Among the 248 films to screen at the BFI London Film Festival is Tala Hadid’s gripping feature The Narrow Frame of Midnight, starring Egyptian-British actor Khalid Abdalla.

The festival, currently in its 58th edition, is scheduled to run between 8-19 October.

The Moroccan-Iraqi director follows three characters, each longing for something they have lost. Their journeys lead them from Morocco to Istanbul, across Kurdistan and into Iraq, punctuating points of conflict across the Arab World.

Zacariya, played by Abdalla, is a Moroccan-Iraqi writer on a search mission for his brother, adamant to rescue him from joining the jihadist armies; Aicha (Fadwa Boujouane) is a young orphan on the run, wandering the forests of Morocco after managing to escape from the criminals that abducted her; Judith (Marie-Josée Croze) is Zacaria’s lover whom he left behind when he launched the pursuit of his brother.

The Narrow Frame of Midnight premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this year.

Hadid graduated from Columbia University in New York City. Her previous works include Sacred Poet, a documentary feature that she directed and co-produced, and Your Dark Hair Ihsan, her thesis film that went on to win numerous awards, including the Panorama Best Short Film Award at the Berlin Film Festivalin 2005.

Abdalla is most noted for his roles in Hollywood hits United 93, The Kite Runner and The Green Zone. In 2011, he was one of the Tahrir protesters featured in Jehane Noujaim’s Oscar-nominated documentaryThe Square.

This is Abdalla’s first collaboration with Hadid.

A full schedule of the film screenings can be foundhere.

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