How Arab films triumphed at the first online Berlinale
Covid-19 may have forced this major festival to go virtual but this year’s Berlinale was its best, showcasing the largest collection from the Middle East in its history
Bear trophies on display for the 2021 Berlinale (AFP) By Published date: 16 March 2021 12:29 UTC | Last update: 2 weeks 1 day ago
Regulars at the Berlin Film Festival (Berlinale) in recent years are used to a number of sights and sensations: the sinister cold shrouding the ultra-touristic Potsdamer Platz where the fest is held; an eclectic ensemble of journalists and critics pressed against one another waiting for shots of coffee; food trucks hawking expensive snacks for guileless guests and the incessant search for comfortable seating in bustling cinemas. That’s all in addition to the affable atmosphere of Berlin itself - the new European capital of art.
and her film
a combative study of sexual assault in contemporary Egypt and an examination of the self.
Alqadi's film begins The inspiration for it
the public rape of Alqadi's
friend on the night an explosion of violence against women rippled through Cairo’s Tahrir Square.
As the Palestinian-raised Alqadi begins to document protests and anti-rape patrols in the city, she also turns the camera on herself after she becomes pregnant, exploring what it means to be a woman in the Middle East. As she notes in her
director’s
statement, her hope for the film is to “open a wider debate that can encourage women to show their power, demand their rights
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