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ADRIFT ON THE NILE
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Our Price: $29.99
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Based on the novel by Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz, Adrift on the Nile shows a group of hedonistic middle-aged friends who gather each night for dancing, sex, and drug-use. The film articulates a scathing indictment of the corruption, discontent, and despair of the Egyptian elite preceding the 1967 War. In Arabic with English subtitles.
Hussein Kamal---Egypt---1971---115 mins.
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AL KARNAK
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Our Price: $29.99
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Co-writer Naguib Mahfouz (Miramar) adapted his own work, Al Karnak, for this serious drama about the lives of a group of university students during the tumultuous socio-political changes that affected Egypt in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Nour El-Sherif and Soad Hosny star. In Arabic with English subtitles.
Aly Badrakhan---Egypt---1975---143 mins.
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ALI ZAOUA
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Our Price: $14.98
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A kind of Oliver Twist transplanted to modern Casablanca, Nabil Ayouch's North African drama follows a gang of homeless, glue-sniffing orphans who rely on their wits and petty thievery to survive. When the charismatic Ali (Abdelhak Zhayra) makes a break from the adult gang leader Dib (Said Taghamoui), many of his friends follow suit. But with Dib bent on revenge, Ali realizes he has nowhere to turn. "An engaging and powerful piece of work, with real compassion for Morocco's unnoticed, unlamented army of homeless children" (The Guardian). In Arabic with English subtitles. Nabil Ayouch---Morocco---2000---100 mins.
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BAB EL-OUED CITY
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Our Price: $29.95
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In a working class district of Algiers, shortly after the riots of 1988, a young bakery worker rips out a loudspeaker broadcasting the propaganda of an Islamic fundamentalist group. This act of frustration is taken as a provocation by the local extremist organization, which happens to be led by the brother of the bakery worker's lover. "The most lucid depiction on film of the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Algeria" (Deborah Young, Variety). Winner of the FIPRESCI international film critics' prize at Cannes. Merzak Allouache---Algeria/France/Germany/Switzerland---1994---93 mins.
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BRIDE MARKET OF IMILCHIL
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Our Price: $24.99
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This film captures a unique Moroccan marriage ritual that occurs for three days each September. The event has even become a tourist attraction and the presence of Western observers--including the filmmakers--is questioned as the documentary addresses the divide between Arabic and Western culture. In English and Arabic with English subtitles. Steffen Pierce/Christian Pierce---Morocco/USA---1988---58 mins.
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DAYS OF GLORY
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Our Price: $28.95
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Rachid Bouchareb's Academy Award-nominated war film approaches World War II from an angle rarely seen in fiction film--the liberation of France from Nazi occupation as told through the valor and sacrifices of four expendable North African enlistees. They spill the same blood for the same cause, but these "indigenous" soldiers don't share equal rights, privileges, or rank with the native-born French troops. "A damn good war movie...it finds a new and politically urgent story to tell in the well-trodden (and beautifully photographed) soil of wartime Europe" (A.O. Scott, New York Times). With Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri, Roschdy Zem, and Sami Bouajila. In French and Arabic with English subtitles.
Rachid Bouchareb---Algeria/France/Morocco/Belgium---2006---125 mins.
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EL MOULID
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Our Price: $195.00
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A vivid cinematic record of a tradition that is more than 700 years old--a "Moulid" (birth celebration) honoring the 13th century Muslim Wali, Sayyid Ahmad Al-Badawy. This visual ethnography reveals the structure and symbolism of the Moulid, as well as how it inspires an interaction between spiritual and secular life. In Arabic with English subtitles. Fadwa El Guindi---Egypt---1990---40 mins.
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EL SEBOU' ( EGYTPTIAN BIRTH RI
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Our Price: $145.00
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Filmed in an intimate fashion that never loses the analytical perspective, this film captures an Egyptian birth ritual celebrated by Coptic and Muslim families. Held on the seventh day after the birth of a child, the ceremony is rich in numerological and cosmological symbolism. "Unique. There is nothing like it dealing with rites of passage, particularly in an urban setting in the Middle East" (Prof. Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban). In Arabic with English subtitles. Fadwa El Guindi---Egypt---1987---27 mins.
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ENOUGH!
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Our Price: $24.95
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In this Algerian-French co-production set during the Algerian civil war in the 1990s, we meet two women, a progressive whose husband has gone missing, and an older woman who has experienced decades of strife in her country. Together, they search for the missing man in a landscape of lawlessness and uncertainty. "A testament to female camaraderie, resourcefulness and courage in the face of daunting odds" (All Movie Guide). In Arabic with English subtitles. Djamila Sahraoui---France/Algeria---2006---94 mins.
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FATMA
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Our Price: $59.95
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Egyptian diva Om Koultoum stars in this Ahmed Badrakhan classic as Fatma, a poor nurse who falls in love with the son of one of her wealthy patients. Abandoned by her husband while pregnant, Fatma must fight her husband's wealthy and powerful family in court. The film features nine of Om Koultoum's most famous songs by composers Mohamed Al Asabgui and Riad Al Sunbati. Ahmed Badrakhan---Egypt---1947---130 mins.
