IFFR and IDFA screen films in the Arab world

International Film Festival Rotterdam / International Documentary Festival Amsterdam

PRESS RELEASE October 26, 2012

IFFR and IDFA screen films in the Arab world

The travelling film programme Cinema Mondial Tour by the Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) and the IDFA Fund is now entering its third edition. In addition to Central and Southern Africa, this autumn the successful Tour will for the first time take in a number of countries in Northern Africa and the Middle East. Through these Funds, IFFR and IDFA support the realisation of film projects from developing countries and screen the completed films in the Netherlands. The two Funds have been jointly organising the Cinema Mondial Tour since 2010.

After two Tours of African countries south of the Sahara, the Funds decided to take the Cinema Mondial Tour (CMT) into a new region, namely several countries in the northern part of Africa and in the Middle East. In doing so, the CMT is acting in cooperation with the Network of Arab Arthouse Screens (NAAS), which aims to facilitate the screening of art house films in countries such as Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, the Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan and Syria. The film programme of the Cinema Mondial Tour (see the summary below) includes films from this region, along with films from the other parts of the world where the HBF and IDFA Fund are active.

This tour in cooperation with the NAAS network started in the first week of October, and will feature screenings in:

• Morocco – Ecole supérieure des Arts Visuels de Marrakech – October-December period 2012
• Morocco – Cinematheque de Tanger – February 2013
• Egypt – Cinematheque – October-November period 2012
• Sudan – Sudan Film Factory – to be confirmed
• Lebanon – Metropolis Cinema – January 2013
• United Arab Emirates – The Pavilion Downtown Dubai – November-December period 2012
• Jordan – Al Balad Theater – November 2012
• Tunisia – Cinemad'art – October 2012
• Palestine – Yabous Cultural Center – to be confirmed

The Cinema Mondial Tour has already been a feature of various festivals in Africa and is set to take in several more. For full tour details, see http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/professionals/hubert_bals_fund/cinema-mondial-tour-cmt/


The Cinema Mondial Tour 2012-2013 film programme:

Fiction films supported by the Hubert Bals Fund:
DE JUEVES A DOMINGO – Dominga Sotomayor, 2012, Chile (Hivos Tiger Award winner 2012)
GOODBYE – Mohammad Rasoulof, 2011, Iran
QARANTINA – Oday Rasheed, 2010, Iraq
WINTER VACATION – Li Hongqi, 2010, China
TILVA ROSH – Nikola Ležaic, 2010, Serbia

Documentaries supported by the IDFA Fund:
DOLLS, A WOMAN FROM DAMASCUS – Diana El Jeiroudi, Syria, 2008
KING NAKI AND THE THUNDERING HOOVES – Tim Wege, South Africa, 2011
LAST TRAIN HOME – Lixin Fan, Canada, China, 2009
THE CITY OF PHOTOGRAPHERS – Sebastian Moreno, Chile, 2006
THE INVISIBLE POLICEMAN – Laith El-Juneidi, Palestine/United Arab Emirates, 2011


The Hubert Bals Fund is supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Hivos Culture Fund, Stichting DOEN, Stichting Dioraphte, MEDIA Mundus and Lions Club Rotterdam.

The IDFA Fund is supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Hivos Culture Fund, Stichting DOEN, the Culture of Resistance Network, Media Mundus and CBA Worldview.

(End of press release)

For further information and images of the Cinema Mondial Tour, contact: IDFA / Laura van Halsema: +31 (0)20 6273329 / [email protected] or IFFR / Bert-Jan Zoet: +31 (0)10 8909090 / [email protected]