Arab films make an impression in Toronto

At the Toronto International Film Festival, there is a strong presence of Arab cinema.

A 10,000 USD prize has been awarded to Lebanese-born Rola Nashef, who made her feature film debut with Detroit Unleaded. The romantic drama/comedy about a young Lebanese-American man who runs a gas station in Detroit and a woman called Naj, has won the Grolsch Film Works Discovery Award.

The 39-year-old filmmaker, who moved to the US from Lebanon with her family when she was a child, beat the other 26 hopeful directors involved in the film festival’s Discovery programme, sponsored by Grolsch Dutch beer.

Also at the Toronto International Film Festival, an audience of over 1,000 watched Mira Nair’s political thriller, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, which received a standing ovation, at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall. This film was financed by the Doha Film Institute (DFI).

Nair, was at the screening accompanied by the film’s actors, Riz Ahmed, Kiefer Sunderland and Kate Hudson, who are all fresh from opening the Venice Film Festival.

Nair thanked Toronto for being a passionate audience for her work, and expressed how she dedicated this film to two men; Mohsin Hamid, the writer of the book, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, and Faiz Ahmed Faiz, the Pakistani poet laureate whose poems feature in the film set to music.

DFI MENA grantee documentary The Lebanese Rocket Society, directed by Khalil Joreige and Joana Hadjithomas has been screened with Indiewire reported to have said, “saves a fascinating chapter in history.”

Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette’s Inch’Allah, a film about the war-torn areas of Israel and Palestine, has been received well by reviewers, as has Fidaï (DFI MENA Grantee) by Damien Ounouri, and Egyptian director Yousry Nasrallah’s drama, After the Battle.

A selection of short films from DFI students were also screened at the festival which is currently being held in Toronto, Canada.