Two Egyptian films — Let’s Talk (2019) and I Am Afraid To Forget Your Face (2020) — will participate in the Berlin Arab Film Festival’s (ALFILM) 12th edition, which is scheduled to take place online between 21 and 30 April 2021.
Directed by Marianne Khoury, Let’s Talk has been screened across many international festivals. It won the Youssef Cherif Rizkallah Audience Award at the Cairo International Film Festival (2019).
Let’s Talk is a documentary that is presented as a conversation between Khoury and her daughter about ordinary things in life: death, life, identity, marriage etc.
Renowned producer and director Khoury comes from a long line of Egyptian well known figures involved in the cinema industry. In a podcast released in December 2020 she said that “While chatting, we dug into the family archives, we focus on the feminine line of the family.”
She added that the aim of the film was to present her mother but went on to portray five generations of the family.
“How can a woman relate to her own family history if all of its facets have already been brought to the cinema screen by her world-famous uncle Youssef Chahine?” reads the film synopsis released by the ALFILM.
“Based on an intimate dialogue with her daughter, a filmmaker in her own right, Khoury explores the complicated relationship to her own mother. Thus, she tells not only the story of her famous family dynasty from a female perspective, but also reflects on the complex relationships between mothers, daughters, art, and life.”
In Berlin, Let’s Talk will be screened within the ALFILM Official Selection
Let's Talk
Directed by Sameh Alaa, short film I Am Afraid to Forget Your Face focuses on a young man, Adam, on a tough journey to reunite with his lover after 82 days of separation. The film was co-written by Alaa and Mohamed Fawzy.
The film had its major success at the Cannes Film Fetsival, where it was awarded the Palme d’Or. It was also nominated to many other recognitions, winning the Best Arab Film award at El-Gouna Film Festival (2020), and a prize at the Moscow International Film Festival (2020).
I Am Afraid to Forget Your Face stars Nourhan Ahmed and Seif Hemeda.
I Am Afraid To Forget Your Face
In its 12th edition, ALFILM will screen over 30 films from numerous Arab countries.
Dubbed as the ‘Home Edition’ due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this will be the first time for the festival to stream films online.
According to the festival’s organisers, “all films will be streamed online on Indiekino Club, a new platform for Berlin cinemas. They will be available only in Germany during the entire period of the festival and with an individual limit of views per film.”
Check the festival’s trailer below:
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