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Postponed due to COVID-19.
April 23, 2020
7:00 pm EDT
Innis Town Hall Theatre, 2 Sussex Ave, Toronto, ON M5S 1J5Screening:
Noura’s Dream//نورة تحلم
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Country: Tunisia
Director: Hinde Boujemaa
Length: 92 mins
Synopsis: In the Arab world, we sing about love. From Om Kalthoum to Berber songs, women and men sing of love: its griefs and jealousies, its joys and hopes and romance. But when it comes to the embodiment of this love, the enactment of desire, taboo raises its head and love becomes a sin. With her abusive husband in jail and a coveted divorce pending, hardworking Noura can almost grasp a happy, new life with lover Lassaad – but when the best-laid plans are upended, Noura must tap her unshakable will to fulfill her dream.
Co-presented with Breakthroughs Film Festival
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Postponed due to COVID-19
April 25, 2020
10:00 am EDT
Trinity Square Video, 401 Richmond Street, Toronto, ON M5V 3A8A primer workshop for creatives interested in accessing the Canadian film industry. The workshop will cover an introduction of filmmaking, production resources and a presentation by ACTRA.
Sponsored by:
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Postponed due to COVID-19.
April 26, 2020
7:00 pm EDT
VirtualScreening:
Flesh Out//Il Corpo Della Sposa
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Country: Italy
Director: Michela Occhipinti
Length: 94 mins
Synopsis: Verida is due to marry in three months; the marriage has been arranged by her loving parents. According to a tradition still practiced in Mauritania that adheres to accepted standards of beauty, she has to gain weight to attain the kind of well-rounded, fuller figure that will appeal to her future husband. Three months before her marriage, her routine unfolds quietly and steadily as she sets about consuming no fewer than six meals per day and regularly weighing herself to assess her progress. An obedient daughter, she does not for one moment question the goal of twenty kilos her mother has set for her; nor does she put up much resistance to being woken up in the middle of the night to eat one more bowl of milk and another of couscous. But the process gets harder as it progresses and this puts an increasing strain on her, both physically and emotionally. Verida, who has in the meantime attracted the attentions of another man, begins to ask herself if this is what she really wants. Based on actual events, Michela Occhipinti’s feature debut is a meticulous and gentle observation of the polarising tensions that permeate the modern female experience in twenty-first century Mauritania.
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Event Details
July 24, 2020
7:00 PM EDT
VirtualJoin us for a screening of “Talking About Trees” followed by a Panel Discussion titled “Film is Dead, Long Live Film: Reviving the Arts in Sudan” featuring speakers Nehal El-Hadi, Mr. Mohamed Wahbi and Mazin Osman, moderated by Iman Abbaro.
Screening:
Talking About Trees//الحديث عن الأشجار
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Country: Sudan, France, Chad, Germany, Qatar
Director: Suhaib Gasmelbari
Length: 94 mins
Synopsis: Four older Sudanese filmmakers with passion for film battle to bring cinema-going back to Sudan, not without resistance. Their ‘Sudanese Film Club’ have decided to revive an old cinema, and again draw attention to Sudanese film history. The film intermittently weaves in clips from their films, many which were lost or banned due to their political leanings.
Panel:
Film is Dead, Long Live Film: Reviving the Arts in Sudan
Watch
After having witnessed the history of cinema in Sudan in TALKING ABOUT TREES, motivated by the unwavering determination of these four filmmakers, this panel looks forward to examine the role of film and arts in the rebuilding of Sudan. Film in particular holds significant power in fostering community while promoting dialogue. TALKING ABOUT TREES makes us intently aware of lost potential and dreams marred and suppressed by politics and religious extremism and ultimately urges us to reconsider the importance of arts in shaping narratives about Sudan.
Moderator: Iman Abbaro
Speakers:
Nehal El-Hadi, Writer, Researcher, Editor
Nehal El-Hadi investigates the relationships between the body (racialised, gendered), place (urban, virtual), and technology (internet, health).
She completed a Ph.D. in Planning at the University of Toronto, where her research examined the relationships between user-generated content and everyday public urban life.
As a scholar, her hybrid digital/material research methods are informed by her training and experience as a science and environmental journalist.
Nehal advocates for the responsible, accountable, and ethical treatment of user-generated content in the fields of journalism, planning, and healthcare.
