We don’t want to overwhelm you, but while you’re catching up with our top 50 films of 2023, more cinematic greatness awaits in 2024. Ahead of our 100 most-anticipated films (all of which have yet to premiere), we’re highlighting 30 titles we’ve enjoyed on the festival circuit this last year that either have confirmed 2024 release dates or await a debut date from its distributor. There’s also a handful of films seeking distribution that we hope will arrive in the next 12 months, as can be seen here.
As an additional note, a number of 2023 films that had one-week qualifying runs will also get expanded releases in 2023, including Origin (Jan. 19), Tótem (Jan. 26), Perfect Days (Feb. 7), The Taste of Things (Feb. 9), About Dry Grasses (Feb. 23), Shayda (March 1), La Chimera (March 29), and Robot Dreams.
The Settlers (Felipe Gálvez; Jan. 12)
The barbaric, bloody sins of the past come to define what entities govern certain land today,...
As an additional note, a number of 2023 films that had one-week qualifying runs will also get expanded releases in 2023, including Origin (Jan. 19), Tótem (Jan. 26), Perfect Days (Feb. 7), The Taste of Things (Feb. 9), About Dry Grasses (Feb. 23), Shayda (March 1), La Chimera (March 29), and Robot Dreams.
The Settlers (Felipe Gálvez; Jan. 12)
The barbaric, bloody sins of the past come to define what entities govern certain land today,...
- 1/3/2024
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Happy New Year! As we continue to wrap up 2023 in cinema, we’re also looking toward what awaits in 2024. Ahead of more expansive 2024 previews, we’re taking an in-depth look at this first month of the year. We should also note that a batch of December favorites will continue to expand, including All of Us Strangers, The Zone of Interest, The Sweet East, and American Fiction.
10. Mambar Pierrette (Rosine Mbakam; Jan. 26)
A selection from Cannes, NYFF, and TIFF, Rosine Mbakam’s narrative feature debut will begin its U.S. run at Anthology Film Archives this month. Edward Frumkin said in his NYFF review, “Cameroonian filmmaker Rosine Mbakam uses familiar spaces as microcosms of society. After capturing her subjects in one setting, such as a mall in Chez Jolie Coiffure (2018) and the protagonist’s home in Delphine’s Prayers (2021), her narrative-feature debut Mambar Pierrette foregrounds the eponymous tailor and love for...
10. Mambar Pierrette (Rosine Mbakam; Jan. 26)
A selection from Cannes, NYFF, and TIFF, Rosine Mbakam’s narrative feature debut will begin its U.S. run at Anthology Film Archives this month. Edward Frumkin said in his NYFF review, “Cameroonian filmmaker Rosine Mbakam uses familiar spaces as microcosms of society. After capturing her subjects in one setting, such as a mall in Chez Jolie Coiffure (2018) and the protagonist’s home in Delphine’s Prayers (2021), her narrative-feature debut Mambar Pierrette foregrounds the eponymous tailor and love for...
- 1/2/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
"This is my house and I'm not selling it!" Greenwich Entertainment has revealed an official US trailer for an indie drama from the country of Jordan called Inshallah a Boy, the acclaimed feature directorial debut of Jordanian filmmaker Amjad Al Rasheed. It first premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival in the Critics' Week sidebar, also playing at the TIFF, London, Montclair, Thessaloniki, Stockholm Film Fests. Inshallah a Boy (which translates to "God willing a boy") is about Jordan's inheritance culture under which women are pressured to relinquish their rights to any property to male relatives. A widow named Nawal pretends to be pregnant with a son in order to save her daughter and home from a relative exploiting Jordan's patriarchal inheritance laws. It is also Jordan's official submission for Best International Film at the Academy Awards this year. Mouna Hawa stars as Nawal, joined by Haitham Omari, Yumna Marwan, Salwa Nakkara,...
- 12/17/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
In Inshallah a Boy, a new film from Jordan, a young mother faces some grueling events. It’s set around the bustling capitol, Amman, a place where temperatures are rarely low. One morning, Nawal (Mouna Hawa) goes to wake her husband but finds him lifeless. She soon learns she is set to inherit their house and his truck, but also four overdue payments for the vehicle. The money is owed to the man’s brother, Rifqi (Haitham Omari), who, benefiting from the country’s Sharia inheritance system, can also claim a slice of Nawal’s home. To make matters worse, it transpires that her husband hasn’t been working in weeks and Nawal’s income won’t come close to cutting it. Our hero has two options: sell the truck and pay the debt or convince them all that she’s pregnant with a boy.
If that all sounds like...
If that all sounds like...
