Kinda Alloush participates in Venice International Film Festival,Toronto International Film Festival

Kinda Alloush has recently had a distinguished cinematic activity that has resonated internationally. Alloush has two films in competition in two major international film festivals: the Venice International Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival.

Kinda’s first film is NEZOUH, directed by Soudade Kaadan, which will land its world premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival (August 31-September 10), during which it will be screened in the festival’s Orizzonti Competition. 

Venice Film Festival president Alberto Barbera commented on the selection of NEZOUH, saying “After winning the Debut Film award in Venice, Soudade Kaadan is back with her second feature film, an allegory about the emancipation of two women leaving Damascus under the bombs to become refugees. A fairy tale filled with black humor.”

The film takes place during the Syrian conflict, when a missile destroys the ceiling of the house of the 14-year-old Zeina (Hala Zein). As a result, she sleeps for the first time under the stars and makes friends with Amer (Nizar Alani), the boy next door. When the violence escalates, Zeina’s mother, Hala, (Kinda Alloush) decides to leave. She puts up a fight with her husband Motaz (Samer Al Masri) who refuses to become a refugee and tries everything to stop his family from leaving his house. 

Written and directed by Soudade Kaadan, NEZOUH stars Kinda Alloush, Samer Al Masri, Hala Zein, Nizar Alani and Darina Al Joundi and lensed by prominent cinematographer Hélène Louvart. MAD Solutions manages the film’s distribution in the Arab world while mk2 films is in charge of the film’s worldwide sales. Moreover,it is distributed in France by Pyramide and is financed through FILM4 and Stars Collective. 

The second film is Sally El Hosaini’s THE SWIMMERS, which was selected to open the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival (September 8 - September 18), where it will land its world premiere at Roy Thomson Hall. 

Based on a true story, the film follows the two Lebanese sisters Manal Issa and Nathalie Issa present a journey from war-torn Syria to the 2016 Rio Olympics, where the two young sisters Yousra and Sarah Mardini embark on a harrowing journey as refugees, putting both their hearts and champion swimming skills to heroic use. 

THE SWIMMERS marks Egyptian director Sally El Hosaini’s second feature, where her debut feature My Brother the Devil landed its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival in 2012, and won several awards at BFI London Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, and BAFTA Film Awards. The film is co-written by Sally El Hosaini and Jack Thorne (Enola Holmes).

Along with the two sisters, Manal and Nathalie Issa, the film stars Egyptian actor Ahmed Malek, German actor Matthias Schweighöfer, and Krishna Floyd.

Kinda Alloush’s upcoming film is ‘Yellow Bus,’ a co-production between the USA, Mexico, India, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates. 

Written and directed by American filmmaker Wendy Bednarz, the film includes the Bollywood Indian star, Tannishtha Chatterjee. The shooting of the film has come to an end in the UAE and shall screen exclusively on OSN Network as one of its originals, following its screenings in theaters and international film festivals.