Her writing has appeared in academic journals, general scholarship publications, literary magazines, and several anthologies and edited collections.
Nehal is the Science+Technology Editor at The Conversation Canada, an academic news site, and Editor-in-Chief of Studio Magazine, a biannual print publication dedicated to contemporary Canadian craft and design. She currently holds a residency at Toronto’s Theatre Centre, where she is developing a live arts event that explores surveillance, privacy, and consent.
Nehal sits on the Board of Directors of FiXT POINT Arts & Media and Provocation Ideas Festival. She is a member of the Digital Communities Advisory Panel at the Centre for Free Expression. She was previously a Visiting Scholar at the City Institute at York University.
Mr. Mohamed Wahbi
Mazin Osman, Cultural Curator
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Event Details
July 25, 2020
4:00 pm EDT
VirtualJoin us for our first Shorts Programme at TAFF2020.
Screenings:
The Sparrow//العصفور
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Countries: Palestine, Austria
Director: Nasri Hajaj
Length: 14 mins
Synopsis: Based on true stories, The Sparrow, tells a story of life under dictatorship which can be anywhere and anytime. An Arab intellectual has been imprisoned for many years. One night while serving his unlimited period he is asked by the prison warden to tell stories to a five-year-old child in one of the neighboring cells. There he meets the mother of the child, born in prison. Meant to be a perfidious torture by the prison warden, he faces the challenge of how to tell a story to a child that has never seen the sun.
In Uncle Salem’s Country
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Country: Tunisia
Director: Slim Belhiba
Length: 14 mins
Synopsis: Tunisia, September 2013. There is only a fortnight left before the beginning of the school year. Uncle Salem, guardian of a small country school, begins rudimentary maintenance. Anxious about the state of the flag, he decides to go for a new one. Uncle Salem moves towards the city, where the reverberations of a betrayed revolution run through the minds and streets.
The Old Kalbelouz
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Country: Algeria
Director: Imène Ayadi
Length: 10 mins
Synopsis:In Algiers, Ahmed 70 years old wakes up alone at home, he will start a day immersed in his thoughts. Who is he talking to?
We Were There
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Countries: Lebanon, Canada
Director: Rodrigue Hammal
Length: 8 mins
Synopsis: A father who came to Beirut with his family to start over. A mother who left her native village for her own reasons. Their paths crossed as the city’s fate was about to drastically change.
Abdullah & Leilah//عبد الله و ليلى
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Countries: Iraq, United Kingdom
Director: Ashtar Al Khirsan
Length: 20 mins
Synopsis: Haunted by the memories of his childhood in Baghdad, Abdullah has dementia and struggles to communicate with his daughter. As his mind slips and slides between his past and his unfamiliar present, he no longer remembers the life he’s lived in London for the last 60 years and the fluent English language he’s spoken. His British born daughter Leilah, who speaks only English, searches for one last moment of connection
We Were There
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Countries: Lebanon, Canada
Director: Rodrigue Hammal
Length: 8 mins
Synopsis: A father who came to Beirut with his family to start over. A mother who left her native village for her own reasons. Their paths crossed as the city’s fate was about to drastically change.
Co-presented by:
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Event Details
July 25, 2020
7:00 pm EDT
VirtualJoin us for our second Shorts Programme followed by a Panel Discussion on titled “Defying Politics, Towards Pan-Arabism in Cinema: The Role of Transnational Cinemas and Film Festivals in Creating a New Arab Cinema” featuring speakers Walid El-Kachab, Christina Piovesan and Viviane Saglier, moderated by Karam Masri.
Screenings:
Towards the Sun//نحو الشمس
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Country: Canada, Lebanon
Director: Nour Ouayda
Length: 17 mins
Synopsis: You are now in the main hall of the National Museum in Beirut. A guard reminds you that you are encouraged to touch the archeological objects. A voice in your headset suggests that you lick the stone. You are now facing a hole in the wall on the lower left corner of a mosaic. The voice in your headset indicates that it was made by a sniper. Out of curiosity, you dial 1-9-9-1 to listen to the rest of the story.
In the Middle//في المنتصف
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Country: Yemen, Qatar, Russia
Director: Mariam Al Dhubhani
Length: 14 mins
Synopsis: In a rarely seen perspective of war, we follow Ali—a Yemeni soldier on tour in the temporary capital of Aden. Leaving his hopes, dreams, and education behind to join the military, Ali dutifully sits at his checkpoint, performing a mundane task that he is clearly overqualified to do. His story represents the majority of youth in the country, people who are unable to just ‘live’, but instead are forced to continually struggle to survive.
