May 2023 will see the UK release of two films by Arab women directors, Myriam Touzani’s festival hit The Blue Caftan and Erige Sehiri’s Tunisian-set, Directors’ Fortnight entry Under The Fig Trees.
To celebrate these releases, we’ve collated recent key feature films made by Arab women directors that, together, offer a rich and diverse introduction to filmmaking from the region. We picked films that tell everyday, very human stories, away from sensationalist and reductionist portrayals too often offered up by depictions of the Arab world. These films together will form our latest season:
Mukhrijat: Arab Women Filmmakers. The films will be complemented by introductions, Q&As and events.
We will kickstart the season with a screening of contemporary shorts and a panel discussion about filmmaking in the region. The audience will have a chance to mingle with filmmakers and speakers in the bar afterwards.
After this, we travel across the Near and Middle East, to Lebanon with Cannes Jury Prize winner Capernaum by Nadine Labaki, who found fame with the beauty salon drama Caramel. Labaki’s compatriot Joana Hadjitomas is a renowned visual artist. Her film Memory Box, made with long-term partner Khalil Joreige, which tackles the troubled legacy of 1980s Lebanon, was a critical hit. Onto Egypt, where Ayten Amin’s Souad examines how three people’s lives become entangled through an exploration of social media identities.
Next stop, Palestine, where one of the most well-known Arab women filmmakers is Palestinian Annemarie Jacir, whose highly praised estranged father and son savage comedy Wajib, stars Saleh Bakri, the lead in The Blue Caftan. In fact, in recent years, Palestine has churned out the largest number of women filmmakers. As part of the season, we will be hosting an event to shed light on the current territorial issues faced by Palestinians by showing Between Heaven and Earth by Najwa Najjar. The film navigates the cruel and kafkaesque splintering of land through the prism of the seemingly mundane divorce proceedings of Salma and Tamer. This screening is part of double bill with Sarah Beddington’s stunning documentary Fadia’s Tree, which will be followed by a Q&A.
The season Mukhrijat: Arab Women Filmmakers is curated in partnership with AWAN, Mydylarama, MENA Arts UK and the Arab Film Club.
Booking is now open for all films and events!
