1. IN VITRO in Germany (online)
2. ERASED,__ASCENT OF TE INVISIBLE in Austria (online)
3. ECCOMI ... ECCOTI now on VOD
4. Panel discussion: Genres Revisited: Visionary Imagery and Fragmented Narratives in Contemporary Arab Cinema
5. Publication: Cairo-Berlin Return. Early Arab-German Cooperation in Film – The Egyptian-German Example
-------------------------------     

1. IN VITRO in Germany (online)

Larissa Sansour and Soren Lind’s Sci-Fi Larissa Sansour and Soren Lind is showing from April 22nd till 30th, 2021 at the online edition of ALFILM, the Arab Film Festival in Berlin (geoblocked within Germany). In February the film was braodcast at the Community TV in Vienna (Austria) and showed at the hybrid edition of the Rencontres Internationales Paris (France) live from the Louvre Auditorium.

Content
In Vitro is set in the aftermath of an eco-disaster. An abandoned nuclear reactor under the biblical town of Bethlehem has been converted into an enormous orchard. Using heirloom seeds collected in the final days before the apocalypse, a group of scientists are preparing to replant the soil above.
In the hospital wing of the underground compound, the orchard’s ailing founder, 70-year-old Dunia is lying in her deathbed, as 30-year-old Alia comes to visit her. Alia is born underground as part of a comprehensive cloning program and has never seen the town she’s destined to rebuild.
short Sci-fi, Larissa Sansour & Soren Lind, Palestine/Denmark/UK 2019, 28 min, 1:2.66, Arabic with English subtitles
more
--------------------------------     

2. ERASED,__ASCENT OF TE INVISIBLE in Austria (online)

The multi-awarded film by Ghassan Halwani is showing in April at the Human Rights Film Hub of this human world in Austria. In March it was part of the first monthly progfram of the new Shasha Movies Platform.

Content
Thirty-five years ago, I witnessed the kidnapping of a man I know.
He has disappeared since.
Ten years ago, I caught a glimpse of his face while walking in the street, but I wasn’t sure it was him.
Parts of his face were torn off, but his features had remained unchanged since the incident. Yet something was different, as if he wasn’t the same man.
essay-documentary, Lebanon 2018, color and black & white, 76 min, Arabic and English with English subtitles
more
-----------------------------------     

3. ECCOMI ... ECCOTI now on VOD

Raed Rafei's roadtrip-documentary is now online with our partner platform sooner! Try out if you can watch from your country.

Content
Two men, two contrasting realities, and a quest for a shared future despite a world of physical and imaginary boundaries.
Eccomi ... Eccoti is a road-trip documentary that explores the depths of a transnational gay relationship in today’s world. Set between Lebanon and Italy, this essay film is a poetic collage of fragments from a personal archive of shared moments: still travel photos, ambient sounds and videos of everyday instances. Through conversations between the filmmaker and his partner, this film raises questions of love, commitment, familial trauma, European border restrictions, LGBT rights and ongoing persecutions all within the contours of a shimmering queer utopia.
documentary, Raed Rafei, Lebanon 2017, 68 min, color, Arabic/French/Italian/English with Engl. ST

Go to VOD
-----------------------------------     

4. Panel discussion: Genres Revisited: Visionary Imagery and Fragmented Narratives in Contemporary Arab Cinema

In the framework of the 12th ALFILM Arab Film Festival Berlin.

Online Panel Discussion
Sunday, April the 25th at 17.00 CET

Host: Irit Neidhardt
Panelists: Ghassan Salhab, Director THE LAST MAN; Larissa Sansour, Director IN VITRO

Genre films are generally associated with mainstream cinema. Through their repetitive form and their often unrealistic content, their aim is usually to entertain an audience. But what happens when an Author decides to appropriate a particular genre, to use genre conventions to develop his/her own visual language, and to make taboo topics visible on the screen? The aim of this roundtable is to discuss the relationship of contemporary Arab film authors with genre films and the way genre conventions serve their discourse on historical, political, cultural and social questions.

The discussion will be broadcasted live on facebook on the 25th of April at 5 pm CET.
---------------------------------     

5. Publication: Cairo-Berlin Return. Early Arab-German Cooperation in Film – The Egyptian-German Example

Text by Irit Neidhardt (mec film) published in Global Media Journal – German Edition, 10(2), Autumn/Winter 2020.

Abstract: The Arab-German cooperation in film began after World War I in 1919/1920 when the first Egyptians came to learn the then brand new art in Germany, and has been continuing with different Arab partners ever since. Yet there is neither a public nor a professional awareness of this history. When Arab and German film professionals meet at international co-production platforms today, they practically get together as strangers. Despite its richness, the common history does not serve as a point of reference. It is not written. This paper, therefore, attempts to shed light on this forgotten period of cooperation. It looks at how and why such a collaboration was initiated. Moreover, it describes its different formats and also why the Egyptian-German encounter eventually came to an end. continue
---------------------------------