- 11/28/2023
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
Winner of the Gan Foundation Award and the Rail d'Or Award for Best Feature Film in Cannes, “Inshallah A Boy” is also Jordan's official submission for the 96th Academy Awards. Rasheed took inspiration from a law in Jordan, where if a woman loses her husband and doesn't have a son, part of the inheritance goes to her in-laws.
“Inshallah A Boy“ is screening at Thessaloniki International Film Festival
This is exactly the situation Nawal, a nurse who takes care of an incapacitated old woman for a living, finds herself in, when her husband dies during his sleep, without leaving a will. Her and her little daughter have to face her husband's brother, Rifqi, who essentially wants to take their home from them and sell it, under the aforementioned law. Her only means to avoid losing her home and even the custody of her daughter is to give birth to a son.
“Inshallah A Boy“ is screening at Thessaloniki International Film Festival
This is exactly the situation Nawal, a nurse who takes care of an incapacitated old woman for a living, finds herself in, when her husband dies during his sleep, without leaving a will. Her and her little daughter have to face her husband's brother, Rifqi, who essentially wants to take their home from them and sell it, under the aforementioned law. Her only means to avoid losing her home and even the custody of her daughter is to give birth to a son.
- 11/8/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
At the memorial gathering for her husband Adnan, 30-year-old Nawal (a riveting Mouna Hawa) is offered many empty words of support and so-called comfort by friends and family. “When a woman loses her husband, she loses her lover, her partner, everything in her life,” clucks a commiserating neighbor. What she fails to mention is how much is not lost, but can, under the Jordanian legal system so scathingly exposed in Amjad Al Rasheed’s fluid, gripping “Inshallah a Boy,” be taken. Employment, home, child, dignity – all can be summarily stripped from a widow who has committed the grievous crime of never having borne a son.
Al Rasheed’s precision-tooled movie is a social-realist drama rendered as an escape thriller where the labyrinth that Nawal must navigate is the Jordanian social order itself, a massive bureaucratic, patriarchal maze designed to ensure that any woman trying to evade its clutches will batter...
Al Rasheed’s precision-tooled movie is a social-realist drama rendered as an escape thriller where the labyrinth that Nawal must navigate is the Jordanian social order itself, a massive bureaucratic, patriarchal maze designed to ensure that any woman trying to evade its clutches will batter...
- 10/7/2023
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
The injustices of Jordanian’s patriarchal power system are laid bare through this story of a widow, Nawal (Mouna Hawa), and her young daughter Nora (Seleena Rababah). Although this is the first film from Jordan to feature in Cannes, it is the latest of many films from the region - including the likes of The Perfect Candidate, The Salesman and Beauty And The Dogs - to highlight gender inequalities through social drama.
Nawal and her husband Ahmad (Mohammad Al Jizawi) are trying for a second child when disaster strikes and one morning he simply doesn’t wake up. Although everyone initially seems to be sympathetic, it’s not long before cracks begin to show in the concerned facade of Ahmad’s brother Rifqi (Haitham Omari), as he starts to badger Nawal for instalments he was owed by Ahmad for his pickup truck.
This is the thin end of the wedge of Nawal’s problems,...
Nawal and her husband Ahmad (Mohammad Al Jizawi) are trying for a second child when disaster strikes and one morning he simply doesn’t wake up. Although everyone initially seems to be sympathetic, it’s not long before cracks begin to show in the concerned facade of Ahmad’s brother Rifqi (Haitham Omari), as he starts to badger Nawal for instalments he was owed by Ahmad for his pickup truck.
This is the thin end of the wedge of Nawal’s problems,...
- 5/18/2023
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Gloom, deployed as a storytelling tactic, can exert a strange, unsettling pull when it’s as capably and beautifully conveyed as in Syrian director Ameer Fakher Eldin’s “The Stranger,” recently announced as Palestine’s international Oscar entry. A granular depiction of oppression as a kind of inescapable inheritance handed down from father to son, with mothers and daughters its peripheral, persevering survivors, .
But it is also attuned to the bleak grandeur of the landscapes in this cinematically little-seen region, and its rich, painterly images, appropriately hemmed into boxy Academy ratio, should make “The Stranger” as much a calling card for its cinematographer, Niklas Lindschau, as for Eldin. If not more so: Whenever Eldin’s screenplay gets too ponderous, when the pacing lags or the storytelling withholds too much, there is always a surprising composition to pin our attention. An elderly woman folding linen is briefly a Vermeer. A far-off mountainside in fall,...
