Aflam Festival

Rooted in human realities specific to each of the territories explored by filmmakers from Arab countries or the diaspora, cinema is a window on the world, with an artistic and political framework. Through the prism of intimacy, portraiture and storytelling, the films we have seen question the history and current relevance of the ongoing conflicts that are challenging political balances and violently disrupting people’s lives. While the murderous and merciless war against the Palestinians continues before our very eyes, Syria, finally rid of the criminal dictatorship of the Assad clan in power for 54 years, unexpectedly and still fragilely opens the window of hope for the country’s inhabitants and exiles. What do the films tell us about the great social movements that have recently swept through all the peoples of the region aspiring to live in democracy at last, or to throw off the weight of the colonial legacy? How, at what point in time, do these films take up positions of identity – in everyday life brought to the screen, or in the filmmakers’ relationship with creation? Finally, can filmmakers shed light on our relationship with the world, and help us overcome the obstacles of each life course? All these questions run through the works of filmmakers from different generations presented in this 12th edition, which runs from April 19 to 27.

After a number of Itinérances in the region and in Marseille with the Vives Archives cycle from April 19, the April 23 screening at the Mucem opens the festival sequence dedicated to discovering the production of recent films, often unreleased in Marseille, and welcoming the great Tunisian actress Fatma Ben Saïdane, our guest of honor, who will present three feature films and a masterclass. Opening the evening, we turn our attention to genre cinema with a strange social thriller, Seeking Haven for Mr. Rambo, the first feature from Egyptian director Khaled Mansour. Other films include Samira El Mouzghibati’s Les Miennes, Yaser Kassab’s Chasing the Dazzling Light and Elettra Bisogno and Hazem Alqaddi’s The Roller, the Life, the Fight, which take a highly personal approach to the theme of emigration, Dhia Jerbi’s Derrière le soleil (Behind the Sun) and Saber Zammouri’s La Guêpe et l’orchidée (The Wasp and the Orchid) plunge us directly into social issues specific to each of the countries concerned.