Four Acts for Syria//أربع فصول من أجل سوريا
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Country: Syria, Germany
Director: Waref Abo Qaba
Length: 14 mins
Synopsis: Syrian history has been multicultural for centuries. This film is a voyage through Syrian culture until today’s insanity. It is a message of peace and hope for the Syrian people.
The Return of Osiris//عودة اوزيريس
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Country: Palestine
Director: Essa Grayeb
Length: 14 mins
Synopsis: On June 9, 1967, Egyptian President at the time, Gamal Abdel Nasser appeared on television and radio to inform the Egyptian citizens of their country’s defeat. During the speech, he also announced his resignation. For many, Nasser’s speech was the first hint at the full scope of loss and disillusionment with the pan-Arab vision he led. The film weaves together dozens of scenes that feature the speech from Egyptian films and television series produced between 1972-2016. The found footage excerpts were edited to reconstruct Nasser’s speech of resignation according to the original text.
Compressed//مضغوط
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Country: Syria, France
Director: Ali Dawwa
Length: 8 mins
Synopsis: Compressed highlights the work of Khaled Dawwa, a Syrian artist, who was in one of the Syrian regime’s prisons. He met many young people in the prison, their only guilt and the great crime was that they had dreamed of, and asked for a better future. Released from prison, Khaled, now lives in France. He considers himself a hope for all those who are still in prison and expresses their voice and suffering through his sculptures. For Khaled, love and revolution are inseparable.
I Have Seen Nothing,I Have Seen All//لم أرى شيئا, رأيت كل شيء
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Country: Syria, Sweden
Director: Yasser Kassab
Length: 20 mins
Synopsis: After talking about the end of the war in Syria and the start of the reconstruction phase, Yaser and his family find themselves compelled to deal with the transfer of graves from public parks in Aleppo. Thousands of kilometers separate Yaser from his parents in Aleppo. With what these two places carry of contradiction is reflecting the way they both deal with what happened.
Panel:
Defying Politics, Towards Pan-Arabism in Cinema: The Role of Transnational Cinemas and Film Festivals in Creating a New Arab Cinema
Moderator:
Karam Masri, Filmmaker
Karam Masri is a Program Consultant for Film & Television at Ontario Creates, the provincial agency that supports the economic development of Ontario’s cultural sectors. Prior to joining Ontario Creates, Karam was the Business Analyst at the Bell Fund, a private fund that supports the creation and development of Canadian digital/TV multi-platform projects. Karam holds two Master’s degrees: an MFA in Film Production and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business. She also wrote & directed the short film “Juha the Whale”, winner of the York Thesis prize.
Speakers:
Christina Piovesan, Producer & President of First Generation Films
Christina Piovesan is the founder and principal of First Generation Films, a film and tv production company based in Toronto. Past films include the Cannes Winner Amreeka directed by Cherien Dabis; The Whistleblower directed by Larysa Kondracki, Mouthpiece directed by Patricia Rozema, Paper Year, written and directed by Rebecca Addelman and American Woman directed by Semi Chellas which had its Canadian premiere as a Gala Presentation at TIFF 2019. Her collaboration with Elevation Productions, the production arm of Elevation Pictures, has Christina in post-production on The Exchange directed by Dan Mazer and French Exit directed by Azazel Jacobs. Most recently, Christina was producer on The Nest directed by Sean Durkin which had its premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival
Dr. Walid El Kachab, Associate Professor, Arabic Studies, York University
Walid El Khachab has published in Cairo four poetry collections in Arabic: The Dead do not consume (Al Mawta La Yastahlekoon, 2001); She who is (Allati, 2013); Sudden Moon (Qamar Mofajei’, 2015), I’timad’s Booth (Koshk I’timad, 2019). In 2022, his monograph about legendary Arab comedian Fuad al-Mohandes The Arachitect of Joy (Mohandes al Bahga) was released at Dar al Maraya publishing house, Cairo. He also translated into Arabic Canadian poet’s Mon Latif Ghattas collection, Les Chants du Karawan, and Canadian poetry theorist Paul Zumthor’s Introduction à la poésie orale. He teaches Arabic Studies at York University
Dr. Viviane Saglier, Post Doctoral Fellow, Department of Anthropology and Institute for the Study of International Development (ISID), McGill University
Viviane Saglier is a UTSC postdoctoral fellow in the Department of English at the University of Toronto. Prior to that, she was an Andrew W. Mellon postdoctoral fellow in the Anthropology Department at McGill University. She received her PhD in Film and Moving Image Studies from Concordia University. She is currently working on two projects: a first book on Palestinian film infrastructures, and a second book on histories of Arab cinema, gender, and decolonization. Her writings on Arab cinema, postcolonial theory, media economies, and transnational solidarity have appeared in several peer-reviewed journals and edited collections. Outside of the university, she curates collective programs of Arab cinema and political documentaries as well as video art exhibitions.
