THE RENEGADE

52 minutes, 2013
Direction : Sofia AMARA (France, Morocco) and Bruno JOUCLA (France)
Production : Magnéto Presse (France)

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“The Renegade” is about an exceptional life. Recruited by the Hezbollah as a child soldier when he was 13, Rami Ollaik rose through the ranks to reach the very top of the organization. When he discovered a more liberal Lebanon, offering all sorts of new horizons, he moved to the United States, the country of the enemy, to complete his university education. Back in Lebanon, considered a traitor, Ollaik decided to write about his experiences at the heart of the Hezbollah. His book caused a sensation. Defying death threats, Ollaik had the courage to re-think all his beliefs. Now he wants to reconcile himself with his past and prepare for the future.

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TWO AT THE BORDER

TWO AT THE BORDER
30 minutes, 2013
Réalisation : Tuna KAPTAN (Allemagne, Turquie) et Felicitas SONVILLA (Autriche)
Production : HFF University of Television and Film Munich (Allemagne)

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Two young men, a Syrian and a Palestinian, secretly smuggle refugees into Europe. Based in the Turkish city of Edirne, they help illegal immigrants move across to Greece. Although the Turkish side of the border is porous, EU support means the Greek side is better controlled: heat-seeking cameras, fences, coastguard vessels. The young people group together, move – sometimes they succeed, sometimes they don’t.

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SUNFLOWER

SUNFLOWER
30 minutes, 2012
Direction : Nejla DEMİRCİ (Turkey)
Production :Nejla DEMİRCİ (Turkey), Ney Reklam ve Film Yapim (Turkey)

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The documentary “Sunflower” is about the destruction of the ecological balance of the river Ergene in Turkey. It shows the industrial development which is destroying this fertile plain, and how the community is trying to preserve the wild fauna and flora. It also addresses the issue of social, cultural, economic and environmental changes all around the river Ergene, home to over a million people.

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SAMAR

SAMAR
22 minutes, 2013
Direction : Mohammad RAHAHLEH (Jordania)
Production : RSICA The Red Institute for Cinematic Arts (Jordania)

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Samar is a young 15 year old Bedouin girl who lives with her family in a tent near the Jordan river. Every day she has to make a difficult four hour journey to school, then when she gets back, do jobs around the home, as an example to her younger sisters. Because of this demanding daily routine, Samar discovered she is particularly fit and is very well prepared for sporting competitions.

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RAMALLAH

RAMALLAH
28 minutes, 2013
Direction : Flavie PINATEL (France)
Production : Flavie PINATEL (France), Catalogue du Sensible (France), Films de Force Majeure (France)

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By making portraits – funny, serious or unlikely — of Ramallah’s inhabitants, Flavie Pinatel tries, for the length of a film, to bring this town out of its drama and show it like a beating heart, a 21st century city.

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LA LARME DU BOURREAU

LA LARME DU BOURREAU
26 minutes, 2013
Direction : Layth ABDULAMIR (France, Irak)
Production : Orok Films (France)

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The death penalty still applies in some countries. Ashmawi, Egypt’s executioner is convinced he is the hand of God on earth, a painstaking perfectionist of legal murder. The condemned men talk about the suffering and their insupportable wait for death.

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TRAQUES

TRAQUES
60 minutes, 2012
Direction : Paul MOREIRA (France)
Production : Premières Lignes Télévision (France)

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The Arab revolutions could not have been won without the Internet. It was the first horizontal insurrection, with no real leader, where information flowed rapidly through networks, twitter and cell phone, where abuses of power were systematically filmed and published on the web, creating international emotion and making it harder than ever for the Western democracies to remain indifferent.

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LE SIGNAL PERDU DE LA DEMOCRATIE

LE SIGNAL PERDU DE LA DEMOCRATIE
52 minutes, 2013
Direction : Yorgos AVGEROPOULOS (Greece)
Production : Small Planet Productions (Greece)

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On June 11th 2013 the Greek government announced the immediate closure of the public broadcaster, ERT. That same night, after 75 years of continuous broadcasting, all radio and television frequencies were silenced. There was only a black screen, shocking Greek citizens and causing a wave of international indignation.
“The Lost Signal of Democracy” shows what happened from within: from the announcement of the shut down to the creation of an illegal channel and the evacuation of the premises by riot police. The film analyzes the decision’s implications in the political and economic world. It reveals how this shut down, while temporarily satisfying the demands of the troika to reduce public broadcasting expenditure, gave the Greek government political control of the media just before it took the presidency of the European Union. The film also shows how the shut down helped a commercial television consortium, hand in glove with the state. Above all, it questions the dark, uncertain future of all European public broadcasting networks and public services in general, especially in those countries affected by the crisis.

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LE DROIT AU BAISER

LE DROIT AU BAISER
52 minutes, 2013
Direction : Camille PONSIN (France)
Production : Electrick Films (France)

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Without headscarf or taboo, “The right to kiss” addresses sexuality in Turkey. Through this issue, as essential as it is trivial, we see the fundamental question of women’s status in Mediterranean countries and the younger generation’s thirst for freedom.
Inspired in its approach by Pier Paolo Pasolini’s “Comizi d’amore”, the story strangely echoes the recent events in Turkey and the new issues raised by the Arab Spring.

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LA CONFRERIE, ENQUETE SUR LES FRERES MUSULMANS

LA CONFRERIE, ENQUETE SUR LES FRERES MUSULMANS
81 minutes, 2013
Direction : Michaël PRAZAN (France)
Production : Kuiv Productions (France) avec la participation de France Télévisions

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In most of the Arab Spring countries the Muslim Brotherhood are either in power or about to be. But who are they really?
Created in 1928 as part of a return to religious fundamentalism and armed struggle against Western occupation, the Brotherhood has developed an ideology that some might describe as obscurantist.
Long hounded by secular Arab nationalist dictators, the Muslim Brotherhood came to power in Egypt, Tunisia, and partially in Morocco. But are the Muslim Brotherhood of today digging the grave of the democratic revolution which gave them power in the first place? Or are they, as they claim, really in favour of a “moderate Islam”, in tune with modernity and compatible with democracy?

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