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Exclusive: Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival has launched a new initiative supporting and promoting emerging directing, writing and producing talents in the Mena region and unveiled the first participants.

The Cinegouna Emerge Rising Stars initiative has been created within the framework of the festival’s Cinegouna Emerge program aimed at nurturing the next generation of Mena film professionals.

The inaugural selection comprises Mohammed Almughanni (Palestine), Faris Alrjoob (Jordan), Leila Basma (Lebanon), Rasha Hosny (Egypt), sibling directorial duo Noel and Michelle Keserwany (Lebanon) and Dessil Mekhtigian (Egypt).

Gaza-born director Mohammed Almughanni has a bachelor’s and master’s in film directing from Łódź Film School in Poland. His most recent short An Orange from Jaffa, about a young Palestinian man trying to cross an Israeli checkpoint to join his mother on the other side, won the Grand Prix in the International Competition of the Clermont Ferrand Short Film Festival earlier this year.

A father and daughter share a special bond where the former is always ready to make sacrifices to keep his daughter happy and safe from all perils. In the movie Basma, we see this clearly. Here, Basma decides to take care of her father, who suffers from mental illness. His episodes can make him feel isolated and misunderstood, but Basma doesn’t give up on him. Even when other family members lose patience, she stays by his side, understanding that he needs her support now more than ever. The question is: can she help her father get better, or is it a losing battle? The Netflix Turkish drama film explores the emotional journey through its titular character, played by Fatima AlBanawi, who has written and directed the film. So, without further ado, let’s explore the film’s story and see what happens in the end.

Spoilers Ahead

Why did...

The 2024 film from the Middle East produced by Netflix, Saudi Arabia’s Basma, is quite different from the usual productions of the region. The plot follows a young woman named Basma, who returns home from her life as a student in Los Angeles to find out about family secrets that she had no idea about. For the most part, Basma deals with issues of mental health and the public perception of patients in these cases, but surprisingly, it does not include any religious intervention. Basma’s family is clearly not like any of the common masses in the country, and the film does not hide this fact either. Overall, Basma is successful in conveying the message and emotion that it wants and can make for a nice watch.

Spoiler Alert

What is the film about?

Basma is set sometime soon after the Covid pandemic was brought under control, at...

This world has witnessed certain events that have reshaped the way life functions. I’m talking about stuff like the meteor killing the dinosaurs, the two World Wars, the advent of the internet, etc. Since we’re still reeling from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, I guess its impact on mankind is underplayed. People do want to forget all about it as they keep enforcing something called “The New Normal.” We don’t know what governments and health organizations have learned from it or how prepared they are to deal with something as cataclysmic as the pandemic. In addition to that, since various parts of the planet are dealing with literal genocides, which is understandably overwhelming, the pandemic does seem like a thing of the past. However, Basma shows that a close look exposes the fact that the pandemic has done irreparable damage, and recovery will be an uphill task.

Netflix’s list of new releases for June 2024 look suspiciously like last month’s.

That’s because the biggest item on the schedule is Bridgerton season 3 once again. The final four episodes of Bridgerton‘s third season will premiere on June 13. Polin fans everywhere, rejoice! Other TV items of note this month include the third and final season of Sweet Tooth (June 6), Worst Roommate Ever season 2 (June 26), and That ’90s Show Part 2 (June 28).

Bridgerton aside, Netflix’s original movie options this month might be even more impressive than the TV slate. Richard Linklater’s Hitman, which stars Glen Powell as the titular assassin, premieres on June 7. That will be followed by documentary Black Barbie on June 19, the Jessica Alba-starring Trigger Warning on June 21, and romcom A Family Affair on June 28

Here’s everything else coming to Netflix this month. Note that Netflix marks its international offerings with that respective country’s two-letter country code.

The Netflix June 2024 originals, movies, and TV shows have been revealed and can be viewed below. The streaming service has also announced which movies and TV series will be leaving next month.

The June lineup includes 100 Days to Indy Season 2, A Family Affair, America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, Bridgerton Season 3 Part 2, Hit Man, Love Is Blind: Brazil Season 4, and My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman Season 5.

The Netflix June 2024 slate also features Perfect Match Season 2, Sweet Tooth Season 3, That ’90s Show Part 2, Trigger Warning, Worst Roommate Ever Season 2, and more.