But it is also attuned to the bleak grandeur of the landscapes in this cinematically little-seen region, and its rich, painterly images, appropriately hemmed into boxy Academy ratio, should make “The Stranger” as much a calling card for its cinematographer, Niklas Lindschau, as for Eldin. If not more so: Whenever Eldin’s screenplay gets too ponderous, when the pacing lags or the storytelling withholds too much, there is always a surprising composition to pin our attention. An elderly woman folding linen is briefly a Vermeer. A far-off mountainside in fall,...
- 11/30/2021
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Written and directed by Elite Zexner, “Sand Storm” is a revealing look at wedding festivities as they get underway in a Bedouin village in Southern Israel.
The Sundance World Cinema Dramatic Grand Jury Prize Winner follows Jalila (Ruba Blal), a woman who finds herself in the uncomfortable position of hosting her husband Suliman’s (Hitham Omari ) marriage to a second, much younger wife. During the celebration, Jalila finds out that her eldest daughter Layla (Lamis Ammar ) is involved with a boy from her university – a strictly forbidden liaison that would shame the family. Trying to separate them, Jalila tries to contain Layla’s situation by clamping down on her, though Layla has different plans for her life.
“About eight years ago, I escorted an 18-year-old to her arranged marriage ceremony to a man she had never met and she told me had a boyfriend in college,” Zexer told IndieWire back...
The Sundance World Cinema Dramatic Grand Jury Prize Winner follows Jalila (Ruba Blal), a woman who finds herself in the uncomfortable position of hosting her husband Suliman’s (Hitham Omari ) marriage to a second, much younger wife. During the celebration, Jalila finds out that her eldest daughter Layla (Lamis Ammar ) is involved with a boy from her university – a strictly forbidden liaison that would shame the family. Trying to separate them, Jalila tries to contain Layla’s situation by clamping down on her, though Layla has different plans for her life.
“About eight years ago, I escorted an 18-year-old to her arranged marriage ceremony to a man she had never met and she told me had a boyfriend in college,” Zexer told IndieWire back...
- 12/9/2016
- by Liz Calvario
- Indiewire
Sand Storm (Sufat Chol) Kino Lorber Reviewed by: Harvey Karten, Shockya Grade: B Director: Elite Zexer Written by: Elite Zexer Cast: Lamis Ammar, Ruba Blal, Hitham Omari, Khadija Al Akel Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 9/25/16 Opens: September 28, 2016 If you hate traffic jams, you might envy the Bedouin people who live in Israel’s Negev desert. But after you see Elite Zexer’s “Sand Storm,” you will realize that aside from never worrying about a parking space, your life will be otherwise not so good. In fact if you’re of the female persuasion, you’ll wonder why all the well-off women in the West continue pushing for their rights while the [ Read More ]
The post Sand Storm Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Sand Storm Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 10/2/2016
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Read More: The 2016 Indiewire Sundance Bible: All the Reviews, Interviews and News Posted During The Festival "Do you ever do anything because you want to?" That question, asked by the college-aged Bedouin woman Layla (Lamis Ammar) in Israeli director's Elite Zexer's quietly observant debut, speaks to the movie's underlying drama. The stripped-down drama, set almost entirely within the constraints of the traditionalist village where Layla grew up, pits her individualism against the rituals that keep her there. A resolutely small work focused on Layla's attempts to avoid a pre-arranged marriage, "Sand Storm" offers a unique window into an arena of limited possibilities. At the core of the movie is a unique conflict. Layla's father, Suliman (Hitham Omari), drifts in and out of her home, exchanging pleasantries and maintaining a relationship with Layla's mother, Jalila (Ruba Blal), even as he prepares to wed his second wife. At that celebration, Jalila discovers.
- 1/26/2016
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
The Member of the Wedding: Zexer’s Debut Churns Empathy from Obscene Custom
We’ve seen an increasing tide of feminist perspective narratives detailing the despicable social sleights faced by women in various (usually Middle Eastern) cultures, many of these focusing on a particularly awkward situation where tradition allows men to take a second wife while his first is still alive and well. Such is the starting point for Sand Storm, the impressive debut from Israeli filmmaker Elite Zexer. But audiences thinking they’re already familiar with how these pained scenarios tend to unfold will be pleasantly surprised when they realize Zexer has something a bit more complex and unpredictable in store. What begins as a tale concerning a powerless woman begrudgingly accepting her fate becomes a moving portrait of a mother commending better possibilities for the future of her daughter, creating a glimmer of hope in an endless denial of agency.
