lost lover makes her reminisce about their common past. She remembers the spring when they met in Paris, the riots, the vespa and the cat named Baby. A film about love, time and things that got lost along the way.
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Set over four days of unrelenting wind and rain in a remote village high up in the Nafpaktia mountains inwesternGreece, the film follows the lives of two shepherd families strugglingforsurvival. Thevillage,forsaken by god and man, has seenbetter days. Paxnis,the seasoned old shepherd with no hope left, had already foreseen the dire straits the country would be facing and is slowly sinking into despair. Giorgos,unable to sell his goats,isweighed down by mounting debtsand drinks to forget. Combining documentary and fiction with an all-local cast, To the Wolf is both the reality and an unsettling allegory ofmodern-dayGreece. Hadara Centre, 20.11.2013, Wednesday, 9 pm
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Elena, a young Brazilian woman, travels to New York with the same dream as her mother, to become a movie actress. She leaves behind her childhood spent in hiding during the years of the military dictatorship. She also leaves Petra, her seven year old sister. Two decades later, Petra also becomes an actress and goes to New York in search of Elena. She only has a few clues about her: home movies, newspaper clippings, a diary and letters. At any moment Petra hopes to find Elena walking in the streets in a silk blouse. Gradually, the features of the two sisters are confused; we no longer know one from the other. When Petra finally finds Elena in an unexpected place, she has to learn to let her go. Hadara Centre, 20.11.2013, Wednesday, 7 pm 11
Saba is caring for her older sisters children after her unexpected death. She is attracted to a school teacher but cannot open her mind to him for the childrens sake. Sabas heart is heavy with the burden of tradition that she might have to accept her brother-in-laws proposal. Sabas conflicted emotions are impressed upon us as vividly as the aching beauty of the landscape and the vast wilderness she lives in.
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This 2011 film tells the story of Sister Fa, a tribal Senegalese singer and activist on the rise. The first successful female rapper in Dakars fiercely competitive hip hop scene, Sister Fa brought womens stories to the hip hop stage. Music and activism share the focus as she tours southern Senegal in 2010, and gets young people talking and singing about an issue - female genital mutilation - that had been completely taboo. Sarabah is a portrait of an artist as activist whose extraordinary resilience, passion and creativity will inspire you.
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One day in the life of Soad, who lives with her mother and bed-ridden father on the outskirts of Cairo. While bright sunlight and the sounds of the city can be made out behind the half-closed shutters, everything in the flat exudes the smell of old age, sickness and stagnation. Her mother works nights in a hospital and has barely any energy to spare during the day. Soad too is no longer young, having resigned herself to caring for her incapacitated father and putting her own life on hold. The camera patiently follows her movements and daily activities that have become routine, capturing her frustration as well as moments of great tenderness. Falaki Theatre, 18.11.2013, Monday, 9 pm
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This Life is the authentic story of the spirit of one family who revolts and insists on individual freedom during World War II. It is the story of how just a few people can make a huge difference - but not without serious consequences.
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900 Days is a documentary about the Blockade of Leningrad during World War II. The film presents an emotional picture of the struggle of some survivors, whose personal memories tend to be overshadowed by the heroic myth held up by the authorities. That myth is in painful contrast with the horrific truth they were forbidden to mention all these years.
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As a film about fertility, Water Children is an ode to womanhood and the body. Filmmaker Aliona van der Horst followed the trail of the unconventionalDutch-Japanese pianist and artist Tomoko Mukaiyama who made a huge work of art on the theme of womanhood and fertility. She created a cathedral-like space out of twelve thousand white silk dresses in which visitors, as in a ritual, roamed around and fell silent. And where people confessed intimate details about children who were or were not born, about sexuality and life-choices. This resulted in a majestic epic about motherhood, miscarriages and menopause. In a visual and poetic way, the film penetrates into what is probably still one of the greatest of taboos, menstruation, and, as a consequence, touches upon universal themes around life and death. Creativity Center, 16.11.2013, Saturday, 7 pm 18
Rosa, a young woman goes to Tokyo to learn from a famous Japanese fish master the art of preparing fish. For this purpose she has to learn and understand what fish is. Living in the Japanese metropolis is like being in water. She can swim, but also drown.
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Seventeen years old Karsu Dnmez - the Dutch answer to Norah Jones -is a talented jazz singer-songwriter, who grew up in a Turkish family in Amsterdam. Full of passion she sings and plays piano in her parents Turkish restaurant.At night, she composes her music in absolute silence. Although her songs seem to reveal a soulful intensity, Karsu denies singing about her private life. Yet bit by bit she draws us into her secret world, which is closely related to Turkish traditions. Growing up with both Turkish and Dutch values Karsu tries to find her own path.
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For someone is an instrument of torture, for others pure seduction. Different point of views, same object. This is the clear proof that heeled-shoes are much more than simple footwear. The documentary shows the heel as a metaphor, to make us think about the world we are walking around.
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A dialogue between two generations. A dialogue to explore the past and the present. The nostalgia of an era that is absent now yet some members of this time still exist. The subject of the film is a feeling. The feeling of loss and disappearance. Of a time that existed and now only the almost invisible remnants exist.
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This is an autobiographical story. The action takes place in the locations of my childhood, to which I always return in my dreams. These are hostile times. I know I must not reveal my true identity to the other kids. Ive been told that my familys safety depends on my silence. Im forced to lie.
