International Competition
50 or Two Whales Meet on the Beach
MENA Premiere<br /> Mexico<br /> Fiction, 2020, Color, 122 min</p> <p>Original Language: Spanish</p> <p>Director: Jorge Cuchi<br /> Synopsis: Inspired from a true story, two teenagers, Félix and Elisa, meet as they both play the infamous deadly mobile game: The Blue Whale. Their relationship and love grow as they get closer to the game’s final stage, suicide.<br /> Based on the infamous phone game that shook the world, The Blue Whale, director Jorge Cuchi explores this tragic story in a very intimate, poetic, and sometimes shocking manner. The film takes us into a deeper look on teenage psyche and depression from their perspective.<br />
Fog
<b>Iraq/Lebanon<br /> Director: Ruba Atiyeh<br /> Producer: Huda Al-Kadhimi</b></p> <p><b>FOG tells the story of four exiled Assyrians/Syriacs in four foggy cities. They are visited by a mysterious guest after each of them has been long separated from a loved one. She works through each scenario they imagined of her to bring out secrets that she can align with voices she hears. As the visitor follows traces of their history in their homeland, she develops an intense connection with a militia member in the old homeland.<br /> </b>
I Can Hear Your Voice Still
<b>Egypt<br /> Director: Sameh Alaa<br /> Producer: Mark Lotfy</b><br /> <b><br /> Rim, a sheltered teenage girl, takes matters into her hands when faced with her father’s illness. She sneaks out and drives her father’s taxi through the night embarking on a dangerous journey in an attempt to raise enough money to get her father hospitalized. Through that journey Rim discovers a world of freedom and danger. With undaunted courage, Rim challenges social norms and faces prejudices and harassments all the while struggling against internalized misogyny that her own father helped create</b>
The Legend of Zeinab and Noah
<b>Egypt<br /> Director: Yousry Nasrallah<br /> Producer: Ali el Arabi<b><br /> In a small town in Upper Egypt, on the Wednesday and Thursday preceding Good Friday, Zeinab, a 13 year old adolescent who strongly believes that myths and superstitions are real, with the help of Noah, her 16 year old Christian neighbor, abducts her mother’s body. Noah’s father died in a fire, and everyone in the small town believes that he died because he wanted to transform his house into a church, and that the house is cursed and haunted by a demon who burns it over and over again. During the escape journey, both Zeinab and Noah are confronted with many of the myths and fears they so strongly believed were true. They form a strong bond and Nouh discovers that the demon haunting his house is not from the Underworld.<br /> </b>
Passage
<b>Syria<br /> Director: Amr Ali<br /> Producer: Hatem Ali</b></b></p> <p><b>Farah tries to convince her husband to have an embryo transplant. Her husband refuses. Farah meets Amer, their relationship strengthens and leads to an illegal pregnancy, after which they decide to travel. To secure the money, Farah pressures her husband to sell the car under the pretext of performing the transplant. Amer travels alone. Farah turns to the transplant center and agrees with the doctor to claim the operation was successful in exchange for the donation of her kidney.</b>
Scheherazade Goes Silent
<b>Jordan/ Palestine<br /> Director: Amira Diab<br /> Producer: Raya Aburub<br /> <b><br /> On the thousandth night, Shams, who plays her dream role as the exotic Scheherazade, is faulty pregnant. Her dream becomes a nightmare that she must wake up before it breaks her.</b></b>
Snow white
<b>Egypt<br /> Taghrid Abouelhassan<br /> Miral El Fakharany <b><br /> Iman, an Egyptian woman who hates her looks searches for love online through a Muslim dating website. She reveals everything about herself except for her dwarfism. Iman finds herself in a love triangle with Omar. a tall man she falls for online whom she waits for to fall in love with her before revealing her truth. A dwarf man, who embodies everything she hates about herself falls for Iman. Iman rejects his proposal because she would never marry a man with dwarfism. Iman fights the system to receive a loan to marry off her only sister. Omar arrives in Egypt to propose. Iman reveals her dwarfism.<br /> </b>