Filmatique screens four films in December

CAIRO – 26 December 2017: VOD platform Filmatique’s screenings for December include four films, “The Miscreants” , “Harag W Marag” (Chaos and Disorder) , “Coming Forth by Day” and “Challat of Tunis”.

The four films are part of a series that hosts North African filmmakers. Mad Solutions distributed the four movies to the U.S. and Canadian audience.

“The Miscreants” is about three Islamists who kidnap a group of actors. After living all together for seven days, they all challenge their mutual prejudices. It stars Amine Ennaji, Jamila El Haouni, Maria Lalouz, Omar Lotfi and Mustapha El Houari. The film participated in over 20 film festivals and won more than 10 awards.

“Coming Forth by Day” is about a girl who is the pillar of a poor family. This girl feels that she cannot express her feelings or fulfill her dreams, because she spent most of her time taking care of her wheelchair-bound father and her mother who works as a nurse. It stars Donia Maher, Ahmed Lotfy and Salma Al-Naggar. The movie is directed and written by Hala Fahmy.

The movie claimed the 94th place in the Dubai International Film Festival list of the 100 most important Arab films. The movie was the latest one to be included in such a list that contains the best Arab movies from the past 70 years.

Berlin International Film Festival’s World Cinema Fund provided “Coming Forth by Day” with a distribution grant. The movie was showcased in Austria and Switzerland, in addition to five German cities. The movie was released by Mad Solutions in 2014.

The film won several awards from several international film festivals during 2012, including FIPRESCI award for the Best Narrative Feature and the Best Director from the Arab World at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival within the New Horizons competition, the Bronze Tanit in the official competition of the Carthage Film Festival, the Golden Lion at the Oran Arab Film Festival and the Best African Film Award within the African Film Competition at the African Film Festival in Milan.

“Challat of Tunis” received six awards from international film festivals, including the Bayeur d'or Award at the International Francophone Film Festival of Namur in Belgium, the Best Documentary Award at the International Beirut Film Festival, and was the only Arab film at the San Sebastian Film Festival in 2014. The film was officially selected for participation in the Venice International Film Festival in 2013, and it was commercially released in Tunisia and France.

"Mockumentaries generally have culturally specific elements that play best to local audiences, and Kaouther Ben Hania's hilarious and acerbic ‘Challat of Tunis’ is a prime example," stated Variety Magazine about the movie.

“Harag W Marag” portrays the story of two young guys and a young girl. Both Zaki and Mounir fall in love with the same girl, Manal. Zaki and Mounir decide to bet on a football match and the winner will marry Manal. The three youth are living in a society where basic needs are met, yet chaos and disorder grew.

The film stars Mohamed Farrag, Ramzi Lehner and Ayten Amer. It was produced and edited by Dina Farouk, written by Nadine Khan, script by Mohamed Nasser and directed by Khan.

Ramsi Lehner is an Egyptian actor and expert in visual and performing arts who toured internationally with Temple Independent Theater Company.

A founding member of the Alumni Community Theater (ACT), he has previously performed as an actor in feature films by Jean-Jacques, including “Black and Gold” and “Harag we Marag” (Chaos and Disorder) by renowned film director Nadine Khan. Khan’s film received the Best Film Jury Award at Dubai International Film Festival in 2012.

He mentioned previously in an interview with Egypt Today that “Harag W Marag” has been one of the most special and unconventional productions he was involved in by playing the role of an unemployed young man of a low socioeconomic class, which he described as one of his most “challenging” roles.

“The project was just beautiful, and seeing its outcome and how Khan approached the film and recited the story with a very visual language made me feel that this is a work that is so different on so many levels,” Lehner elaborated.