The festival’s screenings will be held online with few in-venues screenings in the light of the coronavirus.
Five films from MAD Solutions are participating in the eighth edition of the Calgary Arab Film Nights Festival which is scheduled to take place from October 23 to 25 in Canada. These films are Haifa Street by director Mohanad Hayal, Between Two Seas by director Anas Tolba, The Golden Harvest by director Aliaa Yunis, Heaven Sent by director Wissam Charaf and Zay Ood El Kabreet by director Hussein Al Imam.
In the light of the coronavirus, the festival’s screenings will be held online with few in-venues screenings, including Zay Ood El Kabreet, which will be held online and screened at Globe Cinema venue.
Haifa Street is set in Baghdad in 2006. Haifa Street is one of the most dangerous places suffering from civil war and violence that has plagued the city. When Ahmed is dropped off there by a taxi on his way to his beloved Suad’s house to ask for her hand in marriage, he gets shot by Salam, an anxious young sniper who is living his own personal hell on a rooftop above. Suad desperately tries to save Ahmed, but Salam prevents anyone from approaching him under the threat of gunfire. When her daughter Nadia elicits the help of their cunning neighbour, Dalal, all hell breaks loose under the ominous presence of the American occupation.
Haifa Street stars Ali Thamer, Asad Abdulmajeed, Yumna Marwan, and Iman Abdulhassan, and is produced by Sumerian Dream Productions.
Between Two Seas follows Zahra whose daughter is exposed to a tragic accident while on a short visit to her home village, a small rural island near Cairo. Following this incident, Zahra persists on getting her daughter’s rights and insists on not only continuing her education but also benefiting her community. The film sheds light on different societal issues faced by women, especially in rural areas.
Written by Mariam Naoum, based on a script by Amany El Tounsy and Karim El Dalil, Between Two Seas stars Fatma Adel, Yara Goubran, Tharaa Goubail, Mahmoud Fares, Arfa Abdel Rassoul, and Lobna Wanas. The film is produced by Axeer and executive produced by Abdelrahman Al Garwani.
Heaven Sent is about Samir, a former militiaman who was presumed dead but reappears after 20 years in Omar’s life, his little brother who has become a bodyguard in Beirut. Between drama and comedy, Samir has to come to terms with a country he no longer recognises.
Scripted by Mariette Désert and the film’s director Wissam Charaf, Heaven Sent stars Raed Yassin, Said Serhan, Yumna Marwan, Rodrigue Sleiman and George Melki. The film is a Lebanese-French co-production through Aurora Films and Né à Beyrouth.
Zay Ood El Kabreet is a comedy by the late filmmaker to pay tribute to the superstars of the Egyptian cinema’s Golden Era. The plot combines scenes starring 21 actors from the age of black and white films with other scenes written by and starring Al Imam. Along with Hussein Al Imam, the film stars Sahar Ramy, Khaled Mahrous, Zakaria Amer, and singer Randa El-Sobky.
