Joseph Fahim
@josephfahim.bsky.social
I do a whole bunch of things in cinema as my overlong futile search for home drags on.
On the ethical dimension of Naza's aesthetics, why it's not for Arabs, and why the argument about rehabilitation of Israeli cinema is nonsensical. My lengthy review of Naza, the most dangerous film of the post-October 7 era. For @middleeasteye-rss.bsky.social www.middleeasteye.net/discover/naz...
NAZA review: Portrait of Israel as a nation stuck in a moral abyss
Testimonies from military and intelligence whistleblowers debunk myths about the reasons behind the Gaza genocide
middleeasteye.net
It's very on the nose, didactic in parts, and some segments are too outlandish to digest, but there's a lot of food for thought in here about how German self-superiority and how the legal system is wired against non-white Germans. Recommended. www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbet...
STAATSSCHUTZ Trailer German Deutsch (2026)
YouTube video by KinoCheck
youtube.com
I will write about this in time, but I can't be excited about this given a) the obvious staunch censorship and b) the UAE's very cosy relationship with Isr@el. www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture...
Dubai International Film Festival to return in December 2027 after decade-long break | The National
Mona Al Marri calls the revived event a new step in developing the film industry
thenationalnews.com
In my dispatch from #Venezia83, I wrote about how the American economic system has spawned a new breed of monsters, each of whom has wielded it in their own image to augment their powers. For @middleeasteye-rss.bsky.social Up next: my full review on Naza. www.middleeasteye.net/discover/ven...
Venice Film Festival 2026: American monsters dominate the 83rd edition
Rupert Murdoch and Elon Musk were the focus of two stand-out movies, and despite neither being American-born, they owe their success to its culture
middleeasteye.net
Friends in #Tiff: Go watch Thirteen in Gaza, the first narrative feature made in Gaza by a Gazan filmmaker since October 7. It's bold, unpolished, & will certainly upset a lot of people. It's also very essential. Premieres tonight. My review soon. tiff.net/films/thirte...
tiff.net
Best promotion the film could've ever received. www.euronews.com/culture/2026...
Benjamin Netanyahu joins Israeli ministers attacking Venice-winning documentary 'NAZA'
The documentary 'NAZA', which won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, examines Israel's targeting practices in Gaza and alleges that mass civilian deaths are routinely factored into de...
euronews.com
Neither mayor of Venice nor Italian media & MPs objected to his accusations that Italy is complicit in the genocide! In all seriousness,we all know that it could've never premiered in Berlin & all hell would've broken loose in Germany with this speech. #Venezia83 www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfe...
Gaza genocide documentary ‘NAZA’ wins Special Jury Prize at Venice
‘NAZA’, a documentary about Israel’s genocide in Gaza, has won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.
aljazeera.com
Been bombarded with tons of comments about Naza by folks who haven't seen the film. To each his own of course, but I just find it highly problematic and intellectually unsound forming opinions on reviews and reports on a movie YOU HAVEN'T FUCKIN WATCHED! youtube.com/shorts/COAwW...
Directors of NAZA documentary about Israeli surveillance and killing in Gaza present their movie
YouTube video by Middle East Eye
youtube.com
The most damning document of Israel since October 7. A clear-headed act of moral bravely from Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor. Daring, unvarnished, and ultimately enraging. The one film in #Venezia83 that left me shaken. Full review soon. #Naza youtu.be/7-nTtmRbqDA?...
“Naza” Gaza Documentary Press Conference Held at Venice Film Festival | DWS News | AA14
YouTube video by DWS News
youtu.be
It doesn't give you a lot if you’ve been following him closely, and could've been an hour shorter. But it's very compelling; very watchable; and downright damning. It also has the most unsettling ending of any movie this year. #Musk #Venezia83 www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYws...
