The 12th ALFILM is just around the corner and is knocking on your doors. Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, the doors of the cinemas remain closed. Instead, the festival hopes to be welcomed on your screens through Indiekino Club, a new streaming platform for Berlin cinemas, and provides festival flair in the comfort of your homes.
ALFILM will bring a selection of fresh films from the Arab world. Despite the current difficulties and restrictions, several films from the 12th ALFILM Home Edition have conquered festivals and audiences worldwide. Striking cinematography, gripping stories and bold statements are at the heart of this year's Official Selection alongside with strong protagonists who defy all odds and fight for change. Dealing with a wide variety of themes like migration, gender roles, or the question of memory, the contemporary fiction and documentary films of the OFFICIAL SELECTION paint a vivid and personal picture of a changing region.
The short film program Fighting Against All Odds portrays children, men, and women who are placed in challenging situations and who have to find ways to overcome the obstacles that stand in their ways.
This year's SPOTLIGHT entitled Genres Revisited: Visionary Imagery and Fragmented Narratives in Contemporary Arab cinema takes a deeper look into fiction films that revisit mainstream genres through an author's perspective. In these highly aesthetic films, the conventions of genres are but an excuse to deal with taboo political and social questions. A short-film program dedicated to Science fiction focuses on disrupted worlds.
Daily film talks with the directors and two panel discussions will complement the online film program.
About ALFILM
Since December 2020 Karin Schyle and Pascale Fakhry lead ALFILM – Arab film festival Berlin as a team.
Karin Schyle, ALFILM's new Executive Director, was between 2004 and 2009 the Festival Manager of the goEast – Film Festival of Central and Eastern European Film in Frankfurt/Wiesbaden. From 2010 till 2021 she was the Coordinator and Curator of the Film Prize of the Robert Bosch Stiftung, a year-long training and competition program for German-Arab co-productions.
Pascale Fakhry, ALFILM's new Artistic Director, holds a Phd in Film and Gender Studies from Paris 3 University. She started to work with ALFILM in 2013 as a Programmer and an Organizer, all the while being active as a Film editor. From 2015 until August 2020 she lived in Beirut, where she led the project “Cinema on the Road” for Metropolis Cinema.
12th ALFILM – Arabisches Filmfestival Berlin
21st – 30th of April 2021
Home Edition on www.indiekino-club.de
Screening fee: 4.50 euros
All films are available only in Germany, during the entire period of the festival and with an individual limit of views per film. “The Man Who Sold HIs Skin” will only be available until 25 April 2021.
The complete program and press material can be found on www.alfilm.berlin
Further information on access to the films, the film talks and the panel discussions will be available shortly on www.alfilm.berlin