We’ve seen an increasing tide of feminist perspective narratives detailing the despicable social sleights faced by women in various (usually Middle Eastern) cultures, many of these focusing on a particularly awkward situation where tradition allows men to take a second wife while his first is still alive and well. Such is the starting point for Sand Storm, the impressive debut from Israeli filmmaker Elite Zexer. But audiences thinking they’re already familiar with how these pained scenarios tend to unfold will be pleasantly surprised when they realize Zexer has something a bit more complex and unpredictable in store. What begins as a tale concerning a powerless woman begrudgingly accepting her fate becomes a moving portrait of a mother commending better possibilities for the future of her daughter, creating a glimmer of hope in an endless denial of agency.
- 1/26/2016
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Scattered across the Negev desert of southern Israel are dozens of small Bedouin settlements. Unrecognized by the state, these towns lack electrical, water, or sanitation services. It’s against this milieu that young Layla (Lamis Ammar) frequently stands, her sense of adolescent uncertainty acutely literalized by the endless rocky expanses and rickety contraptions made of discards. She sees a more invigorating life, one not shackled to tradition, in her secret boyfriend, Anwar (Jalal Masrwa). However, Layla’s mother, Jalila (Ruba Blal), uncovers this relationship and moves to tamp down on every smidgen of rebelliousness.
Despite that descriptor, Sand Storm does not follow the standard tropes of the “restless youth in a repressive culture” story. This movie explores both mother and daughter’s perspective fully, and it doesn’t box either into the role of unbending matriarch or plucky protagonist. Jalila tries to head off Layla’s romance not just out...
Despite that descriptor, Sand Storm does not follow the standard tropes of the “restless youth in a repressive culture” story. This movie explores both mother and daughter’s perspective fully, and it doesn’t box either into the role of unbending matriarch or plucky protagonist. Jalila tries to head off Layla’s romance not just out...
- 1/22/2016
- by Daniel Schindel
- The Film Stage
Kate Plays ChristineThe lineup for the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, taking place between January 21 -31, has been announced.U.S. Dramatic COMPETITIONAs You Are (Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, USA): As You Are is the telling and retelling of a relationship between three teenagers as it traces the course of their friendship through a construction of disparate memories prompted by a police investigation. Cast: Owen Campbell, Charlie Heaton, Amandla Stenberg, John Scurti, Scott Cohen, Mary Stuart Masterson. World Premiere The Birth of a Nation (Nate Parker, USA): Set against the antebellum South, this story follows Nat Turner, a literate slave and preacher whose financially strained owner, Samuel Turner, accepts an offer to use Nat’s preaching to subdue unruly slaves. After witnessing countless atrocities against fellow slaves, Nat devises a plan to lead his people to freedom. Cast: Nate Parker, Armie Hammer, Aja Naomi King, Jackie Earle Haley, Gabrielle Union, Mark Boone Jr. World PremiereChristine (Antonio Campos,...
- 12/7/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
The Sundance Film institute has released the line-up of film for the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. Going to Sundance is one of my favorite events of the year. I love going because you never know what kind of movies you're going to see. Sometimes they are great films that amaze and entertain, other times they completely suck ass, but that's all part of the fun of going to the festival. It's an awesome experience for any hardcore movie geek, and if you ever get a chance to go, you need to.
The event takes place in Park City, Utah next year from January 21st to the 31st. It looks like there's a great line-up of movies at next year's event. My favorite portion of the event is the Midnight section because it deals more with geeky genre type movies, but I also enjoy the various sections of other line-ups.
Some of...
The event takes place in Park City, Utah next year from January 21st to the 31st. It looks like there's a great line-up of movies at next year's event. My favorite portion of the event is the Midnight section because it deals more with geeky genre type movies, but I also enjoy the various sections of other line-ups.
Some of...
- 12/6/2015
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
In last year’s section which included Ariel Kleiman’s Partisan and Anne Sewitsky’s Homesick, it was John Maclean’s debut Slow West claimed the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize, Alanté Kavaïté’s The Summer of Sangailé landed the Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic, Umrika was the audience’s won the Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic. In this year’s dozen offerings we have names we normally associate with Cannes in The Misfortunates‘ Felix van Groeningen (Belgica), The Other Side of Sleep‘s Rebecca Daly (Mammal – see pic above) and A Stray Girlfriend‘s Ana Katz (Mi Amiga del Parque). Here are the selections.
Belgica / Belgium, France, Netherlands (Director: Felix van Groeningen, Screenwriters: Felix van Groeningen, Arne Sierens) — In the midst of Belgium’s nightlife scene, two brothers start a bar and get swept up in its success.Cast: Stef Aerts, Tom Vermeir, Charlotte Vandermeersch, Hélène De Vos. World Premiere.
