Middle East Now – Summer Flix: 6,13, 20, 27 July, the summer program at the Uffizi open air cinema for Estate Fiorentina
22 June 2021
Download the Official Guide of Middle East Now 2021!
21 September 2021
From 28 September to 3 October 2021, Middle East Now presents its 12th edition, which will be physically held at the Cinema La Compagnia, Cinema Stensen and other venues of Florence, with a full program of screenings, exhibitions, events, talks, including many premieres, presentations and conversations with the protagonists.
More than 30 premieres of films and documentaries, with a strong focus on Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iran, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.
Here are some anticipations:
_ (RE)-ALIGNING PERSPECTIVES: the 2021 festival theme
Time slowed down and we had no power over it. Collectively, we felt the immense impact of a global crisis. In this year’s program, we contemplate our fundamental needs. It is a reset, a realignment, and a re-scanning of a familiar world. More than ever we are eager for simple pleasures. As we venture through further uncertainty and into a transitional period, the moving-image provides shelter, a space of shared and mutual significance and inspiration, a lookout for viable meaning that brings us closer. The quest is no longer to discover the world, but to shape it. Today marks a Rite of Passage, and Middle East Now wants to give its contribution presenting films and special projects in which this theme will be addressed in a transversal way.
_ FOCUS CINEMA: AFGHANISTAN and LEBANON
At this edition great attention to Afghanistan and to the dramatic evolution of the country’s political and social scenario and its future prospects. Through screenings of films, presentations and talks.
And special Focus also on Lebanon: a cinematic spotlight will tell stories from this country one year after the explosion at the port of Beirut, and the complexity of its recent scenario.
_ Among the special events:
WATERMELON AFTER LUNCH by Zahra Marwan
At this year festival the exclusive presentation of the new art project by the artist Zahra Marwan, a young and talented illustrator of Kuwaiti origin based in the United States, who investigates through her works the complexity of being Middle Eastern in a completely different reality. At the Cinema La Compagnia and in other spaces of the city, a series of evocative illustrations tell of the artist’s identity, his origins, his current condition.
