This month’s watch guide features a range of North African stories that highlight historical and present socio-political issues through the intimacy of family dynamics. An Egyptian family traces the legacy of their well-known ancestor, who was a scholar at the University of Azhar in Cairo. A Western Saharan family gets separated and reconnects amidst the end of Spanish colonial rule. After covering up the murder of a South Sudanese woman's husband, a Sudanese woman takes the widow and her child into her home.
Find out more below:
'The Memoirs of M. A. Draz' (Egypt)
In this documentary, Egyptian actor Noha ElKholy uncovers letters, diaries and photographs left behind by her great-grandfather, the renowned Azharite scholar Mohamed Abdallah Draz. Through this archive, she embarks on a journey decades after his death, to illuminate M.A. Draz’s life story — from his humble beginnings in the village of Mahallat Diyay, to his formative years in Alexandria and his scholarly pursuits in Paris.
Where to watch: Zawya Cinema, as part of Cairo Cinema Days.
'Goodbye Julia' (Sudan)
This award-winning feature film follows the divide between Sudan’s north and south. Wracked by guilt after covering up a murder, Mona, a Sudanese retired singer in a tense marriage, tries to make amends by taking in the deceased’s South Sudanese widow, Julia, and her son, Daniel, into her home. Unable to confess her transgressions to Julia, Mona decides to leave the past behind and adjust to a new status quo, unaware that the country’s turmoil may find its way into her home and put her face to face with her sins. The film by award-winning director Mohamed Kordofani stars Sudanese actress Eiman Yousif as Mona and South Sudanese supermodel Siran Riak as Julia.
Where to watch: Netflix.
'Four Daughters' (Tunisia)
Kaouther Ben Hania’s Oscar-nominated documentary “Four Daughters” uses a blend of documentary and fiction formats to tell the compelling true story of a Tunisian family, consisting of matriarch Olfa Hamrouni and her four daughters. The family bond is shattered perhaps irrevocably when the two elder daughters, Ghofrane and Rahma Chikhaoui, leave home to join the Islamic State in Libya. Two actors play the fugitive rebels in scenes recreating the past, while the younger girls play themselves; Olfa sometimes speaks for herself and sometimes watches as star Hend Sabry stands in for her.
Where to watch: Zawya Cinema, as part of Cairo Cinema Days.
'Sahari Slem Wesaa' (Morocco)
Screengrab from 'Sahari Slem Wesaa,' YouTube.
In this historical drama by Moulay Taieb Bouhanana, three brothers from Laayoune, capital of Western Sahara, make different political choices amidst the withdrawal of Spanish colonial troops from the Sahara province in November 1975. Hammad will find himself in Morocco, his sister Salka in the Polisario refugee camps in Algeria and Amar in the Mauritanian desert. Sixteen years later, following their mother’s serious illness, Hammad will go after his brothers at the peril of his life.
Where to watch: Moroccan cinemas.
'Back to Alexandria' (Egypt)
In this comedy-drama by Swiss Egyptian filmmaker Tamer Ruggli, renowned filmmaker and actor Nadine Labaki stars in the role of Sue who returns to her native Egypt after 20 years of absence. As her aristocratic, eccentric mother lies on her deathbed, Sue has to confront her painful past during an inner journey while taking a surprising journey from Cairo back to Alexandria where she reconnects with loved ones.
Where to watch: Zawya Cinema, as part of Cairo Cinema Days.
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