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Turtles do not die of old age takes a look at a vanishing generation, shares in the lives of three elderly men from northern Morocco. Hovering around 80 years old, each of the three men: Chehma, a master fisherman; Erradi, a solitary innkeeper; and Abdesslam, a street musician, still works to earn a living. Its a desire to continue living and facing of an approaching death, and their courage to ceaselessly work...despite their age. This is a documentary that ushers us through the universality of life, old age and death. A film anchored in the everyday life of these men, coated with a tender humanity. Creativity Center, 18.11.2013, Monday, 7 pm
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The documentary is about 27 women, members of parliament and senators, who were protagonists of political change during Spains transition towards democracy, because of the parliamentary role which they played during the first constituent term in office in 1977 after the transition to democracy.
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The film is a revelation of the Tantoura Massacre that took place in May 1948 and was only recognized half a century later. The film presents Tantoura as a model for the greater massacre that has been committed by the colonialist and racist Zionist movement with the purpose to ethnically cleanse all Palestinians and establish a Fascist body in the service of imperialism. The film is based on available historical material and on testimonies from Tantoura survivors living in Palestine, Syria and Jordan. It is a two hour long documentary that contains details and proofs of this massacre where the natives of Tantoura, the beautiful village on the Palestinian Mediterranean shore, were its victims. Hadara Centre, 18.11.2013, Monday, 7 pm 27
1974: Lebanon is in intellectual, cultural and political ferment. Between March and April, for 37 days, a few students from the American University of Beirut occupy the universitys premises to protest against rising tuition fees. 2011: in the midst of the Arab Spring, Rania and Raed Rafei decide to step back and reconsider todays situation in the light of that period which was pregnant with hope, but also a prelude to civil war.
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Filmmaker Mercedes Moncada has a Spanish mother and a Nicaraguan father. She lived 18 years in Nicaragua, and as a child, in 1979, witnessed the triumph of the Sandinista revolution. Now, based in Mexico, Mercedes delves into her memories to make this film with Managua Lake as a metaphor of the Central American country. It is a journey through the transformations that the Sandinista movement has undergone and how its revolutionary ideas have led to contradictory trends. It is a highly personal documentary about leaders that betray the spirit of the revolution that overthrew dictator Somoza. Hadara Centre, 17.11.2013, Sunday, 5 pm Falaki Theatre, 20.11.2013, Wednesday, 7 pm
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On an Algerian beach, kids splash about, sleep, squabble - and then suddenly go to war. Narimane Mari films this childish free for- all closely, at the irregular pace of an imagination inspired by the highest form of reality, national History actually, nothing less than the Algerian War of Independence.
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Through the hubbub of a revolution, It was better tomorrow follows Aida, a Tunisian woman who has to rebuild her entire life and who does not wish to look backwards. She spends her time moving from one poor neighborhood to another. Driven by the will to find a roof over her head and for her children, she takes no notice of the historical events taking place around her. Her only goal is to find a way outand she is convinced that the revolution is a blessing. It was better tomorrowshows the atypical journey of this brazen and bold woman in the intense interval of a countrys revolution. Hadara Centre, 17.11.2013, Sunday, 7 pm
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For the first time ever, a camera films in a Spanish Military Academy: life in the Academy, military training and its strict rules. A camera attached to the skin and the gestures of the recruits as they train to fly. Looking at those who will later become only numbers and indistinguishable faces, and will serve in strategic missions. And suddenly a truce: the moment when we board the plane with the trainee pilots. They wanted to become pilots when they were children. They join with the desire to fly and become soldiers. What will they have to renounce to make their dreams come true? Creativity Center, 17.11.2013, Sunday, 9 pm
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Samer lives in Ramallah in the West Bank. His family lives in Gaza, one hour away. They have not seen each other for six years. When Mustafa went for a visit to Gaza in 2006, he was 18 years old. He was never allowed to return his mother Hekmat has been fighting to see him again for seven years. Two families torn apart. They share the same crime: being registered with a Gaza address in their Identity Cards. Under Israeli rule, they are considered infiltrators in their own country.
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In her new film Streets of Memory, a group of foreign students attending a documentary workshop in Buenos Aires is asked to explore one of the most recent and visible ways of publicly representing memory: flagstones on the sidewalks of many neighborhoods in the city with names of men and women who were disappeared during the infamous 19761983- military dictatorship. So they first get to know the people who make the flagstones, that is to say who they are, where they come from, and what their particular stories are. At the same time, the process of making the flagstones is also being registered. Falaki Theatre, 21.11.2013, Thursday, 9 pm
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The documentary Its Only the Beginning follows six Arab cineastes as they meet each other in Berlin. Amal is from Egypt, Dhana a Palestinian living in Lebanon. Soudade comes from Syria and Habiba from Algeria. Marwa is of Sudanese origin and lives in Cairo and Nadia is from Tunisia. In the aftermath of the events widely known as the Arab Spring, they travel to the German capital where have been invited by two mutual friends, the directors of the film, to screen their own work and get together. Its Only the Beginning documents the women as they journey together through the streets of Berlin, exchanging feelings about what they witnessed and about how both their lives and their work as filmmakers were impacted during this most convulsive period. Hadara Centre, 21.11.2013, Thursday, 9 pm 36
Director: Nabiha Lotfi / Production: National Centre for Cinema Arabic language/with English subtitle
A tour around one of the oldest streets in Cairo, Mohamed Ali Street, where we witness all the changes in daily life in Cairo through the last century. Creativity Center, 18.11.2013, Monday, 5 pm
Director: Nabiha Lotfi / Production: National Centre for Cinema Arabic language/with English subtitle
In a small village in north Egypt, Nabihas camera observes the kids imagination in creating their games and their ways to take advantage of what little the village has to offer. Creativity Center, 17.11.2013, Sunday, 7 pm
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