Languages Archives: Arabic

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Seen in black and white, two men stand in a room with one speaking into a microphone.

My Father and Qaddafi

  Jihan

  U.S., Libya     88 minutes

Synopsis

​​When Jihan was six years old, her father, Mansur Rashid Kikhia, a notable Libyan politician and human rights lawyer, flew to Egypt and never returned. In the late 1970s, during the brutal dictatorship of Colonel Muammar Qaddafi, Kikhia had served as Libya’s ambassador to the United Nations until finally resigning in protest and moving to America where he helped lead a peaceful opposition movement. Then, in 1993, he vanished.

In this captivating film, part political mystery and part personal exploration, filmmaker Jihan sets out to find the truth behind her father’s disappearance. With the help of her mother, a strong-willed Syrian American artist, Jihan pieces together the history of the father she barely remembers and the troubled politics of their past. Combining a superb collection of archival footage and intimate, revealing interviews, My Father and Qaddafi takes the audience on a raw and reflective journey about a daughter’s struggle to connect with her father, a man caught between autocracy and resistance.

 English, Arabic, French with subtitles

Screenings & Events

Media

Film Credits

  •   Jihan
  •   Alessandro Dordoni, Chloë Lambourne, Nicole Hálová
  •   Micah Walker, Mike McLaughlin
  •   Aleksander Pankowski vel Jankowski, Barna Zsolt Szoke, Bisan Toron, Dominik Svoboda, Didier Monge, Fryderyk Lutyński, Grzegorz Łapiński, Kristjan Ruus, Magda Szczebiot, Magdalena Sowul, Michał Ostrowski, Salka Valsdóttir, Simone Giuliani, Tiago Correia-Paulo, Zuzanna Ossowska
  •   Dave Guenette, Mohamed Soueid, Sol Guy
  •   Desert Power
  •   https://www.myfatherandqaddafi.com

Sponsors

Program Partner

Logo: WTTW (2019)

Program Patron

Cynthia Stone Raskin

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A man with a grey beard looks up towards the sky intensely. Behind him is the sea and the sunset on the horizon.

I’m Glad You’re Dead Now

  Tawfeek Barhom

  France, Greece, Palestine     13 minutes

Synopsis

When their father dies, two brothers must return home to face their complicated past and find a way to move beyond their history. Palestinian actor Tawfeek Barhom makes his directorial debut starring alongside his real-life brother in this incredibly powerful tale of grief that won the Short Film Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

This film screens as part of Shorts Program 8: Drama.

  

 Arabic 

Film Credits

  •   Tawfeek Barhom, Akis Polizos, Stylianos Kotionis, Alexandre Perrier
  •   Tawfeek Barhom
  •   Lambis Charalambidis
  •   Giorgos Valsamis
  •   Tawfeek Barhom, Ashraf Barhom
  •   Andy Shortwave

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Shorts 8: Drama

  Various

  China, Croatia, France, Greece, Hong Kong, Palestine, Philippines, Spain     89 minutes

Synopsis

In these five shorts, exceptional international filmmakers explore subjects ranging from sex and war to grief and hippos. Whether employing dark humor or grounded realism, these stories speak to the complexities of the human experience.

In a building housing an old cinema on its last legs, a child discovers their true identity through the magic of the movies and the quiet curiosities of everyday life in Honey, My Love, So Sweet. In Hippopotami, a young girl sets out on a highly anticipated trip to the zoo when she comes to understand a new side of her parents’ inner lives. When their father dies, two brothers must return home to face their complicated past and find a way to move beyond their history in I’m Glad You’re Dead Now. The Cow takes place in occupied Croatia in 1991, where an army major reluctantly cares for a left-behind bovine in a hastily abandoned home, forcing him to face his repressed guilt. In Made of Sugar, Maria, a neurodivergent woman, decides to claim autonomy over her own body, refusing the societal norms and structural barriers telling her she can’t.

 Arabic, Catalan, Croatian, Filipino, Mandarin Chinese, Tagalog 

Content Considerations

Screenings & Events

Screening

Sat, Oct 25 @ 8:00pm

at AMC NEWCITY 14, Screen 01
Venue information...

Scheduled to Attend:
Hippopotami producer Ying Lou;
Honey, My Love, So Sweet producer Jelsy Arcales;
Made of Sugar director Clàudia Cedó;
The Cow director Pavo Marinkovic & actor Stjepan Perić

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A woman kneels in grass, alongside others scattered around, all wearing black. Behind her, a woman stands and watches her.

Duck Duck Goose Irtizaz

  Sara Balghonaim

  Saudi Arabia     13 minutes

Synopsis

Juju, a recently divorced young woman, is pressured by her mother to make an impression as an eligible wife while attending a funeral. Chaos and hilarity ensues as she competes with several other prospects to win the approval of the mother of the coveted potential husband by any means necessary.

This film screens as part of Shorts Program 5: Comedy.

 Arabic 

Film Credits

  •   Karen Madar, Khalid Alsudairy, Jumana Zahid
  •   Sara Balghonaim
  •   Sara Balghonaim, Joecar Hanna Zhang, Khalid Alsudairy
  •   Sophia Bennett Holmes, Marina Xarri
  •   Rand Algosaibi, Reem Alhabib, Leena Alnasser
  •   Quelque Bourdon

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Shorts 5: Comedy

  Various

  France, Ireland, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, U.S.     87 minutes

Synopsis

Laugh away the woes of the world with this eclectic collection of comedies. From the absurd anxieties of wannabe filmmakers to the ridiculous delusions of the recently dumped, these stories are insightful, unexpected, and delightfully irreverent.

In Nervous Energy, two fiercely ambitious aspiring filmmakers make a pact to break up with their boyfriends to free them up for the next phase of their careers. In 1:10, a schoolyard tussle between two friends escalates when the kids’ self-righteous and macho fathers get involved. Heartsick follows Jess who, spiraling from a recent breakup, writes a detailed email to her ex about how well she is doing, with a few embellishments here and there. When Jamie finds a mysterious trombone case one night—the contents of which might change his life forever—he convenes an emergency meeting with his friends in Moonluck Wonton. In Duck Duck Goose, recently divorced Juju is pressured by her mother to make an impression as an eligible wife while attending a funeral. A couple is put to the test, literally, when they agree to participate in a joint therapy session that will be observed by an international panel of psychology experts in Exam.

 Arabic, English, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Swiss-German, Turkish 

Screenings & Events

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