Netflix June 2024 Schedule

June Tba

100 Days to Indy Season 2

The Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse: Season 1: Part 2 (Jp) — Netflix Anime

As a prophecy of doom unfolds in the peaceful land of Britannia, a pure-hearted boy sets out on a journey of discovery—and revenge.

Supacell (Gb) — Netflix Series

When five ordinary...

In the upcoming episode of “Help! I’m in a Secret Relationship!” titled “Justin & Basma,” viewers can expect a gripping tale of hidden love and the complexities that come with it. Justin and Basma’s story revolves around a powerful initial connection, a love-at-first-sight kind of moment. However, there’s a significant twist in this budding relationship—Basma is concealing herself from Justin.

Airing on MTV on Tuesday, November 14, 2023, at 9:00 Pm, this episode delves into the dynamics of a relationship where one party is shrouded in secrecy. Viewers will witness the emotional rollercoaster that Justin experiences as he navigates the challenges of a love affair with someone who is avoiding him.

“Help! I’m in a Secret Relationship!” offers an unfiltered look at the obstacles faced by couples in unconventional circumstances. In this particular episode, the focus is on Justin’s journey to uncover the truth about Basma’s hidden identity...

Saudi Arabian filmmaker, actress and activist Fatima Al-Banawi (“Barakah Meets Barakah”) is set to make her feature film directorial debut with “Basma,” a bold drama that will tackle the theme of mental illness in her country.

The pic, which she also wrote, is set to start shooting in Jeddah in October.

Besides writing and directing “Basma,” Al Banawi will be its titular star, playing the 26-year-old daughter of a man who suffers from paranoid delusions. Upon returning from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia, Basma tries to save him from his spiraling mental instability before being forced to leave her father again.

“I like to work with family dynamics; human relations are something that really attracts me,” said Al-Banawi, who has a psychology degree and also a masters in theological studies from Harvard.

“My entire family are either theologists or psychologists. So there is a deep observation that comes out of that experience,...

The new fund gives production and post-production support to Arab world cinema projects.

Lebanese director Ely Dagher’s Beirut-set drama The Sea Ahead and Jordanian filmmaker Darin J. Sallam’s debut feature Farha are among the first 14 recipients of the Red Sea International Film Festival’s $14m fund.

Starring French-Lebanese actress Manal Issa as a young woman who returns to Beirut after many years of absence, The Sea Ahead world premiered in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight earlier this year. It was Dagher’s first feature after Waves ’98, which won the Cannes Palme D’Or for best short film in 2015.

Farha will...

Italy’s Picomedia & Russia’s WeiT Partner For ‘Kurgan’

Italian scripted producer Picomedia, part of Asacha Media Group, and Russian producer WeiTMedia, part of Banijay, have partnered to co-produce six-part drama series Kurgan. Based on true events in 1982, the show begins in Northern Italy, where a 14-year-old boy in an affluent Italian family has a medical condition that no doctor in his country can treat. Bullied at school and desperate to fit in, he learns of a pioneering treatment by a Russian orthopaedic surgeon, Gavriil Abramovich Ilizarov, in the city of Kurgan, Siberia. Co-written by Russian and Italian scriptwriters, the 6×60 minutes series will be produced in both languages with an Italian female lead and Russian male counterpart.

Yo-yo Champion Joins ‘The Sweepers’

Exclusive: Yo-yo world champions Gentry Stein has joined Michael Matteo Rossi’s upcoming action film The Sweepers; the project will mark Stein’s acting debut. The film also...

Werner Herzog’s feature documentary “Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin,” which world premiered at Tribeca and played at Telluride, has been picked up for the U.S. by Music Box Films.

“Nomad” takes the viewer on a journey through the creative and personal vision Herzog shared with iconic travel writer and adventurer Bruce Chatwin, the author of “In Patagonia,” who championed a nomadic lifestyle.

Music Box Films, which also distributed Dmitry Vasyukov and Werner Herzog’s 2013 documentary “Happy People: A Year in the Taiga,” is planning to release the documentary theatrically in select cities next spring, followed by a rollout on home entertainment platforms.

