Exclusive: Canadian sales company Apl Film has acquired international sales rights for Canadian-British writer and director Shamim Sarif’s drama Polarized, a love story between two women separated by culture and religion.
The film will screen in the market as part of the selection of Telefilm Canada’s Perspective Canada initiative.
Holly Deveaux co-stars as a white farm worker who is fired for racism and then falls in love with her Palestinian boss, played by Maxine Denis.
“I like to push the boundaries of the way queer women of color are portrayed,” said Sarif. “With Polarized, I believe it’s one of the first times in cinema that we see Palestinian immigrants onscreen who are successful, driving scientific innovation, and in the case of co-lead character Dalia, also queer.”
The filmmaker said she had drawn on her own experiences as well as those of her wife and producer Hanan Kattan,...
The film will screen in the market as part of the selection of Telefilm Canada’s Perspective Canada initiative.
Holly Deveaux co-stars as a white farm worker who is fired for racism and then falls in love with her Palestinian boss, played by Maxine Denis.
“I like to push the boundaries of the way queer women of color are portrayed,” said Sarif. “With Polarized, I believe it’s one of the first times in cinema that we see Palestinian immigrants onscreen who are successful, driving scientific innovation, and in the case of co-lead character Dalia, also queer.”
The filmmaker said she had drawn on her own experiences as well as those of her wife and producer Hanan Kattan,...
- 2/8/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
In Bassel Ghandour’s debut feature set in Amman, the stories of interweaving lives are told through some great performances, but lead nowhere significant
In a residential part of Amman, Jordan, where the whitened buildings are built so close to each other the streets are little more than the alleys of the title, a number of interrelated stories unfold revealing a complex skein of lives woven together. Writer-director Bassel Ghandour’s feature debut represents the kind of criss-crossing ensemble piece that does well on the festival circuit, all the more so here as Jordanian cinema hasn’t yet established the same kind of exportable appeal as other Middle Eastern countries.
However, with a bit more scrutiny it doesn’t hold up quite so well, even if some of the performances, particularly from Maisa Abd Elhadi and Nadira Omran sinking their teeth into properly meaty characters, are terrific. At first, the...
In a residential part of Amman, Jordan, where the whitened buildings are built so close to each other the streets are little more than the alleys of the title, a number of interrelated stories unfold revealing a complex skein of lives woven together. Writer-director Bassel Ghandour’s feature debut represents the kind of criss-crossing ensemble piece that does well on the festival circuit, all the more so here as Jordanian cinema hasn’t yet established the same kind of exportable appeal as other Middle Eastern countries.
However, with a bit more scrutiny it doesn’t hold up quite so well, even if some of the performances, particularly from Maisa Abd Elhadi and Nadira Omran sinking their teeth into properly meaty characters, are terrific. At first, the...
- 11/29/2022
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Guardian - Film News
Both the title and opening voiceover of the Jordanian feature “The Alleys” make us think we’re in Naguib Mahfouz territory, evoking the backstreets of a neighborhood where “average” people lead intersected lives and everyone knows everyone else’s business — a place where, as the narrator tells it, “a story spreads like wildfire.” It’s a great model to follow, but debuting director Bassel Ghandour, who wrote and produced the superb “Theeb,” is ultimately more invested in making a dark thriller, one without the subtlety of Mahfouz or his attention to character.
Set in an eastern district of Amman, the film follows a lowlife whose desire to run away with his respectable girlfriend leads him and others to make very foolish alliances. , but will have difficulty connecting to more mainstream boulevards.
Ali (Emad Azmi) and Lana (Baraka Rahmani) are in love, but they have to disguise it from her mother...
Set in an eastern district of Amman, the film follows a lowlife whose desire to run away with his respectable girlfriend leads him and others to make very foolish alliances. , but will have difficulty connecting to more mainstream boulevards.
Ali (Emad Azmi) and Lana (Baraka Rahmani) are in love, but they have to disguise it from her mother...
- 8/18/2021
- by Jay Weissberg
- Variety Film + TV
Jordanian multihyphenate Bassel Ghandour since graduating from USC film school has among other things worked closely with Kathryn Bigelow on “The Hurt Locker,” and penned and produced Naji Abu Nowar’s groundbreaking Bedouin Western “Theeb.” Now he is making a splash with his first feature as director “The Alleys,” even before its launch.
Ghandour’s multi-character tale, which is now in post, is set – and was shot – in a claustrophobic neighborhood in East Amman called Jabal Al Natheef where violence, and gossip, run rampant. “The Alleys” involves a young hustler named Ali who pretends to be a white-collar career man, his secret love interest Lana, and an extortion attempt that brings Lana’s mother and an older cutthroat gangster into the picture. The promising pic just scored several prizes at the Cairo Film Festival’s Cairo Film Connection co-production market.
“Ali is a hustler who takes tourists to dodgy night clubs in exchange for kickbacks,...