Musk | Official Teaser | Bleecker Street
YouTube video by Musk
youtube.com
There's Jan 6 in there. Trump. China. Gaza. India. More Gaza. And even Egypt. Didn't expect it to be as intensively political as it is. My favourite entry of the series. #Venezia83 www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mtW...
Venezia 83: THE PERVERT'S GUIDE TO UTOPIAS (Venice Open Film on Films)
YouTube video by Fred Film Radio
youtube.com
The best film in #Venezia83 competition and the surefire Golden Lion winner. Lee Chang-dong's most politically barbed film to date. The richest character study of any film you'll see this year. A masterful picture by one of the greatest living filmmakers. www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd3q...
Possible Love | Official Trailer | Netflix
YouTube video by Netflix
youtube.com
I adored Malkovich in 'Wild Horse Nine' so I really hope it's not true. Because if it is true, his Oscar campaign is already dead. #Venezia83 www.jpost.com/israel-news/...
John Malkovich brings 'The Music Critic' to Israel in rare international booking | The Jerusalem Post
Oscar nominee John Malkovich will return to Tel Aviv for a musical performance blending classical music, comedy, and brutal criticism.
jpost.com
"The Basics of Philosophy" is what happens when an octogenarian Calvinist discovers gender fluidity, combines it with catholic guilt, tries to make sense of both, and eventually gives up. Also, the man knows jackshit about Spinoza! #Venezia83 youtu.be/Jy1pkLuVgaE?...
The Basics of Philosophy new clip official from Venice Film Festival 2026
YouTube video by The Upcoming
youtu.be
I don't wish Amos Gitai on even my worst enemy. More later. #Venezia83 www.labiennale.org/it/cinema/20...
Biennale Cinema 2026 | The road to Jericho
Regia Amos Gitai Interpreti Irène Jacob, Jeanne Moreau, Arthur Miller, Samuel Fuller, Muhammad Abu Jihad, Mohamad Said Alarj, Sara Arneberg, Bahira Ablassi, Sarah Adler, Agnes Garval Lavi / Francia, R...
labiennale.org
For my money, the best Arab film of the year and the most gripping portrait of post-2019 Lebanese revolution Beirut made thus far. Electrifying. . More soon in my @middleeasteye-rss.bsky.social reports. #Venezia83 www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu_n...
FURIES - Exclusive First Clip
YouTube video by Le Pacte International
youtube.com
A couple of intriguing characters in search for a story in one of Herzog's most pointless films to date. And no, I couldn't go along with this ride. The Mara sisters are great though. #Venezia83 www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SZN...
BUCKING FASTARD (2026) - Official First Look Clip - HanWay Films
YouTube video by HanWay Films
youtube.com
Many will complain that it lets Rupert Murdoch off the hook or that it's not critical enough, but that's missing the point of the picture.
On the Middle Eastern films of this year's Locarno, Manal Issa's brilliant comeback performance, Alessandra Sanguinetti's moving speech on Palestine, & what happened at the heated discussion of 'Revolutionaries Never Die'. For @middleeasteye-rss.bsky.social www.middleeasteye.net/discover/loc...
Locarno Film Festival 2026: Palestine, Iran and Gaza's genocide continue to dominate debate
The 79th iteration of the iconic festival took place in Switzerland between 5 and 15 August
middleeasteye.net
A penetrating study of the moral price of what happens when a divided place and people decide to move on. Reverberates beyond Germany and World War II. Pawlikowski's most affecting and least fatalistic film to date, and my favorite of his. youtu.be/-I2-X9v-ogs?...
FATHERLAND | Official Trailer | Only in Theaters October 23
YouTube video by MUBI
youtu.be
Friends on the East Coast, Al Bustaan and I are thrilled to host a special screening of Tarik Saleh's "The Nile Hilton Incident," tomorrow, August 20, at our premise in South Philadelphia. www.albustanseeds.org/events/film-...
