The Cannes Diaries 2018: 'Lucia's Grace' ('Troppa Grazia') is a miracle of a film!

E. Nina Rothe May 19, 2018

One of the freshest and most romantic films I watched in Cannes was Gianni Zanasi’s ‘Lucia’s Grace’ which screened in the Directors’ Fortnight section. On Thursday night it was awarded the Label Europa Cinema prize and personally, I was elated. Zanasi’s film is another one of those modern Italian cinematic gems that have brought me home. Quite literally.

I moved back to my birth country five years ago because its newest wave of movies and filmmakers made me once again proud of being Italian. And Zanasi’s film also features as Lucia one of the most exciting young actresses in indie cinema today, Alba Rohrwacher, whom we can definitely claim as Italian but who is so much bigger and better than that label alone. Her wit, the way she can take the most basic of characters and build around them grand nuances and subtle mannerisms make her so cool that she may as well read the phone book on the big screen. And I’ll pay to watch that.

Dylan Roberts and Kenza Fortas in Jean-Bernard Marlin's 'Sheherazade'

The Cannes Diaries 2018: Jean-Bernard Marlin's 'Shéhérazade' is a "luminous love story"

E. Nina Rothe May 16, 2018

From the black and white stock image reels that kick off the titles of Jean-Bernard Marlin's 'Shéhérazade', the viewer knows they'll be experiencing something different. Even though the film could at first glance appear to be yet another Romeo and Juliet type romance between star crossed lovers, it quickly unfolds into something much more unique and spellbindingly truthful.

Seventeen year old Zach (played by Dylan Roberts) comes out of jail in his native Marseille, only to find that his mother isn't picking him up, she seems to have forsaken him. He is thus taken to a group home and quickly escapes only to try and reconnect with the life that sent him to prison in the first place. But one day, his friends take him to find a prostitute, and there he meets a girl, Shéhérazade (played by Kenza Fortas) whom he remembers from school. Their encounter isn't romance perfect at first, though their "meet cute", the moment in which their stars cross in cinematic terms is perfect. And perfectly human.

Will they make it despite the entire world seemingly being against them?

Adriano Tardiolo in a still from Alice Rohrwacher's 'Happy as Lazzaro'

The Cannes Diaries 2018: The inimitable Adriano Tardiolo in Alice Rohrwacher's 'Happy as Lazzaro'

E. Nina Rothe May 15, 2018

In the midst of the screening of Alice Rohrwacher's latest 'Happy as Lazzaro' ('Lazzaro Felice') I was overcome by a nearly unbearable sense of pride at being Italian. It's something I've come across one or two times before and I believe it is due to this new wave of fellow compatriot filmmakers who have brought back the idea of magic to Italian cinema.

As I sobbed in my seat, I realized that all the inspiration that lacked in our movies from about the late Seventies to now, has surged powerfully into a movement that has infiltrating the old status quo and created a brand new tsunami of talent in the process. And that simply takes my breath away.

When I sat with Rohrwacher a day later, she admitted that while in the past there existed a competition between Italian filmmakers as to who would be named the best one, now there is a stronger sense of community among the younger talents and that has made for better cinema.

Victor Polster in a still from Lukas Dhont's 'Girl'

The Cannes Diaries 2018: Lukas Dhont brings to Cannes his perfect 'Girl'

E. Nina Rothe May 13, 2018

At the center of filmmaker Lukas Dhont's groundbreaking first feature 'Girl' -- screening at this year's Festival de Cannes in Un Certain Regard -- is a teenager who wants to be a ballerina. Complex, as all teenagers typically are, beautiful, painfully honest and exquisitely feminine, the only twist here is that Lara was born a boy. And it's obvious from her very first moments on the screen that having that part of the body which separates the boys from the girls is something utterly unbearable for Lara.

But instead of creating conflict around this beauty, be it coming from her family, friends and the world at large, Dhont brings us instead into a world where a girl born into a boy's body who begins treatment to transition to her true self when we first meet her, has all the support she could ever hope for. And yet, her own passions, her self discipline, her sense of displacement inside the body fate dealt her at birth create enough strife, hold-your-breath moments and emotions to fully charge a one hour and forty-five minutes film. And fill our dreams for days and days to come.

Ahmed Abdelhafiz and Rady Gamal in a still from A. B. Shawky's 'Yomeddine'

The Cannes Diaries 2018: A. B. Shawky's 'Yomeddine' is the road movie to end all road movies

E. Nina Rothe May 12, 2018

Road movies have been done throughout the age of cinema every which way possible in film. And yet, the formula is so perfect that hardly I've found a dissonant note when it comes to taking a story on the road, on the big screen.

In A. B. Shawky's 'Yomeddine', which screened in Competition at this year's Festival de Cannes, the central idea remains that of a journey across the land but the Austro-Egyptian filmmaker -- yes Shawky's mom is Austrian, his father Egyptian and he grew up there -- substitutes the usual characters with two wonderful outcasts who charm their way into our hearts, slowly but surely, and manage to take up home there. Beshay is a small, disfigured man from a leper colony and the Pancho Villa to his Don Quixote is a little orphan boy named Obama. Both Rady Gamal, who plays Beshay and Ahmed Abdelhafiz who plays Obama are on their first acting roles in 'Yomeddine' and their freshness in experience is only paralleled by their awesome talent. Whenever the film could have played on our emotions too heavily, because of its intense subject matter, Gamal and Abdelhafiz find it within themselves to carry us through to the other side, and inspire, fill us with hope in the process.

