07/11/2024 - The 24th edition of the festival will be held from 28 November-6 December and will end on a high note with the screening of Manele Labidi’s Queen Mom

The Mediterranean will once again take centre stage through the rich and varied programme of the 24th Cinemamed – Brussels Mediterranean Film Festival, which will explore the region’s film output in all its diversity. Almost 70 movies will be on offer to audiences, from countries ranging from Spain to Lebanon, via Morocco and Croatia. The gathering will open with a couple of locals, brothers Mounir and Ish Aït Hamou, who will be presenting their feature debut, BXL [+see also:
film review
interview: Ish and Monir Ait Hamou
film profile], which was first unveiled a few weeks ago at Film Fest Gent. It will be brought to a close by the Belgian premiere of Queen Mom [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Manele Labidi
film profile], the sophomore film by Manele Labidi, starring Camélia Jordana, Sofiane Zermani and Damien Bonnard, a smart comedy on everyday racism.

The official competition will bring together eight features that have taken part in major international festivals. Among them we find Animale [+see also:
film review
interview: Emma Benestan
film profile] by Emma Benestan (the festival will also show her previous film, Hard Shell, Soft Shell [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), which was presented as the closing film of the Cannes Critics’ Week, as well as the new movie by Cinemamed regular Nabil Ayouch, Everybody Loves Touda [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which was also unveiled at Cannes, in the Cannes Première section. Then, we head to Turkey with Faruk [+see also:
film review
interview: Asli Özge
film profile], a familial docu-fiction helmed by filmmaker Asli Özge, which won the FIPRESCI Award in the Panorama section of the most recent Berlinale, and to Tunisia with Red Path [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Lotfi Achour, which was premiered at Locarno, in the Cineasti del Presente section, and which has just won the Golden Bayard at the Namur International French-language Film Festival. Spanish director Jonás Trueba will also be among the participants with his romantic comedy The Other Way Around [+see also:
film review
interview: Jonás Trueba
film profile], which was presented in the Directors’ Fortnight, as was To a Land Unknown [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mahdi Fleifel
film profile] by Mahdi Fleifel, which follows the daily lives of two Palestinian cousins who are refugees in Athens. Also locking horns in the competition is Vermiglio, the Mountain Bride [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maura Delpero
film profile] by Italy’s Maura Delpero, winner of the Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival and the Italian hopeful for an Oscar. Also hailing from Venice, but from the Orizzonti Extra section, is Seeking Haven for Mr Rambo, the feature debut by Egypt’s Khaled Mansour.

The festival also organises another competition dubbed RêVolution, which intends to train the spotlight on films that depict the challenges faced by Mediterranean youngsters. A further eight films are in this strand, beginning with Aïcha [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Tunisia’s Mehdi M Barsaoui (who turned heads with his feature debut, A Son [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mehdi M Barsaoui and Sami B…
film profile]), which was recently revealed in Venice’s Orizzonti section. Other popular titles will surely be As Silence Passes By [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sandra Romero
film profile] by Spaniard Sandra Romero, which took part in San Sebastián; Wild Diamond [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Agathe Riedinger
film profile] by Agathe Riedinger, a revelation at Cannes, where the film was presented in competition; Rabia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mareike Engelhardt
film profile] by Marike Engelhardt, boasting a top-notch female cast (Megan Northam, Lubna Azabal and Natacha Krief); and Meat [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dimitris Nakos
film profile] by Greece’s Dimitris Nakos, presented at Toronto. The competition is also a fine showcase for documentaries, as in it, we find the Egyptian title The Brink of Dreams [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nada Riyadh, Ayman El Amir
film profile] by Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir, which scooped the Golden Eye at Cannes; Since I Was Born [+see also:
film review
interview: Jawad Rhalib
film profile], the new effort by prolific Belgian-Moroccan director Jawad Rhalib; and Donga by Muhannad Lamin, which takes an inside look at the Libyan revolt of 2011.

Of note among the festival’s other events are two special screenings of The Story of Souleymane [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Boris Lojkine
film profile], a film by Boris Lojkine that was rewarded in Un Certain Regard at Cannes and has set tongues wagging in France, and of Parthenope [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], the latest feature by Paolo Sorrentino, as well as a family screening of Flow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gints Zilbalodis
interview: Red Carpet @ European Film …
film profile], the acclaimed animated flick by Gints Zilbalodis.

(Translated from French)