Jounieh International Film Festival to kick off Jan 17

CAIRO – 15 January 2018: The 1st Jounieh International Film Festival in Lebanon will screen two Egyptian movies “Ali, Maaza and Ibrahim” (Ali, the Goat and Ibrahim) and “Balash Tebosny” (Kiss Me Not), in addition to the Egyptian documentary “Jean d’Arc el Masreya” ( Egyptian Jean d’Arc) in the festival’s official competition.

The short German/Jordanian movie “El Baghbaghan” (The Parrot) will be screened outside the competition. The festival will kick off on January 17 and will conclude on the 22nd. The four movies are distributed by Mad Solutions Company.

“Jean d’Arc el Masreya” (Egyptian Jean d’Arc)

“Jean d’Arc el Masreya” discusses the experiences of Egyptian women following the January 2011 Revolution through their defiant art forms. In the film, the director, Iman Kamel, is shown to have found the diary of a fictional young Bedouin girl named Jehanne in the Egypt’s Western Desert. In the diary, Jehanne writes of wanting to break free of the restricting male-dominated world and become a dancer. Kamel sets out to find Jehanne by connecting with seven other Egyptian female artists.

Joan of Arc, the famous and iconic historical figure, was a young French peasant who rose in the ranks of the French army and fought against the English, managing to reach significant victories in the "Hundred Years War". She claimed to have been receiving visions of Christian saints showing her the path to justice and victory. She was eventually captured by the English and executed by being burned at the stake, after having being accused of different criminal charges, including heresy and cross-dressing. Joan of Arc was later pronounced a martyr and a saint. The film is a combination of poetry and narration, mythical and fantastical elements and stories, dance and performance, and documentary footage.

“Balash Tebosny” (Kiss Me Not)

The film revolves around a director, Tamer, who struggles to deal with an actress, who quits a kissing scene and the whole film industry after she decides to wear a veil (hijab). The film stars Yasmine Raies; award-winning director Khairy Beshara; Sawsan Badr; and an honorary to late renowned director Mohammed Khan and Mohamed Mahan. “Balash Tebosny” is directed by Egyptian-American writer and director Ahmed Amer.
Winner of an outstanding performance in her leading role in Mohamed Khan’s “Factory Girl”, which was a milestone in her career, aspiring young actress Raies has previously won the Best Actress Award at the Dubai Film Festival in 2013. Mastering multiple roles and improvisation, Raies has taken on many screens in 2010, participating in films such as “X-Large”, “Wahed Saheh” (The Whole One), “Taraf Talet” (Third Side) and “Al Maslaha” (The Benefit).

“Ali, the Goat and Ibrahim”

The movie is about Ali, a man who believes his late girlfriend’s soul is inside a goat, so he loves it, naming her Nada and talks to it. Many people criticize him for such behavior, until his mother forces him to go to a psychological and spiritual healer: Ibrahim.


Ibrahim suffers from depression and listens to sounds from another world, yet he is incapable of understanding what those messages mean. Together, they embark on a journey of self-discovery and friendship across Egypt. The movie stars Ali Sobhy, Ahmed Magdy and Salwa Mohamed Aly, among others. “Ali, the Goat and Ibrahim” is directed by Sherif el Bendary and written by Ahmed Amer and Ibrahim El-Batout.


“El Baghbaghan” (The Parrot)

Directed by Darin J. Salam and Amjad Al-Raseed, “The Parrot” revolves around a Mizrahi Jewish family that moves from Tunisia to Palestine following the declaration of the state of Israel in 1948. The family tries to settle in the city of Haifa in a home that belonged to a Palestinian family that fled, leaving a blue parrot called Saeed that haunts the family in their new lives.

The 18-minute film depicts Saeed, the talking parrot, which tells stories of the past from when the Palestinian family lived in the house. Released in 2016, “The Parrot” already won the Robert Bosch Stiflung’s Film Prize for Short Fiction Film. “El Baghbaghan” stars famous Tunisian star Hend Sabry and Ashraf Barhoum, among others.