independent
filmmakers
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AFLAMUNA x Cinemed
encounters
a co-production platform for independent filmmakers,
in the Arab Region to meet with professionals from France
and around the globe
The AFLAMUNA x Cinemed encounters offer Arab independent filmmakers and producers working on feature-length films the opportunity to meet with professionals from France and around the globe and build partnerships, collaborations, and co-productions.
These encounters are a collaboration between Cinemed and AFLAMUNA.
This program has been made possible with the support of the Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée CNC.
related news
AFLAMUNA connection 8 :: awards
With the support of partners, AFLAMUNA designated five awards to further champion these impactful projects
Selected Projects :: AFLAMUNA connection 8
This year, our selection comprises 14 projects that reflect diverse narratives emerging from our region.
Professional Encounters :: 2023 Participating Projects
We are thrilled to reveal the ten films selected to participate in “Professional Encounters”, a
Beirut Cinema Platform Edition 7 closure
With 14 participating projects from Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, and Tunisia, Beirut
Beirut Cinema Platform Edition 6
The edition took off on April 7 and lasted for 3 days, during which the
Announcing the Films of BCP 6
Beirut Cinema Platform returns for a 6th edition in its new and expanded online format
past editions
100 JOURS AVANT LA FIN DU MONDE by Dima El-Horr.
Documentary
Produced by : Sabine Sidawi et Paul Rognoni – Orjouane Production (Liban/France)
Beirut the Encounter, a mythical film as a starting point. The past intertwined with the present. Men frozen in expectation of the catastrophe while the collapse unfolds before our eyes as if in slow motion, at 50 frames/second.
AND ME TOO by Sondos Shabayek.
Fiction
Produced by: Kesmat El Sayed – Seera Films (Germany/Egypt).
An independent Cairene is entrapped in a room with her cleaner, conservative cousin, and secret boyfriend. She has to confront him about last night but to do so, she has to reveal his identity and their relationship to the two women and risk it all.
BRAINLESS by Hicham Lasri.
Fiction
Produced by: Ilham Raouf – Abel Aflam (Morocco)
Nada sneezes, and her brain pops out onto the kitchen counter. She has no choice but to put it in a jug, floating in the water, and has to go back to her past to get her brain back in her head. Welcome to the age of the wireless brain.
ENTRE NOUS DEUX… MARSEILLE by Dima AL-Joundi.
Documentary
Produced by Dima AL-Joundi Crystal Films (Liban/France).
Dima, in 2022, a lonely woman who grew up in war-torn Beirut in the ’80s, finds herself forced to leave her country again and revisits the story of her meeting her painter sister in Lebanon in 1993. 30 years later, she decides to face her traumas and continues her quest to find the meaning of belonging and exile through her recent separation, loneliness, and immigration. Between her arrival in Marseille, her administrative problems, and her homesickness, will she finally be able to build a new life where the past and the present intertwine through a harsh reality?
THE MISSING CAMEL by Cheikh N’Diaye.
Documentary
Produced by: Ilham Raouf – Abel Aflam / Maud Huynh – Drôle de trame (Morocco/France)
Shocked to hear Sarkozy assert that an African man has no history, Cheikh wants to prove that he is the descendant of a Senegalese king who fought French settlers. Starting in Mauritania in his grandfather’s footsteps, Cheikh’s journey will end in Senegal with his glorious ancestors.
MNEMA by Selim Gribaa.
Fiction
Produced by : Sahbi Kraiem – Intage Production (Tunisia).
Nada sneezes, and her brain pops out onto the kitchen counter. She has no choice but to put it in a jug, floating in the water, and has to go back to her past to get her brain back in her head. Welcome to the age of the wireless brain.
WONDERLAND by Raed Andoni.
Fiction
Produced by: Wadee Hanani & Saed Andoni – Dar Films (Palestine).
Upon her arrival to Bethlehem, Anna, a French visual artist, excludes her young Parisian actor, Andre, from playing the role of christ in her video-art project, and replaces him with Ziad, a young frustrated Palestinian actor, who’s originated from the Aida refugee camp at the outskirts of the holy city.
