Films from the Southern Mediterranean, is an initiative to tour three films from countries that fringe this vast inland sea. The countries involved, stretch from Morocco on the western side all the way across to Syria on the eastern most edge. It is a diverse, complex and exciting region with a dramatic mixture of cultures and experiences.

Since the beginning of the Arab Spring in 2010, the region has certainly become more newsworthy for western audiences and it’s maybe timely to take a close look at what sort of cinema and what sort of films are being made there.

This year, the tour includes films from Algeria, Morocco and Israel. Each of the films exists in its own right and there are no pat unifying themes in the film selection – a bit like this diverse region itself. Nonetheless, taken as a whole, the films provide a welcome insight into the culture, interests and hopes of this challenging area.

All of the films will tour to each of our three participating venues: Belltable Arts Centre, Galway Film Society and Mermaid Arts Centre. We’d like to say thanks to each of them for coming on board with their support. The project would not have been possible without funding from the Arts Council under their Touring & Dissemination of Work Scheme. The tour is a joint project by Maretta Dillon and access › cinema.

So take a moment to dip your toe in the Films from the Southern Mediterranean.

FILMS FROM THE SOUTHERN MEDITERRANEAN / SCREENINGS 2012

FILMS FROMTHE SOUTHERNMEDITERRANEAN

For more information visit www.accesscinema.ie

MERMAID ARTS CENTRE

GALWAY FILM SOCIETY

BELLTABLE ARTS CENTRE

Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray, Wicklow

Booking / InformationTel: 01 272 4030 www.mermaidartscentre.ie

Galway Film Society, Town Hall Theatre, Galway

Booking / InformationTel: 091 569 777 www.tht.ie

Belltable Arts Centre, Limerick

Booking / InformationTel: 061 319 866 www.belltable.ie

THE REPENTANTMonday, Oct 1, 8.00pm

ON THE EDGESunday, Sept 30, 5.45pm

THE REPENTANTMonday, Oct 1, 8.00pm

ON THE EDGEThursday, Oct 4, 8.00pm

THE REPENTANTSunday, Sept 30, 8.15pm

FOOTNOTETuesday, Oct 2, 8.00pm

FOOTNOTEFriday, Oct 5, 8.00pm

FOOTNOTESunday, Oct 7, 8.15pm

ON THE EDGEWednesday, Oct 3, 8.00pm

Find us on Facebook

FILMS FROM THE SOUTHERN MEDITERRANEAN

FOOTNOTEON THE EDGETHE REPENTANT

SEPTEMBER 30 —OCTOBER 73 FILMS, 3 VENUES

FOOTNOTEDIR: JOSEPH CEDAR | 105 MINS | ISRAEL | 2011 | CERT: CLUB | LANGUAGE: HEBREW / ENGLISH SUBTITLES

Dazzlingly inventive, this biting, darkly witty tale of father-son rivalries within the Israeli academic establishment is an astute study of pride, envy and temptation.

Notwithstanding its abundant wry humour, Cedar’s fourth feature is an intimate tragedy about pride, envy, sacrifice and temptation. It concerns the bitter rivalry between a father and son, both professors in Talmudic studies at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, which intensifies when it’s announced each is to receive a prestigious honour.

Cedar’s acerbic, Cannes prize-winning script is almost novelistic in its deft analysis of the pair’s differences and similarities and its often hilarious

depiction of the arcane rituals ofIsrael’s academic establishment. At the same time, a brilliantly inventive, truly cinematic style echoes the film’s content; even the title alludes to a tiny but crucial plot point, to the personality of the modest but conscientious father and to an aspect of the film’s own sophisticated narrative structure.

The fabulous score, meanwhile, at times fittingly reminiscent of late Shostakovich symphonies, perfectly suits a study of small-scale familial and academic conflict which assumes, for all involved, the dimensions of an epic struggle between old and new, truth and lies, right and wrong. Utterly fresh, it’s a real treat.

— Geoff Andrew, BFI London Film Festival

Joseph Cedar was born in New York in 1968 and emigrated to Israel with his family at the age of six. He studied philosophy and theatre history at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and is an NYU Film School graduate. Cedar received

the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin Film Festival in 2007 for his third film, Beaufort. His fourth feature film, Footnote won the Best Screenplay Award at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

(Hearat Shulayim)

Leïla Kilani was born in Casablanca in 1970 and spends her time today between Paris and Tangiers. She started out making acclaimed documentaries in

2000 including Tangiers and The Burners’ Dream and Our Forbidden Places. On the Edge is her first feature film.

DIR : LEÏLA KILANI | 110 MINS | MOROCCO, FRANCE, GERMANY | 2011 | CERT: CLUB | LANGUAGE: ARABIC / ENGLISH SUBTITLES

In Tangiers' old town, two young Casablancan girls – Badia and Imane – live their lives amongst the army of workers who inhabit the city. Peeling shrimps by day in a spotless shrimp factory, then turning tricks by night, the girls make extra money by fencing meagre goods stolen from their nocturnal ‘clients’.

Beyond Tangier lies the “Free Zone”, a symbol for global world sub-contracting. It is Europe on Moroccan land, on African land: close, tangible, yet accessible only to those with a work permit.

One evening Badia and Imane encounter two other girls, Asma and Nawal who are slightly more

advantaged than them, in that theywork in the Free Zone which Badia sees as a springboard into a more material world.

Strengthened by their new friendship they form, what Badia feels to be a girl power gang, where they can conquer all: cosmopolitan cafes, upscale oceanfront houses, better paying jobs and luxury goods -- altogether more opportunities.The girls explore every corner of this new space and make it theirs from dusk to dawn; they never sleep and they don’t stop moving.

Selected for Directors' Fortnight, Cannes Film Festival, 2011

ON THE EDGE (Ala al hâfa)

DIR : MERZAK ALLOUACHE | 87 MINS | ALGERIA, FRANCE | 2012 | CERT: CLUB | LANGUAGE: ARABIC / ENGLISH SUBTITLES

Winner of the Europa Cinemas Label at this year's Cannes Film Festival, Merzak Allouache’s film is based on his own experiences of what he found when he returned to Algeria in the late 1990s. There the country had entered into a period of ‘civil concord’, to allow, supposedly a total end to the violence that had plagued it for years.

Rashid, a young Islamic fundamentalist, responds to the government call to lay down his arms, receive amnesty and become a ‘repentant’. Coming down from the high flatlands, he first returns to his village and then to a job in the city.

All seems to be going well until he meets a pharmacist, Lakhdar. Their first

encounter is a one-sided phone call thatvisibly upsets Lakhdar, then a meeting that isn’t shown. Lakhdar calls his ex-wife, who angrily makes the long drive to see him. They tensely wait for Rashid to call again. Director Allouache carefully withholds an explanation of how these three fit together until late in the film.

Rashid appears to renounce violence but is it genuine? The law cannot erase his crimes and for him it is a one-way journey of violence, secrets and manipulation.

THE REPENTANT (El taaib)

Merzak Allouache was born in Bab el Oeud in 1944. He studied filmmaking in Algiers and finished his studies at the IDHEC in Paris. In 1976 he directed his

first feature, Omar Gatlato. He returned to Algeria in 1993 where he directed Bab el Oued City. In 2011 he shot The Repentant in Southern Algeria.