CineMAS — The Alternative Film Festival, will return to Manarat Al Saadiyat for its fourth season, this time kicking off with a programme of short films made in the UAE.
The annual event, known for showcasing the best of independent world cinema, will run from June 6 to 12. It will retain some curatorial elements from last year, including thematic double-bills and a dedicated programme for classic Arab cinema.
This year, however, short films will also been incorporated into the programme.
UAE Stories
A series of seven UAE-made short films will be the first screenings at the festival, in a free opening event on June 5. The titles explore concepts of home, family, the environment, community and belonging.
“The programme focuses on films made in the UAE by filmmakers of different nationalities and not just Emiratis,” says Hind Mezaina, who is curating the event for the second consecutive year.
“It’s important to see a diverse selection of films and the different types of stories coming out of here, and to also have a dedicated discussion about the filmmakers' inspirations and the current state of filmmaking in the country. More short films are being made here compared to feature films, but they aren’t seen by enough people locally, so I also hope we can discuss this and think of ways of showing short films more often.”
The titles that will be screened are Sarra’a Al Shehhi’s A Small Dream, Rasha Amer’s Osha, Mariam Alawadhi's Mum, Sarah Alhasimi's Why is my Grandfather’s Bed in the Living Room? Priscilla Elias’s Marasim, Faisal Hashmi’s Amber, and Abdulrahman AlMadani's The Monster.
The Opening
Egyptian director Omar El Zohairy’s critically acclaimed Feathers will be the first feature film screening at the festival, where it will mark its UAE premiere. The absurdist black comedy tells the story of a housewife who has to take care of her family after her husband, the authoritarian father figure, is turned into a chicken by magicians at their four-year-old son's birthday party.
“To me it’s important to open the festival with an Arab film, like we did last year," says Mezaina. "The festival is about alternative and independent films and since our two main international films festivals DIFF and ADFF are no more, where we’d see many Arab independent films, I hope this festival can play a small role in showing critically acclaimed independent Arab films, alongside international independent films, too."
Feathers won the Grand Prize at Critics' Week in Cannes in 2021 — the first Egyptian picture to win in this segment of the festival. More recently, it won the awards for best film, director and screenplay at the sixth Critics' Awards for Arab Films, which took place in Cannes on May 22.
The screening directly after Feathers will be of Argentine filmmaker Amalia Ulman’s El Planeta, a dark comedy exploring poverty, female desire and the complex relationships between mothers and daughters. The two films have been thematically paired under the title Family Matters.
The Programme
Each day will feature a thematically curated line-up of short films alongside double-bills. Post-screening discussions with filmmakers will also be held.
“I wanted to stick to the format I created last year,” Mezaina says. “The two [feature] films screening back-to-back have the same theme and are in dialogue with each other. I wanted to also include short films this year, and not as a separate programme, but to be seen before a feature. We don’t often get to see short films on the big screen here, and it’s a way to support independent filmmakers who only make short films.”
The double-bill format will also give the festival a more leisurely pace, Mezaina says. There will be no schedule overlap so visitors won't have to pick one film over another. “It will be more fun and rewarding to watch a double feature, to give them [the audience] an opportunity to experience film-going in a slightly different way,” Mezaina says.
“There’s always a gap between each screening, for time to step out to grab a bite or a drink before the next film.”
Mezaina says part of the reason she reprised the thematic double-bill format was because of how positively it was received last year. However, rather than recycling themes, Mezina drafted a “film wish-list” and then began tracing common elements between the titles.
“We didn’t repeat the same themes,” she says. “Although I kept Homage to Arab Classics because it’s very rare we see older Arab films on the big screen here and to me it’s important to remember or remind viewers that there’s a cinema history we should always think about within context of contemporary cinema.”
This year’s themes include Teens and Screens, Secrets and Lies on June 7, which pairs Egyptian filmmaker Ayten Amin’s Souad with Indonesian director Kamila Andini’s Yuni.
Passage of Time on June 8 groups the short film Somewhere in Time by Emirati filmmaker Nawaf Al Janahi with two feature films by Argentine filmmaker Maria Alvarez: Le Temps Perdu and Las Cinephilas.
Earth, Moon, Mars is the theme of June 9. The programme brings together the documentary Red Heaven by Lauren DeFilippo and Katherine Gorringe with feature film To the Moon by Irish director Tadhg O'Sullivan. Short films Mars, Oman by Spanish director Vanessa del Campo and Space Woman by Lebanese-French filmmaker Hadi Moussally will also be screened as part of this theme.
On June 10, the theme is State of Mind and Place. Sudanese filmmaker Suzannah Mirghani’s short film Virtual Voice will kick off the day, followed by three feature-length films — Norwegian director Truls Krane Meby's Katja Dreams of Waking Up, Italian director Elia Romanelli's Venice Elsewhere and the documentary Bunker by US filmmaker Jenny Perlin.
Art, Music and Counterculture is the theme for June 11. Three short artist films from the UAE will open the day’s programme, followed by An Evening with Laila by Kuwaiti filmmaker Haya Alghanim, Before the Dying of the Light by Moroccan director Ali Essafi, Italo Disco: The Sparkling Sound of the 80s by Italian-German filmmaker Alessandro Melazzini and, finally, Love, Deutschmarks and Death by Turkish-German director Cem Kaya.
The final day of the festival is split into two thematic programmes. The first is an homage to classic Arab Cinema, with staples by two Lebanese greats, including Beirut, The Encounter by Borhane Alaouie and Once Upon a Time, Beirut by Jocelyn Saab.
The second is curated under the theme Family Archives. It includes US filmmaker Ricky D’Ambrose’s The Cathedral and Yemeni-Kenyan director Shaima Al-Tamimi’s short film Don’t Get Too Comfortable. Iranian filmmaker Firouzeh Khosrovani’s Radiograph of a Family will be the concluding film of the festival.
Tickets start at Dh30 for a single-day pass. A Dh150 all-access pass is also available. More information is available at cinemas2022.com