My Mother & I by Dilpak Majeed
Produced by Marwa Tammam, Patchwork Productions
Iraq / Egypt
In a war-torn village in Kurdistan, Iraq, a woman in her seventies defies societal expectations and clings to her isolated life alongside her mother and a group of sheep with whom she shares an exceptional bond, considering them family members. However, when her elderly mother falls ill, the family’s past begins to resurface, and long-standing conflicts creep to the surface. This initiates a journey of self-discovery amidst the challenges of loss, isolation, and her pursuit of a new chapter in her life.
The House Number 7 by Rama Abdi
Produced by Hazar Yazji
Syria
After escaping their abusive family homes and conservative societies, three girls meet and rent rooms in an old Damascene house. They manage to create a safe space isolated from everything, but soon the girls start facing many threats, thus, protecting their fragile space becomes a challenge.
The Land Beyond by Nadine Salib
Produced by Baho Bakhsh, Red Star for Production and Distribution
Egypt
The Land Beyond is a mythical tale of a mute young girl called Yam who lives in a faraway isolated land inhabited by an exiled community. Her simple wish to find the magical river her mama said would bring back her voice turns everything around in ‘The Land’, known as Paradise.
Edition 96 by Ahmad Naboulsi
Produced by Zeina Badran, Spotless Mind Films
Lebanon
While reclaiming her narrative and reexamining the choices that fueled her obsession with the sport, Suzanne, the Lebanese tennis champion, walks down memory lane, unfolding the most intense chapters of her life. She recounts her struggle to break free from the control of her husband/tennis trainer and her fight against religious extremism and harassment on tennis courts during the Lebanese Civil War.
Ayin Hara by Yasir Kareem
Produced by Clare Fog, Clear Fog Films
Iraq
Dunia is chosen to locate the last island that contains water amidst the widespread desertification in Iraq. If she fails, she will transform into a fearsome creature known as Sila.
Souraya Mon Amour by Nicolas Khoury
Produced by Jana Wehbe, The Attic
Lebanon
Excerpts from the film “Little Wars”, intimate correspondence, and other family and personal archives intertwine with virtual Zoom meetings of the present to show the dynamics of the relationship between Souraya Baghdadi and her late husband, the famous Lebanese filmmaker Maroun Baghdadi through the presence of Maroun in his life but especially his absence.
Ya Balady by Dessil Mekhtigian
Produced by Mia Bendrimia, Nazar Films
Egypt/France
Dessil, a filmmaker on a quest for her Egyptian identity and femininity, enters the world of renowned Balady dancer Amie Sultan as she fights for UNESCO recognition of the dance as an intangible heritage. Their intertwined fate unfolds amidst obstacles and personal transformations.
Garde Baissée by Sami Tlili
Produced by Imed Marzouk, Propaganda Productions
Tunisia/France/Egypt
A newly crowned world boxing champion must return to his village to participate in a ceremony held in his honor, during which he is supposed to receive the awards and rewards promised by the state. The journey goes awry and proves to be more complicated than expected.
Shaken by Alhasan Youssef
Produced by Maria Casas Castillo and Laura Castillo
Syria/Belgium
In a land burdened by pain, Syrians have endured various forms of tragedy since 2011. Between the helplessness of those in exile, trapped by their anxiety, the helplessness of those waiting for loved ones forcibly hidden, and the helplessness of those extending their hands with a paper bearing words that shout in a silent, stifled voice, Syrians share the weight of powerlessness and the suffocation of being trapped between the walls of repression. In that pain-laden land, an earthquake had shaken it, causing those walls of repression to crack, allowing screams to be heard, and permitting light to penetrate the crevices of hope for change.
Rainbows Don’t Last Long by Mayye Zayed
Produced by Mayye Zayed, Cléo Media
A separated young couple, Ghada, 35, and Khaled, 36, learn that their only daughter Salma, 8, has an incurable disease that will soon cause her to lose her eyesight. Before her world gets increasingly dark, Khaled decides to make his daughter’s wish come true—to swim with the colorful fish in the Red Sea. Ghada decides to join them on this excursion, which eventually turns into a road trip across Egypt, in which the three of them chase rainbows that don’t last long.
