Event Details
May 27, 2021 – May 30, 2021
Virtual
A curated short films programme accompanying our panel on speculative fiction in Arab films. This programme is available for international viewing.
Screenings:
Blaxites
Countries: Canada
Director: Josh Lyon
Length: 12 mins
Synopsis: Jai’s celebratory social media post affects her access to vital medication. Her attempts to circumvent the system leads to even more dire consequences.The Surveillance Studies Center and the Big Data Surveillance Project present A Screening Surveillance Film. For more information, visit: screeningsurveillance.com.
Fear: Audibly//الخوف: صوتيا
Countries: Saudi Arabia
Director: Mahaa El Saati
Length: 22 mins
Synopsis: Anxious that Judgment Day is on the horizon, Amal keenly awaits to hear the Trumpet of Doom; One day, unexpected guests invade her office space to confirm her fears.
The Poet and the Swan//الشاعر و البجعة
Country: Syria
Director: Ayham Jabr
Length: 41 mins
Synopsis: In a parallel and imagined world, a revolution has triumphed. A revolution based and fuelled by hatred and ignorance, in all countries of Asia, the time of Asyatopia. The dystopian short film is inspired by the writings of George Orwell and the poems of Nizar Qabbani. The events of the film take place in a country in Asia after the victory of a black revolution – in it, thinking and feeling was forbidden, war ragged on, permanent revolutionary censorship, manipulation of the masses … and lies. The life of the film’s protagonist is turned upside down … after he receives a paper written on it one word … a word that can cause him to disappear from the face of the world.
Last Days of the Man of Tomorrow//آخر أيّام رجل الغَد
Country: Lebanon, Germany
Director: Fadi Baki
Length: 23 mins
Synopsis: A young filmmaker investigates the legend of Manivelle, an automaton gifted to Lebanon in 1945 that still haunts an abandoned mansion in Beirut. After being coaxed back out into the limelight, the people who knew him come forward to speak their mind, and the myth that Manivelle has constructed around himself begins to unravel. A science-fiction mockumentary out of Lebanon, Last Days of the Man of Tomorrow is a funny, sad and weird look at the life of the Middle East’s first and only living robot and the stories you won’t find in your history books.
Co-presented with Breakthroughs Film Festival
