The Film Verdict
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Reviews

From new films from the Middle East through to new releases in the region, a fresh look at new titles.
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Seeking Haven for Mr. Rambo
Al-Takdir staff
Khalid Mansour directs
Venice Film Festival

Seeking Haven for Mr. Rambo

In this love/hate letter to Cairo, Khalid Mansour's sensitive debut feature ‘Seeking Haven for Mr. Rambo' pays tribute to a generation of young Egyptians shackled by economic and societal frustrations.
Al-Takdir staff
Almost Certainly False
Turkish short film
Venice Film Festival

Almost Certainly False

Coming of age is tough in Almost Certainly False, a deft exploration of identity and duty in the life of a young Syrian immigrant dreaming of leaving Istanbul for Europe.
Al-Takdir staff
Karlovy Vary IFF
Munich Film Festival
Refugee camp stories
Xoftex

Xoftex

Writer-director Noaz Deshe's ambitious horror-tinged drama about the surreal absurdism of life in a refugee camp is messy and muddled but commendably original.
Al-Takdir staff
Abdellah Taïa
Cabo Negro
Karlovy Vary premiere
Queer drama

Cabo Negro

In writer-director Abdellah Taïa's ode to youthful rebellion 'Cabo Negro', two heartbroken queer Moroccans take refuge in a luxury villa to confront old traumas and share solidarity.
Al-Takdir staff
Backstage
Mediterrane Film Festival
Morocan film
Tunisian film

Backstage

Mysterious personal dramas unfold off-stage when a modern dance company has a bus break-down traveling to Marrakech in Tunisian codirectors Afef Ben Mahmoud and Khalil Benkirane’s intelligently avant-garde on-the-road drama, ‘Backstage’.
Al-Takdir staff
Brandt Andersen
Mediterrane Film Festival
The Stranger's Case
Yasmine Al Massri

The Stranger’s Case

Confronting the world refugee crisis head-on in highly dramatic scenes that refuse to let go, Brandt Andersen’s etched-with-an-axe ‘The Strangers’ Case’ is a human disaster movie that passionately describes a chain reaction of real-life horror.
Al-Takdir staff
Norah
Saudi cinema
Tawfik Alzaidi

Norah

Tawfik Alzaidi’s classically narrated, slow-burn drama 'Norah' is a tribute to art and artists in socially conservative societies like 1990s Saudi Arabia.
Al-Takdir staff
ACC
Reviews

A New Home for Arab Film Reviews

Al-Takdir will offer more international coverage for films produced in the MENA region.
Al-Takdir staff
Berlin Film Festival
Palestine-Israel

No Other Land

Beginning in 2019, a quartet of Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers in the Occupied Territories start documenting Israel’s appropriation of the land and its escalation until just after the start of the current juggernaut in Gaza.
Al-Takdir staff
Loris Lai
Palestine-Israel

I bambini di Gaza (Roll)

A Palestinian and an Israeli boy bond over surfing in a vivid if familiar story from the Second Intifada that feels slightly unreal.
Al-Takdir staff
Asmae El Moudir
Karlovy Vary
Morocco Oscar submission 2024

The Mother of All Lies

Moroccan documentary maker Asmae El Moudir blends the personal with the political in her formally impressive, puppet-driven, prize-winning family memoir.
Al-Takdir staff
Hiam Abbass
Lina Soualem
Palestine Oscar submission 2024
Venice Film Festival

Bye Bye Tiberias

Directed by Hiam Abbass’s daughter Lina Soualem, this beautifully layered, quietly intelligent documentary explores her female-centric family’s experiences of dispossession and exile following the 1948 Nakba, seeking to break the silence surrounding trauma.
Al-Takdir staff
Cannes Film Festival
Kaouther Ben Hania
Tunisia Oscar submission 2024

Four Daughters (Les filles d’Olfa)

An enthralling “fictional documentary” by Kaouther Ben Hania exploring the psychological states of a strong-headed Tunisian mother and her four daughters, two of whom joined Islamic State, through staged recreations and interactions with actors playing their roles.
Al-Takdir staff