In the film, Herzog discovers stories of dinosaurs, lost tribes, aboriginal traditions, wanderers and dreamers, traveling from Patagonia to the Black Mountains of Wales and the Australian outback.

“We are delighted to be working with Music Box Films for the U.S. distribution of...

New initiative is organised in collaboration with the TorinoFilmLab.

The Red Sea International Film Festival, which is due to take place for the first time in the Saudi port city of Jeddah from March 12-21, 2020, has unveiled the 12 projects that will participate in its inaugural Red Sea Lodge feature film development lab.

The selection comprises six Saudi projects as well as six productions from Jordan, Egypt, Palestine, Iraq, and Lebanon, by both emerging and established filmmakers.

They include new films by Lebanese director Hadi Ghandour, Palestinian producer and filmmaker Amira Diab and Jordanian director Amjad Al-Rasheed

Ghandour will attend with...

Film editor Hisham Saqr, who has worked with top Egyptian talent like Ahmad Abdalla on Microphone, makes his feature directing debut with Certified Mail (Bi Elm El Wossul), a sensitive, harrowing tale about an emotionally fragile young wife and mother who has to face the trials of Job when her husband is arrested. Basma (Sheikh Jackson, Ext. Night) gets to the heart of a complex role, portraying matter-of-factly the quiet heroics demanded of a woman. This Toronto Discovery entry should have a lively run on the festival circuit and prove a launching pad for Saqr, who wrote, directed and edited the ...

Film editor Hisham Saqr, who has worked with top Egyptian talent like Ahmad Abdalla on Microphone, makes his feature directing debut with Certified Mail (Bi Elm El Wossul), a sensitive, harrowing tale about an emotionally fragile young wife and mother who has to face the trials of Job when her husband is arrested. Basma (Sheikh Jackson, Ext. Night) gets to the heart of a complex role, portraying matter-of-factly the quiet heroics demanded of a woman. This Toronto Discovery entry should have a lively run on the festival circuit and prove a launching pad for Saqr, who wrote, directed and edited the ...

Nearly a decade after the Arab Spring swept across North Africa, the winds of change have also breathed new life into the region’s film industries, the fruits of which will be on display at this year’s Toronto Intl. Film Festival.

Contemporary World Cinema lead programmer Kiva Reardon, who also curates the festival’s selections from North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa, has noticed an uptick in diverse voices and stories from the region, with women in particular more widely represented. The result, she said, is a more “varied and interesting” portrait of life in North Africa today.

One example is “143 Sahara Street,” Algerian director Hassen Ferhani’s quiet documentary about an off-the-grid café in the Sahara Desert. Offering an intimate portrait of the proprietor and her guests — while training a wider lens on contemporary Algeria — the film both gives rise to “questions of modernization and the...

The film stars Egyptian actress Basma, best known internationally for her recurrent role in FX’s political drama Tyrant.

German sales outfit Media Luna has acquired international sales rights to Egyptian director Hisham Saqr’s debut feature Certified Mail ahead of its premiere in Tiff’s Discovery line-up in September.

Popular Egyptian actress Basma, best known internationally for her recurrent role in FX’s political drama Tyrant, plays a new mother who falls into a deep depression following the arrest and imprisonment of her husband. It is a rare exploration of the attitudes and taboos around female mental health in Arab society.

The Cairo International Film Festival ended its 36th year with a glitzy ceremony [pictured] below the ancient pyramids on Tuesday.

In an attempt to move forward from previous years when films were overshadowed by protests, or when the festival was altogether cancelled in both 2011 and 2013 due to political upheaval, the Minister of Culture, Gaber Asfour announced “this festival is a fresh new start.”

From actresses Basma Hassan, Lyla Elwi and Ghada Abdel Razek, actors Mahmoud Hemida, Asser Yasin and Tamer Habib to filmmakers Mossad Fouda and Khaled Youssef, a bevy of Egypt’s notable talent were present to help celebrate the conclusion of the ten day event that opened on Nov 9 at the historic Citadel.

From the main sections Film on Films, Festival of Festivals, Special Presentations, International Competition - 45 films screened as Arab and African Premieres, 5 as World Premieres and 4 as International Premieres. Yousra headed the international competition jury, marking the first time the festival had both...