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      Kaleem Aftab

      Kaleem Aftab

      Contributor
      Location
      London
      Kaleem is the author of an authorised biography of Spike Lee titled Spike Lee: That’s My Story and I’m Sticking To It. He selects films for the East End Film Festival and gives programming advice to festivals around the globe. He has been working as a freelance journalist specialising in Arab, European and American indie cinema since 1999.
      Follow on XInstagramLinkedIn

      Articles

      Debbie Berman persuaded director Ryan Coogler to reshoot the climactic battle scene to include female Jabari warrior. Film Frame / Marvel Studios
      How the 'Black Panther' ending was reshot to include women

      Berman wore a Captain Marvel t-shirt for days to 'subliminally plant the association between me and Captain Marvel' and get a job on the movie. It worked.

      FilmApril 17, 2019
      London-born director Zeina Durra EPA
      Collaboration between Dubai and Cairo shakes up Mena film industry

      Zeina Durra's new film Luxor is the first production from the partnership, featuring some big names

      FilmApril 03, 2019
      Artist Ai Weiwei's new documentary 'The Rest' highlights concerns from refugees. Getty Images
      How Ai Weiwei is shining a light on the plight of refugees

      The Chinese artist examines the harrowing effects of displacement in his latest work

      FilmMarch 30, 2019
      Saudi Arabia's affordable housing initiative is driving demand for low- to middle-income geared projects in Jeddah, according to CBRE.Getty
      Saudi Arabia announces Red Sea International Film Festival

      The first edition of the Jeddah festival will be in 2020, and it will be an annual affair

      FilmMarch 27, 2019
      Ilhan Omar with her supporters before being elected to Congress last year. Reuters
      The filmmaker who followed the trajectory of 'fearless' Ilhan Omar

      Director Norah Shapiro tells us the story behind her documentary ‘Time for Ilhan’

      FilmMarch 25, 2019
      Jordan Peele says ‘Us’ can work on different levels. Getty
      Searing social commentary: inside the mind of Jordan Peele

      The directer says ‘Us’ is a little more of a Rorschach test. He tallks us through its sinister undertones

      FilmMarch 20, 2019
      A still from ‘Photograph’ starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Sanya Malhotra
      Ritesh Batra returns from Hollywood to his roots in new flick 'Photograph'

      Batra has worked with Hollywood’s elite, but the director tells us why he is happy to go back to what he knows best

      FilmMarch 14, 2019
      A still from ‘Marjoun and the Flying Headscarf.’ Courtesy Dubai International Film Festival
      Director Susan Youssef on identity, isolation and her new film

      We talk to director about identity, isolation and her new film that was 17 years in the making

      FilmMarch 11, 2019
      ‘Wall’ depicts the barrier in cartoon form. Courtesy National Film Board of Canada
      'Wall': the cartoon film adaptation about the Palestinian apartheid

      Filmmaker Cam Christiansen has taken Sir David Hare’s monologue and spent the last seven years using groundbreaking animation to bring it to life

      FilmFebruary 27, 2019
      Alex Honnold peers over the edge of Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park after climbing 2000 feet up from the valley floor. National Geographic / Jimmy Chin.
      Free Solo: the Oscar-winning climbing film that Abu Dhabi helped produce

      Kaleem Aftab speaks to Alex Honnold, the world's most distinguished rope-less rock climber, about achieving the impossible in the Image Nation-produced documentary that is now up for a Bafta

      FilmFebruary 25, 2019
      ‘Of Fathers and Sons’ is the second film in the Syria at War trilogy by director Talal Derki. Courtesy Filmproduk
      'Of Fathers and Sons' filmmaker risked all to document children at war

      Talal Derki presented himself as a war photographer to the leadership of Al Qaeda group Al Nusra to make his Oscar-nominated documentary

      FilmFebruary 24, 2019
      Richard E Grant and Melissa McCarthy in ‘Can You Forgive Me’. Shutterstock
      Oscars 2019: Richard E Grant on finally being acknowledged after four decades

      Grant has had a long and distinguished career - but 2019 is the first time he's been nominated for an Oscar

      FilmFebruary 24, 2019
      Hassan Fazili, with his daughters Nargis and Zahra, and wife Fatima Hussaini. Courtesy Old Chilly Pictures.
      Midnight Traveller: A brutally honest portrayal of a refugee family's three-year ordeal fleeing Afghanistan

      A new film documents one family's bid to flee their homeland and seek refuge in Europe - shot entirely on smartphones

      FilmFebruary 18, 2019
      ‘An Open Rose’ by Ghassan Salhab is a collection of fragments rather than a biopic on Rosa Luxemburg. It features letters written by her and writings about her. Getty
      The new film honouring the life of German socialist Rosa Luxemburg

      'Those letters, they taught me about the things I didn’t like about the struggle,' says director Ghassan Salhab

      FilmFebruary 17, 2019
      French film director Agnes Varda reacts as she receives a Honorary Award during the 17th Marrakech International Film Festival on December 2, 2018 (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP)
      Agnes Varda: The French director making acclaimed movies at 90

      As the celebrated ‘Faces Places’ comes to the UAE, the filmmaker is finally getting the recognition she deserves

      FilmFebruary 13, 2019
      More Articles

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