She started the Works-in-Progress (WIP) series and co-led the Political Imaginaries of Waiting working group.
Panel Sponsored by:
Co-presented by:
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Event Details
July 26, 2020
7:00 pm EDT
VirtualJoin us for our third Shorts Programme at TAFF2020
Screenings
Sh’hab//شهاب
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Country: Qatar
Length: 13 min
Director: Amal Al-Muftah
Synopsis: Upon hearing a myth about falling stars, a young girl’s curiosity is sparked. When night falls on the village of AlWakrah, she sets out on her father’s boat, with the assistance of her older brother, to chase the fabled comets.
Left Right//يسار يمين
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Country: Tunisia
Director: Moutii Dridi
Length: 23 mins
Synopsis: Yassine, 7 years old, left handed, his father is forcing him to use his right hand.
Amphitheater//المسرح المكشوف
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Country: Qatar
Director: Mahdi Ali
Length: 16 mins
Synopsis: A professional Qatari photographer is intrigued by the rebellion of a teenage girl from her conservative family as they take pictures of the frescoes in a cultural village. She pursues the teenage girl, documenting her rebellion until the family rebukes her. After discovering the girl’s hideout, the photographer follows her into an amphitheater, where she finally has a chance to express her inner voice.
Maradona’s Legs//اجرين مارادونا
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Countries: Palestine, Germany
Director: Firas Khoury
Length: 20 mins
Synopsis: During the 1990 World Cup, two young Palestinian boys are looking for “Maradona’s legs”; the last missing sticker that they need in order to complete their world cup album and win a free Atari.
I Am Fatou
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Country: Egypt, Italy, Germany
Director: Amir Ramadan
Length: 18 mins
Synopsis: Fatou is a 23-year-old Italian girl of Senegalese origin. She lives in a suburb of Rome with her mother who would like to educate according to the rigid impositions of her culture of origin. But Fatou is looking for his own identity that combines her black Muslim being with Italian society, and unlike most of her peers, the social stigma of the immigrant is imprinted on her, that isolates her and reduces her friendships with other young children of foreigners. Her authentic passion and screen against prejudice is singing: music is what will never betray herself. After a night at the disco, Fatou is attacked by a thirty year old Italian who first insults her, and then tries to physically mistreat her. She confronts him with courage, opposes him, and finally manages to get on the bus that takes her back to her neighbourhood. In the short walk home, Fatou finds the strength to break the fear and humiliation with the song. An intimate nocturnal song in which Fatou tells herself, in the silence of the sleeping city, expressing his dreams as a girl, the hope of a radiant life that is perhaps already waiting for her. Fatou says she does not know love, if not in her mother’s feelings, she sings about the possibility of love, which means first of all to love oneself. And its poetic momentum becomes universal reflection on the sense of identity, so longed for and, for many, never really possessed.
Ambiance//امبيانس
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Country: Palestine
Director: Wisam Al Jafari
Length: 15 mins
Synopsis: Despite the noise and chaos of the refugee camp, two young Palestinian refugees discover a creative way to record music in order to meet a competition deadline.
Roujoula//رجولة
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Country: France, Morocco
Length: 22 min
Director: Ilias El Faris
Synopsis: In Casablanca, Eid-Al-Adha is around the corner. Imad, who sells hacked DVDs in the streets, doesn’t manage to earn enough money to buy the sacrificial sheep. The perfect excuse to take advantage of his studious little brother, forcing him to become a parking attendant, not realizing that he is giving Fayçal the perfect opportunity to exact his revenge.
Co-presented by:
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