Ghandour’s multi-character tale, which is now in post, is set – and was shot – in a claustrophobic neighborhood in East Amman called Jabal Al Natheef where violence, and gossip, run rampant. “The Alleys” involves a young hustler named Ali who pretends to be a white-collar career man, his secret love interest Lana, and an extortion attempt that brings Lana’s mother and an older cutthroat gangster into the picture. The promising pic just scored several prizes at the Cairo Film Festival’s Cairo Film Connection co-production market.
“Ali is a hustler who takes tourists to dodgy night clubs in exchange for kickbacks,...
- 12/10/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Vulture Watch
Will the horror continue? Has the Slasher TV show been cancelled or renewed for a fourth season on Netflix? The television vulture is watching all the latest TV cancellation and renewal news, so this page is the place to track the status of Slasher, season four. Bookmark it, or subscribe for the latest updates. Remember, the television vulture is watching your shows. Are you?
What's This TV Show About?
A Netflix horror anthology, each season of Slasher tells a new scary story. Season three is entitled Slasher: Solstice and stars: Salvatore Antonio, Lisa Berry, Paula Brancati, Gabriel Darku, Erin Karpluk, Dean McDermott, Mercedes Morris, Ilan Muallem, Paulino Nunes, Baraka Rahmani, Rosie Simon, Joanne Vannicola, and Jim Watson. The third installment unfolds during the summer solstice, as a mysterious killer called "The Druid" hunts down witnesses who failed to save someone.
Read...
Will the horror continue? Has the Slasher TV show been cancelled or renewed for a fourth season on Netflix? The television vulture is watching all the latest TV cancellation and renewal news, so this page is the place to track the status of Slasher, season four. Bookmark it, or subscribe for the latest updates. Remember, the television vulture is watching your shows. Are you?
What's This TV Show About?
A Netflix horror anthology, each season of Slasher tells a new scary story. Season three is entitled Slasher: Solstice and stars: Salvatore Antonio, Lisa Berry, Paula Brancati, Gabriel Darku, Erin Karpluk, Dean McDermott, Mercedes Morris, Ilan Muallem, Paulino Nunes, Baraka Rahmani, Rosie Simon, Joanne Vannicola, and Jim Watson. The third installment unfolds during the summer solstice, as a mysterious killer called "The Druid" hunts down witnesses who failed to save someone.
Read...
- 11/13/2020
- by TVSeriesFinale.com
- TVSeriesFinale.com
A new episode of Collection Complete has arrived, and in it, filmmaker Sean Clark discusses a very iconic collector's item. Continue reading for details on Gemr's Child's Play 2 Chucky doll giveaway. Also in today's Horror Highlights: release details for Slasher: Solstice on Netflix and Dread's They're Inside.
Collection Complete's Child's Play 2 Chucky Doll Giveaway Details: "Unearthed by the docu-series Collection Complete, the show’s latest episode takes a look at the impact of horror cinema on Los-Angeles based filmmaker and collector Sean Clark, as well as one of the items which reside within his jaw-dropping private collection of screen-used props: a Child’s Play doll from 2017’s Cult of Chucky.
A deep dive into Clark’s life-long fascination with genre film, the episode focuses on his preschool introduction to horror via the films The Exorcist and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, screen-used items from the latter director’s 1981 film The Funhouse...
Collection Complete's Child's Play 2 Chucky Doll Giveaway Details: "Unearthed by the docu-series Collection Complete, the show’s latest episode takes a look at the impact of horror cinema on Los-Angeles based filmmaker and collector Sean Clark, as well as one of the items which reside within his jaw-dropping private collection of screen-used props: a Child’s Play doll from 2017’s Cult of Chucky.
A deep dive into Clark’s life-long fascination with genre film, the episode focuses on his preschool introduction to horror via the films The Exorcist and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, screen-used items from the latter director’s 1981 film The Funhouse...
- 5/29/2019
- by Tamika Jones
- DailyDead
How chilling is the third season of the Slasher TV show on Netflix? As we all know, the Nielsen ratings typically play a big role in determining whether a TV show like Slasher is cancelled or renewed for season four. Netflix and other streaming platforms, however, collect their own data. If you've been watching this TV series, we'd love to know how you feel about the season three episodes of Slasher. We invite you to rate them for us here.
A Netflix horror anthology, each season of Slasher tells a new scary story. Season three is entitled Slasher: Solstice and stars: Salvatore Antonio, Lisa Berry, Paula Brancati, Gabriel Darku, Erin Karpluk, Dean McDermott, Mercedes Morris, Ilan Muallem, Paulino Nunes, Baraka Rahmani, Rosie Simon, Joanne Vannicola, and Jim Watson. The third installment unfolds during the summer solstice, as a mysterious killer called “The Druid” hunts...
A Netflix horror anthology, each season of Slasher tells a new scary story. Season three is entitled Slasher: Solstice and stars: Salvatore Antonio, Lisa Berry, Paula Brancati, Gabriel Darku, Erin Karpluk, Dean McDermott, Mercedes Morris, Ilan Muallem, Paulino Nunes, Baraka Rahmani, Rosie Simon, Joanne Vannicola, and Jim Watson. The third installment unfolds during the summer solstice, as a mysterious killer called “The Druid” hunts...
- 5/24/2019
- by TVSeriesFinale.com
- TVSeriesFinale.com
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