Mediterráneos

IN COLLABORATION WITH CASA MEDITERRÁNEO 130

 

For the second year, the competitive Mediterranean Section will bring together some of the best films produced in the countries located on the shores of the Mediterranean, where a number of the oldest and most prosperous cultures have made their homes.
The participating films are feature-length fiction or documentary works with a subject matter related to this setting and which were produced to be shown in commercial theatres or on television. The variety of themes and the way they are addressed mean that this competition is particularly close to the hearts of the Festival’s audiences.

  • Defamation

    Defamation (Hashmatsa)

    Yoav Shamir

    What is anti-Semitism today, two generations after the Holocaust? In his continuing exploration of modern Israeli life, director Yoav Shamir travels the world in search of the most modern manifestations of the “oldest hatred", and comes up with some startling answers.
    In this irreverent quest, he follows American Jewish leaders to the capitals of Europe, as they warn government officials of the growing threat of anti-Semitism, and he tacks on to a class of Israeli high school students on a pilgrimage to Auschwitz.

    ISRAEL / AUSTRIA / USA / DENMARK 2009. DVD. Color. 93’

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  • Harragas

    Harragas (Harragas)

    Merzak Allouache

    This film tells the story of a group of "harragas" (an Arabic word for those who burn their documentation before they leave their country of origin so that no sign remains of their existence), illegal immigrants who embark on the coast of North Africa and cross the sea in search of a better life on the other side of the Spanish border.
    Hassan, the owner of a boat in Mostaganem, a port city on the Algerian coast, 200 km from the capital, is organising a new crossing to Spain. Four friends and six “burners” from southern Algeria, who have paid the price of the crossing almost in its entirety, will make the trip.

    ALGERIA / FRANCE 2009. DVD. Color. 95’

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  • Messages from the Sea

    Messages from the Sea (Rasayel el bahr )

    Daoud Abdel Sayed

    Alexandria, the cosmopolitan coastal city in northern Egypt, was once home to a multi-cultural society. Egyptians, Greeks, Italians, Christians, Muslims and Jews, all lived together in harmony. Now however a new form of Islamic driven capitalism is transforming the city into a mono-culture that ignores this rich and complex past. Yehia is a witness to these changes when the death of his mother takes him back to the famed city of his childhood. Meaningful encounters with old and new friends introduce him to the new face of the city and bring about a confrontation with a fundamentalist Muslim who lives in the building he now owns.

    EGYPT 2010. 35 MM. Color. 133’

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  • So Near, So Far Away. The Chekara and the Flamenco

    So Near, So Far Away. The Chekara and the Flamenco (Tan cerca, tan lejos. La Chekara y el flamenco)

    Pepe Zapata

    Abdessadek Chekara, a great violin master of the 20th century, founded the first orchestra of Andalusian music in Tetuan, Morocco. Later the orchestra became known as the Chekara Orchestra of Tetuan.
    Jallal Chekara, his nephew, lives in Granada and has kept alive the traditional repertory, as well as the close relationship the orchestra has with flamenco.
    This documentary attempts to examine and reflect the both the extensive and the intensive relationship between the Chekara Orchestra and flamenco in different audiovisual formats, from the first encounter (Macama Jonda) that took place over two decades ago, under the direction of Pepe Heredia, up through today.

    SPAIN 2009. DVD. Color. 58'

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  • To Shoot an Elephant

    To Shoot an Elephant (To Shoot an Elephant)

    Alberto Arce, Mohammad Rujailah

    In his book Shooting a Alephant: and Other Essays, George Orwell defined a way of witnessing Asia that remains in place. "To shoot an elephant" is an eye witness account from the Gaza Strip. 27th of December, 2008, Operation Cast Lead. 21 days shooting elephants. Urgent, insomniac, dirty, shuddering images from the only foreigners who decided and managed to stay, embedded in Gaza Strip ambulances, with Palestinian civilians.

    SPAIN 2009. DVD. Color. 113’

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