FILM SCREENING : THE NILE HILTON INCIDENT — Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture
Film Screening : The Nile Hilton Incident
albustanseeds.org
I'm done with Almodovar. What an utterly disposable, self-indulgent, pointless pic. Not as embarrassing as "The Room Next Door," but close...so close. With 'Bitter Christmas,' Almodovar has reached a new peak of irrelevance. One big shrug of a movie. youtu.be/7PgPkSpuYpY?...
BITTER CHRISTMAS | Official US Teaser (2026)
YouTube video by Sony Pictures Classics
youtu.be
Thrilled for Manal's much-deserved best actress win at #Locarno for "L'estive",a sensitive, deeply-felt,& brilliantly calibrated performance that ranks as the best of her career.A great comeback in one of the very few solid Middle Eastern pics of 2026. www.youtube.com/shorts/ztaNr...
MANAL ISSA wins best performance at Locarno and talks about Palestine & Lebanon.
YouTube video by Frank Barat
youtube.com
mass layoffs at Pixar despite Toy Story 5 about to cross $1 billion at the box office. there is simply no amount of money that will make corporations happy enough to not upend people’s lives.
Pixar Bears Brunt of Disney Studio Layoffs as Company Axes Several Hundred Staffers
Pixar Animation Studios, despite riding high on the success of summer blockbuster "Toy Story 5," was hit particularly hard in a wave of corporatewide layoffs at Disney.
variety.com
“[Ben] Rivers has produced his most hopeful feature to date: a film suggesting that, to see, feel, and absorb this newly refurbished world, one must adopt unknowing eyes” @josephfahim.bsky.social reviews Mare’s Nest www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...
Mare’s Nest review: Ben Rivers’ most hopeful film
Ben Rivers' Mare's Nest stars Moon Guo Barker as a young wanderer moving through a post-apocalyptic landscape shaped by myth and change.
bfi.org.uk
The most revolutionary, most original Arab composer and songwriter of the past half century. The man who singlehandedly changed Arab music, introducing funk, disco, electronica,and jazz and mold them into uniquely Egyptian sound. RIP. One of the greats. english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/...
Legendary Egyptian composer Hany Shenouda dies at 83 - Music - Arts & Culture
Legendary Egyptian composer and arranger Hany Shenouda passed away on 20 July at the age of 83.
english.ahram.org.eg
How the World Cup brought out the best and worst of America - https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/how-world-cup-brought-out-best-and-worst-america
How the World Cup brought out the best and worst of America
Football's message has always been rooted in egalitarianism, but our writer says the US has left a very noticeable mark on the world's most popular sporting event
middleeasteye.net
Two months ago, Arab-American relatives told me to "stop criticizing the U.S. and get the hell out of here" when I objected over the country's handling of the #WorldCup. The resultant piece is reflection what this violent exchange says about America. www.middleeasteye.net/discover/how...
How the World Cup brought out the best and worst of America
Football's message has always been rooted in egalitarianism, but our writer says the US has left a very noticeable mark on the world's most popular sporting event
middleeasteye.net
Alrighty folks. For our July film night, Al Bustan and I are thrilled to host a special screening of "Sleepless Nights " one of the foundational Lebanese Civil War documents by Lebanon's finest documentarian, Eliane Raheb, on July 16 at 6 pm in South Philly. www.albustanseeds.org/events/film-...
FILM SCREENING : SLEEPLESS NIGHTS — Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture
Film Screening : Sleepless Nights
albustanseeds.org
Asad and Seven Dogs:Two strikingly different visions of what an Arab blockbuster should be:a clash between flawed, ambition undermined by political timidity, and Turki Al-Sheikh's grand Saudi project of "Show me the money!" For @middleeasteye-rss.bsky.social www.middleeasteye.net/discover/sev...
Asad versus 7 Dogs: Two starkly different movies compete to be the summer Arab blockbuster
A historical epic takes on a Bad Boys style action romp in what our critic describes as the Barbenheimer of Arab cinema
middleeasteye.net