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GHURBAL
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Our Price: $195.00
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A wonderful guided tour through the process of making ghurbals, which are thong-meshed sieves used to "winnow" babies on their seventh day after birth and to prepare grains for ceremonial dishes. A rich, detailed depiction of a custom unfamiliar to many. In Arabic with English subtitles. Fadwa El Guindi---Egypt---1995---40 mins.
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GIRLS OF TODAY
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Our Price: $29.99
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From the prolific Egyptian director, Henry Barakat (1965's The Sin), comes this musical that blends romance, comedy, and the magnetism of Abdel Halim Hafez, who is trying to win over a girl of today (Magda). In Arabic with English subtitles.
Henry Barakat---Egypt---1957---115 mins.
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GREAT AFRICAN FILMS VOL. 3 (DARATT / THE DESERT ARK)
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Our Price: $39.95
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The third entry in a series of award-winning films from Africa. This volume includes Daratt (Dry Season, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Chad, 2006, 95 mins.), "an unassumingly political work that unfolds with the gravity of a Bible story," according to Manohla Dargis of The New York Times. Set in Chad after a general amnesty has set war criminals free, this heart-wrenching revenge story tells of a grandfather who sends his grandson to kill the man who murdered the boy's father. Winner of five awards at the 2006 Venice Film Festival. In French and Arabic with English subtitles. This is followed by The Desert Ark (L'Arche du Desert, Mohamed Chouikh, Algeria, 1997, 90 mins.), a variation on Romeo and Juliet set in the Algerian desert. A young couple must face inevitable conflict when their rival families disc over their secret love. Taking refuge in a cave, they listen to the sounds of a senseless campaign of violence and murder, which is the culmination of the extremism that has long divided their two communities. Nominated for the Golden Leopard at the 1997 Locarno Film Festival. In Arabic with English Mahamat-Saleh Haroun/Mohamed Chouikh---Chad/Algeria---2006/1997---185 mins.
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HALFAOUINE
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Our Price: $29.95
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This breakthrough film from North Africa is a charming tale of a young boy's sexual awakening in Muslim Tunisia. Director Ferid Boughedir's style is sensual and full of joy, celebrating the pleasures of everyday life. "A source of wonder. Exquisitely sensual. Packed with humor" (Chicago Reader). In Arabic with English subtitles. Ferid Boughedir---Tunisia---1995---98 mins.
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INCH' ALLAH DIMANCHE
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Our Price: $14.98
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The debut feature from French-Algerian filmmaker Yamina Benguigui is set in 1974, when Algerian wives were first allowed to rejoin their husbands working in France. Fejria Deliba accepts this life in exile so that her children might enjoy a better future in France. However, her everyday struggles as a North African emigrant are compounded by the abuse of her husband and mother-in-law. "For its sensitivity and fresh humour in dealing with the conditions of Third World women, daily racism, and clashes between cultures" Inch'Allah Dimanche won the FIPRESCI Award at the Toronto Film Festival in 2001. In French and Arabic with English subtitles. Yamina Benguigui---France/Algeria---2001---98 mins.
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INSAN- PP
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Our Price: $175.00
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Shot entirely without dialogue, this film provides a daring account of a Sudanese villager in a large, alien city. Innovative use of sound also helps to convey the story of a shepherd who leaves his wife and herd to settle in a nearby town. "Dramatic and powerful" (Shirin Ghareeb, Arabian Sights Film Ibrahim Shaddad---Sudan---1994---27 mins.
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LION OF THE DESERT
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Our Price: $24.99
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Moustapha Akkad (The Message) returns with this spectacle set in the Libyan desert. Benito Mussolini (Rod Steiger) and General Rodolfo Graziani (Oliver Reed) try to crush the rebellion of Bedouin patriots led by Anthony Quinn against Italian colonialists in 1929 Africa. English and Arabic language Moustapha Akkad---Libya/Great Britain---1980---206 mins.
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LITTLE MISS DEVIL (AFRITA HANEM)
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A classic comedy-fantasy made in Egypt during the 1940s, the film stars famous Middle Eastern actor Farid Al Atrache in the charming tale of a smitten man who asks a genie to help him win over a beautiful dancer. With Samia Gamal. In Arabic with English subtitles.
Henry Barakat---Egypt---1947---97 mins.
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LITTLE SENEGAL
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Our Price: $99.95
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Rachid Bouchareb's beautifully photographed and quietly moving drama follows an elderly Senegalese man as he undergoes a journey to discover his family's history. Abandoning his job and home, Alloune (Sotigui Kouyate) retraces the route that his ancestors took when they were sold into slavery centuries ago. When he arrives on American shores, Alloune meets up with a Harlem family that he believes to be his kin. With its multiple thematic layers and graceful execution, Bouchareb's film meaningfully demonstrates the interconnectedness Rachid Bouchareb---Algeria/France/Germany---2001---93 mins.
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MAKING OF (BOUZID)
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Our Price: $26.98
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In Nouri Bouzid's Making Of, or Making Off, Le Dernier Film, the director traces the path of an unemployed Tunisian breakdancer (Lotfi Abdelli ) with no prospects. He gets swept up in a fundamentalist group and before he knows it, is being convinced that his life does have a purpose. "Exhibits [a] sophisticated self-consciousness...with the street reality of the 1945 classic Rome, Open City" (Washington Post). Winner of Best Actor and Best Screenplay at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. In Arabic with English Nouri Bouzid---Tunisia---2006---115 mins.
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