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April 2013

1. FIDAI – German theatrical release 16.5.2013, tour with director
2. GATE #5 at Focus Lebanon in Nyon, Focus:Talk with Irit Neidhardt
3. NATION ESTATE at Chicago Palestine Film Festival
4. New in DVD Shop: SUfeir – Yellow Mums by Firas Khoury
5. Publication: Dreams and Realities. Remarks on Arab Film Culture
6. DVD of the month: Gate #5
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1. FIDAI – German theatrical release 16.5.2013, tour with director

mec film is happy to announced the German theatrical release of Damien Ounouri’s award winning feature documentary FIDAI. After screenings at Toronto International Film Festival. Viennale, DOK.Leipzig, Journées Cinématographiques d'Alger and MoMA, amongst others, the director will present his movie at Dokfest.Munich and in cinemas in Berlin and Hamburg in mid-May.

Content
During the Algerian revolution, my great-uncle joined his sister in France and integrated a secret FLN armed group. Settling of scores, attempted murder, hiding, imprisonment and finally expulsion in 1962, his personal journey tells the story of countless ex-fighters for Algerian independence, and echoes the current effervescence of the Arab World. Today, at the age of seventy, El Hadi reveals this dark part of his life.
Damien Ounouri, Algeria/France/China/Qatar/Kuwait/Germany 2012, 83 min
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2. GATE #5 at Focus Lebanon in Nyon, Focus:Talk with Irit Neidhardt

Simon El Habre’s GATE #5 (content see below) will be shown next week in Focus: Lebanon at the International Documentary Ffilm Festival in Nyon, Vision du Réel.

Irit Neidhardt (mec film) will participate at the Focus:Talk with her contribution „Coproducing Lebanese Memory?“.
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3. NATION ESTATE AT Chicago Palestine Film Festival

Larissa Sansour’s short Sci-fi NATION ESTATE is show at the Chicago Palestine Film Festival at the end of this month.

Content
Nation Estate is a 9-minute sci-fi short offering a clinically dystopian, yet humorous approach to the deadlock in the Middle East.
The film explores a vertical solution to Palestinian statehood: One colossal skyscraper housing the entire Palestinian population – now finally living the high life.
Larissa Sansour, Palestine/Denmark 2012, 9 min, digital, Arabic with English subtitles
more at mec film
more at Chicago Palestine Film Festival
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4. New in DVD Shop: Sufeir – Yellow Mums by Firas Khoury

We are happy to announce the new DVD release of Firas Khoury’s short drama Sofair –Yellow Mums.

Content
Nine year old Nizar is an introverted Palestinian altar boy and a social outcast.
During this years' Easter, Nizar decides to compete with the village children in the traditional "breaking eggs" games. His goal is to collect as many eggs as possible in order to sacrifice them in the village church to his beloved Jesus.
Nizar's egg is "Mashmaa" (a fake egg that is hardened by wax). Only he and Jesus know this fact. The danger of getting caught is very imminent. Nizar manages to collect many eggs and to gain respect from the village children, until finally he is caught. It would be the first time Nizar questions his faith.
Firas Khoury, Palestine 2010, 32 min, Arabic
more
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5. Publication: Dreams and Realities. Remarks on Arab Film Culture

In her text Dreams and realities. Remarks on Arab Film Culture, Irit Neidhardt is dealing with the culture ióf cinema going in Arab countres as well as with the situation of film production. It was published in Thorsten Gerald Schneider’s new anthology „The Arabs in the 21st century. Politics, Society, Culture“. (Spinger VS, Wiesbaden 2013,  pp. 341-352). Publication in German language only.
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6. DVD OF THE Month: Gate #5

A fascinating look at the lives of those working at one of Beirut’s busy ports Rolling Stone Middle East

Content
They were young, loved adventures and had choices. In the 1960s and 70s thousands of young Lebanese left their villages and searched for a new life in the city – as countless like-minded people around the globe. The port of Beirut, the city’s economic lung and central urban district, provided work for truck drivers - a job that stressed masculinity and became a lifestyle. The income allowed the young men to participate in the vibrant urban life, to enjoy their time at the always busy Burj Square with its many cinemas and restaurants as well as to start families.

During the years of the civil war (1975-90) the drivers were needed to maintain the supply of food, goods, and sometime weapons between the divided sectors of country. Some were humble, others were heroic, yet all were adventuresomeness and felt free.
After the war ended the once popular Burj Square, the city’s centre, was demolished, privatized and rebuild for the affluent. Lebanese economy was reorganized, thus globalized. Today fancy restaurants in the new downtown charge in Dollar and sometimes in Euro.
The truck drivers’ universe shrunk to the port where they offer their skills as day laborers now. Yet mostly they kill time and take long journeys in memory. One of them, Najm El Habre, is too sick to join his friends. He found a different way to carry on.

Simon El Habre, Lebanon/UAE 2011, 84min, Arabic
Subtitles: English, French, German
Bonus: Trailer, Photo-album Making-Of, About the director
PAL, no regional code

Subjects
Beirut, Port, Working-Class, Gentrification, Memory

Institutional rights: according to the rights you whish to acquire and your territory the fee varies, please place your order at info@mecfilm.de
Stream (in selected territories) 1,90€ at our partners at realeyz.tv

Visit the Shop Site
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