Belgica / Belgium, France, Netherlands (Director: Felix van Groeningen, Screenwriters: Felix van Groeningen, Arne Sierens) — In the midst of Belgium’s nightlife scene, two brothers start a bar and get swept up in its success.Cast: Stef Aerts, Tom Vermeir, Charlotte Vandermeersch, Hélène De Vos. World Premiere.
- 12/2/2015
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Titles include Tallulah starring Ellen Page and Allison Janney, and Chad Hartigan’s Morris From America (pictured); Next strand also announced.Scroll down for full list
Sundance Institute has announced the 65 films selected for the Us Competition, World Competition and out-of-competition Next categories set to screen at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival (Jan 21-31) in Park City.
Us Dramatic Competition selections include Sian Heder’s Tallulah with Ellen Page and Allison Janney; Antonio Campos’ Christine; Clea DuVall’s feature directorial debut The Intervention; and Richard Tanne’s Southside With You, about Barack Obama’s first date with the First Lady.
Among the Us Documentary Competition selections are: Holy Hell by undisclosed; Jeff Feuerzeig’s Author: The Jt LeRoy Story; and Sara Jordenö’s Kiki.
The World Cinema Dramatic Competition entries include: Belgica (Belgium-France-Netherlands), Felix van Groeningen’s follow-up to The Broken Circle Breakdown; Manolo Cruz and Carlos del Castillo’s Between Sea And Land (Colombia); and Nicolette Krebitz’s Wild...
Sundance Institute has announced the 65 films selected for the Us Competition, World Competition and out-of-competition Next categories set to screen at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival (Jan 21-31) in Park City.
Us Dramatic Competition selections include Sian Heder’s Tallulah with Ellen Page and Allison Janney; Antonio Campos’ Christine; Clea DuVall’s feature directorial debut The Intervention; and Richard Tanne’s Southside With You, about Barack Obama’s first date with the First Lady.
Among the Us Documentary Competition selections are: Holy Hell by undisclosed; Jeff Feuerzeig’s Author: The Jt LeRoy Story; and Sara Jordenö’s Kiki.
The World Cinema Dramatic Competition entries include: Belgica (Belgium-France-Netherlands), Felix van Groeningen’s follow-up to The Broken Circle Breakdown; Manolo Cruz and Carlos del Castillo’s Between Sea And Land (Colombia); and Nicolette Krebitz’s Wild...
- 12/2/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Playing festivals in both Venice and Toronto last year, Israel's selection for the Oscars and the winner of Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor and more from the Israeli Film Academy, "Bethlehem" has been building considerable buzz. And now you'll get a chance to see for yourself the potent drama behind the thriller as it heads to a theatre near you. Starring Shadi Mar’I, Tsahi Halevy, Hitham Omari and Tarek Copti, and directed by Yuval Adler, the film tells the story of the tricky and troubled relationship between an Israeli Secret Service officer and his teenage Palestinian informant that grows even more morally conflicted when the young man learns his employers are plotting to assassinate his radical brother. It's knotty drama filled with crackling tension too, and below we have an exclusive clip from the pretty terrific raid sequence in the film, where Israeli forces track...
- 3/4/2014
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Watch the trailer for Adopt Films' Bethlehem directed by Yuval Adler which stars Shadi Mar'i, Tsahi Halevy And Hitham Omari. "Bethlehem” tells the story of the complex relationship between an Israeli Secret Service officer and his teenage Palestinian informant. Shuttling back and forth between conflicting points of view, the film is a raw portrayal of characters torn apart by competing loyalties and impossible moral dilemmas, giving an unparalleled glimpse into the dark and fascinating world of human intelligence. The film opens in theaters from February 21st, 2014.
- 12/22/2013
- Upcoming-Movies.com
While Hollywood always tends to flex its muscle at film festivals, packing red carpets with stars, and dominating headlines with highly anticipated movies, the pleasure of hitting places like Venice and Toronto is discovering hidden gems, or acclaimed movies from elsewhere that haven't quite made a wave internationally just yet. And Yuval Adler's "Bethlehem" could potentially make some major noise. It's already earned notice at home, earning 12 nominations from the Israeli Film Academy, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay. And now, it's getting ready to show its stuff for the world. Today we unveil the exclusive trailer for the film, as it gears up play both Venice and Toronto in the coming weeks, and it certainly looks very promising. Starring Shadi Mar’I, Tsahi Halevy, Hitham Omari and Tarek Copti, the film chronicles the complex relationship between an Israeli Secret Service officer and his teenage Palestinian informant that grows even more morally.
- 8/22/2013
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
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