Forthcoming Events
and Screenings
Ali’s Secret: Mona Daoud
SCREENING + Q&A
“Some secrets must never be left hanging”
A couple’s strained relationship is pushed to its limits when Ali’s long estranged friend shows up to stay with them for the weekend, unsettling the already turbulent waters and bringing to the surface a long deeply buried secret.
Ali’s Secret went through so many obstacles before it was finally released in 2020. Since it was written and shot at the end of 2017, it has gone through five edits, and had to await fund raising for post production. Its choppy dialogue, titled frames, and beautiful music score by the talented Dina Ibrahim are some of the film’s signature marks. Written without bearing in mind Egypt’s censorship institution, the film is genuinely truthful in content and language and depicts a common story that remains untold in the Arab world. It was shown at two film festivals and although the director would love to release it to the public in Egypt, certain laws restrict her from doing so without presenting danger to herself and to the actors. So the film, just like it’s name, continues to be a secret.
Mona Daoud is an Egyptian director, writer, and actress who shifted to filmmaking in 2017 after a 20 year career in writing, publishing and advertising amongst the odd diversions here and there, where she taught English and Art to Bedouins in Sinai, had a dog boarding business, studied dog behavior, and worked on a farm for rescue animals. Her short film Serr Ali (Ali’s Secret) is her first film as both writer and director. She has directed a music video for the song In A Box by Nadya Shanab, and a horsemanship web series titled Horse Moves and is currently developing her second short film titled Alone alongside her first feature length film. As an actress she appeared in the feature film Abdo & Saneya, currently in post production, and starred in two short films, The Push, and Happy Birthday Jesus. Her film Ali’s Secret, screened at LiftOff Sessions Festival, and KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival. Born in Alexandria, Egypt in 1981, Daoud currently lives in Cairo with her five rescues, a dog, three cats, and a tortoise whom she has named Oscar the Grouch.
I'm Migrant: Afifa Aleiby
I’m Migrant: Afifa Aleiby - Episode 3 of Yamam Nabeel’s multimedia project in which he pieces together his heritage through interviews, portraits and conversations with exiled Iraqi artists, writers, and intellectuals. In this a deeply personal project, Yamam shares the Iraq he missed out on, as the young son of exiled Iraqi poet Nabeel Yasin, a parallel Iraq created by these artists he grew up with in Europe, through analogue film portraits and a film documentary series, as well as original artwork and installations.
Afifa Aleiby was born in Basra, Iraq in 1953. After finishing school, she moved to Baghdad to study at the Fine Arts Institute, while working as an illustrator for a newspaper.
In 1974 she received a scholarship to stud Monumental Art at the renowned Surikov Institute in Moscow. During the 1980's she lived in Rome and Florence in Italy and briefly taught at the Fine Arts Institute in Aden, Yemen before moving and settling in the Netherlands in the late 1990's.
She has lived in exile since leaving Iraq for Moscow, and returned to her homeland for the first time in 2004. She lives and works near The Hague in the Netherlands.
The Woodman: Koutaiba Al-Janabi
SCREENING + Q&A
“Nobody was born with the dream of becoming a refugee”
The Woodman is a feature film with a thriller theme with a life size wooden dummy as the protagonist. It is a fairy tale about the outsiders in the world represented by the Woodman. This story is the reverse of the usual representation – the Woodman is now on the search of his home, chased by evil powers invisible in the film, he wants to go back to his forest, he wants to go home.
The protagonist of the film is a life-size wooden dummy, that does not speak or move. His feelings, emotions are expressed through the composition and lighting, editing and sound. After the deluge of images of refugees in the media, Koutaiba was looking to condense the feelings of the displaced person and show their innermost feelings, rather than holding the camera yet again up to their face.
Koutaiba Al-Janabi was born in Baghdad, studied photography and cinematography in Budapest, Hungary. He wrote his PhD thesis on the aesthetics of Arabic cinema. He now lives in London and Baghdad. Koutaiba has worked as cinematographer on feature films and as producer/director for television companies. He directs and produces his own award winning short films, documentaries and feature films and he is also a well-regarded still photographer.
Tabbouleh & Pie / Beneath a Mother’s Feet
SCREENINGS + Q&A
The life of a retired man in London is interrupted when a new neighbour from Iraq moves in next door...
Tabbouleh & Pie - Richard’s life of a re'red insurance manager in London is interrupted when Fa'n, a stage director from Iraq, moves in next door. Through her vivacious and extrovert nature, she challenges Richard to connect with his less reserved self. Dir: Ja‘far ‘Abd al-Hamid
Iraqi-born Ja’far ‘Abd al-Hamid was drawn to film studies whilst comple'ng a degree in Social Policy in London. His transition into film studies was paralleled with his writing and directing a number of shorts, before making his feature debut, Mesocafé (2011). His films have screened in festivals across the pond, in the USA, as well as the UAE, Qatar, and the UK. Ja’far’s second feature, Kal & Cambridge (2024), is currently going through the final stages of post- produc'on.
Arij Al-Soltan, a British-Iraqi producer-director based in the UK, has carved a dis'nc've path in both independent and mainstream media. Since venturing into her own film projects in 2017, she has developed a notable body of work that offers unique viewpoints and deep self-introspec'on. Arij collaborates with emerging talents to create emo'onally complex and nuanced stories that reflect the wider world.
I'm Migrant: Faisel Laibi Sahi
I’m Migrant: Faisel Laibi Sahi - Episode 4 of Yamam Nabeel’s multimedia project in which he pieces together his heritage through interviews, portraits and conversations with exiled Iraqi artists, writers, and intellectuals. In this a deeply personal project, Yamam shares the Iraq he missed out on, as the young son of exiled Iraqi poet Nabeel Yasin, a parallel Iraq created by these artists he grew up with in Europe, through analogue film portraits and a film documentary series, as well as original artwork and installations.
Faisel Laibi Sahi is an Iraqi painter, born in Basra, in 1945. After graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts at the University of Baghdad in 1971 he worked as an illustrator in the Iraqi press. He moved to Paris in 1974 to attend the Ecole Des Beaux-Arts and Universite de la Sorbonne. He spent 10 years in France,before moving to Italy, and then Algeria with his wife Aisha. Faisel and Aisha settled to London in 1991, where they still live and work.