The Poster for Nadine Labaki's 'Capharnaum' - Photo by Fares Sokhn

The Cannes Diaries 2018: The Doha Film Institute continues to "grab at the stars"

E. Nina Rothe May 11, 2018

Best selling author R.A. Salvatore once wrote "It is better, I think, to grab at the stars than to sit flustered because you know you cannot reach them." In all they do, and how they unrelentingly and tirelessly support filmmakers, the Doha Film Institute folks prove time and time again that they are grabbing at the stars, not sitting by, flustered.

After having been to Qumra this past spring, I can't imagine the Arab cinema landscape without the presence of DFI. In fact, even after the Dubai International Film Festival called off its 2018 edition, because of DFI's mission I remain hopeful for the future of cinema in and from the Region, and I know I'm not the only one to feel that way.

This year, in fact, in Cannes there are six DFI-supported films. In the main Competition, there are Nadine Labaki's 'Capharnaüm' -- check out my interview with the filmmaker in The National newspaper -- and Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s 'The Wild Pear Tree'; ''Sofia' by Meryem Benm’Barek and 'Long Day’s Journey Into Night' by Gan Bi are screening in Un Certain Regard; and in the Directors' Fortnight sidebar audiences will find both 'Weldi' by Mohamed Ben Attia and 'The Load' by Ognjen Glavonić. So, if you thought that DFI was only about cinema from MENA think again!

Elia Suleiman, photo courtesy of the Doha Film Institute

"If a director can come away from the event enchanted and inspired": Elia Suleiman and Hanaa Issa talk Qumra 2018

E. Nina Rothe March 9, 2018

They say if you want to learn about something, go to the source.

For filmmakers in the Middle East, but also around the world, Elia Suleiman has long been the Oracle, the man with a knowledge to create momentous cinema, cinema that can change the world. Suleiman is the most brilliant source today of modern Arab cinema, the kind that breaks across borders and tears down the divide -- as his frequent trips to international film festivals and award ceremonies have proved.

So I thought, if it works for filmmakers, it could work for me. I shall ask Suleiman about Qumra myself, so I can unravel the mystery of this yearly event held in Qatar, under the auspices of the Doha Film Institute. I mean, the DFI has been very open and forthcoming about their week-long-mentorship-slash-industry-meet-and-greet-slash-film-connection event, but I still hadn't found a fascinating enough explanation of it in the media. One that would hold my attention and really explain the ins and out of Qumra.

Until I met Suleiman, DFI's Artistic Advisor and Hanaa Issa, Deputy Director of Qumra and Director of Strategy and Development at Doha Film Institute during Berlinale. One Sunday morning in Berlin, a leisurely breakfast talk later and now eagerly anticipating the start of Qumra in Doha, I finally understand.

Following the Dubai International Film Festival, Where Does Arabwood Go Now?

E. Nina Rothe February 6, 2018

“Are you ready for us to make history again?!”

As I stepped into one of the magnificent Majlis — literally translating as a “place of sitting” from the Arabic — a meeting room inside the Madinat Jumeirah complex to catch up with the Chairman of the Dubai International Film Festival, Abdulhamid Juma uttered those words. I was taken aback for a moment and then I remembered that throughout the six years I’ve attended DIFF, I’ve sat down with him and together, we’ve come up with some of best questions about Arab cinema, its place in the world and its importance in dispelling stereotypes and breaking down walls.

This year, I came to DIFF with a heavy heart and I leave it still wondering if all the efforts — personal and collective have been worth it. We’ve witnessed how easily the mighty of the film stratosphere can be taken down in Hollywood when no longer of use to their business partners, destroying careers that should be looked at with respect, regardless of these men’s questionable behavior. We seem to have forgotten that “the casting couch” is a term as old as the movies themselves. Now we just “throw out the baby with the bathwater” as the old saying goes...

PHOTO BY GIOVANNI GIANNONI FOR PITTI IMMAGINE

The Pitti Uomo 92 Diaries: Federico Curradi’s Angelic Rockstar Cool Look

E. Nina Rothe February 4, 2018

In the biography for Florentine-born designer Federico Curradi, his extensive experience at the helm of Ermanno Scervino, as head of menswear for Roberto Cavalli. as creative director for menswear at Iceberg and various consultancy jobs including one at Dunhill are collectively described as his “unique baggage of experiences”. I love to think of life as a journey and nowhere in Florence this year — where I find myself for the Pitti UomoSpring/Summer 2018 collections — was that concept more apparent than in Curradi’s line.

Claudia Cardinale © Archivio Cameraphoto Epoche/Getty Images

Jake Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson and More: What I Learned from the Stars in Cannes

E. Nina Rothe February 3, 2018

While in Cannes, I also wanted to find some answers to my own doubts, answers on how to combat the virus of fake news, how to achieve my true self and why movie theaters can never be replaced by a computer.

I found my answers in the stars. The movie stars.

The Diaries, because sometimes life needs more.