'Inshallah a Boy', 'Black Light' among Venice Final Cut winners

Final Cut of the Venice Film Festival, dedicated to films in post-production from African and Arab countries, wrapped up its 10th edition anniversary on September 5. As festival director Alberto Barbera welcomed the audience to "the final stage of the Final Cut", the La Biennale di Venezia prize - and a cash prize of €5,000 - went to "Inshallah a Boy", directed by .

Jurors Claire Diao, Rasha Salti and Gaetano Maiorino praised him for "direction and performance brilliant, tackling a dramatic social issue and honoring the resilience of women in a conservative context.”

The film, a co-production between Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, is supervised by Rula Nasser for The Imaginarium Films.

"We're just proud to have created something that speaks to people", he said. she told Variety after the ceremony.

"We are still a conservative society, but this protagonist, this woman, she is strong. She decides that she needs to stand up and say, "I have rights too."

In "Inshallah a Boy", Nawal, a mother and housewife, mourns her dead husband when she discovers that she could also lose her house. This is all because of inheritance law, which states that if she has no sons, her husband's family can claim most of the inheritance.

"This is the house she bought, with her own money. Those laws were created so long ago and they just don't apply anymore,” director Amjad Al Rasheed added, with Nasser pointing out that many women are actively trying to change it.

"If, God forbid, my father were to die, my brother would inherit twice as much." The clerics argue that it is because a man is responsible for a family. But we are women and we work now, and we support our children. »

The upcoming drama was also awarded by the El Gouna Film Festival and the International Festival de Films de Fribourg, as well as supported by Oticons, which will allow her to collaborate with the composers represented by the company.

"Black Light" by Karim Bensalah, about an Algerian student living in France who was threatened with expulsion, was also noticed. Sold by The Party Film Sales and produced by Oualid Baha for Tact Production, it won awards from Laser Film, offering €15,000 for color correction, MAD Solutions, Sub-Ti Ltd. and Sub-Ti Access Srl, Rai Cinema and the Red Sea Fund.

Thierno Souleymane Diallo's documentary "Le Cimetière du Cinéma" (France, Senegal, Guinea) won multiple awards as well as with the kind permission of the Cinémathèque Afrique of the French Institute, the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF), the International Film Festival of Amiens and, finally, Eye on Films .

"My family was convinced that I was wasting my time focusing on movies. Then I discovered that there was this film, the very first in Guinea, and nobody knew anything about it. I needed to know if it was real", said the director, referring to "Mouramani" by Mamadou Touré and the research that followed.

“'The Cemetery of Cinema' is a film about me, but also about my country and maybe- be the history of cinema in general."

While the Beirut-centric story "Suspended" by Myriam El Hajj - produced by Myriam Sassine ( Abbout Productions) and Carine Ruszniewski (Go Go Go Films) - will be supported by Mactari Mixing Auditorium and Titra Film, the documentary "Land of Women" also caught the eye, Oticons and MAD Solutions having decided to join forces and collaborating with filmmakers.

Directed by Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir, it sees a group of girls who form an all-female troupe street theater – a rather unusual sight in their ultra-conservative Egyptian village. The film is produced by Felucca Films, in co-production with Dolce Vita Films and Magma Films.

"We have worked with many feminist organizations, those that support women in the arts and m ...