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film from the south

fiction (film)

Political thriller from real-life Egypt

Tarik Saleh: Boy from heaven

ARAB FILM DAYS: "Boy from Heaven" is first and foremost a well-composed suspense film, but at the same time gives an exciting insight into religious environments and political lines of conflict in today's Egypt.
Aleksander Huser -
fiction (film)

Actual and imagined boundaries

Jafar Panahi: No Bears

FILM FROM THE SOUTH: Jafar Panahi's "No Bears" is a strong film in itself, but gains even greater impact in light of the situation the now imprisoned Iranian filmmaker is in.
Aleksander Huser -
fiction (film)

The devil is in the system

Mohammad Rasoulof: There is no devil

DEATH PENALTY: The Berlin winner There is no devil is a strong statement against Iran's state executions and a morally complex depiction of living in a totalitarian society.
Aleksander Huser -
INTERVIEW

30 years with Film fra Sør

DIGITAL FESTIVAL: "It is a special year", says Lasse Skagen and Åse Meyer from Film fra Sør. With the closure of the cinemas in Oslo, this year's anniversary edition of the festival will be arranged digitally.
Aleksander Huser -
documentary

When killing is the only solution

Mehrdad Oskouei: Sunless Shadows

ABUSE: In an Iranian youth institution, a group of teenage girls are zoning. They have all killed a father, a brother or a spouse.
Carmen Gray -
documentary

Sensible Arabic film-painting

Maryam Touzani: Adam

WOMEN: A sensual and strong relationship between women without a hint of Hollywood feeling.
Ellen Lande -
documentary

"Fuck you, Bashar"

Feras Benefits: The Cave

SYRIA: Feras Fayyad's new documentary shows people's courage, resilience and solidarity in a hospital during the bombing.
Carmen Gray -
documentary

Colorful about fatal prejudice

Amjad Abu Alala: You will die at twenty

WRONG: Superstition and prophecy form the framework of a story in which a curse says that the main character will die before he turns twenty.
Ellen Lande -
documentary

Football bans and women's matches

Marwa Zein: Khartoum Offside

SUDANISH WOMEN'S FOOTBALL: When the African dream is not to meet the right one, but to play for the national team.
Ellen Lande -
documentary

Race for the accidents

Luke Lorentzen: Midnight Family

PATIENT HUNTING: The intense and up-to-date documentary Midnight Family follows a family-owned ambulance in Mexico City, and their extreme dilemmas between lifesaving and earnings.
Aleksander Huser -
documentary

Slave operation on the high seas

Shannon Service, Jeffrey Waldron: Ghost Fleet

MODERN SLAVERY: The Thai mafia tricks or kidnaps men who end up as slave laborers on fishing boats. A female activist fights for the lives of fishermen.
Bianca-Olivia Nita -
documentary

When going to the cinema becomes a political act

Suhaib Gasmelbari: Talking About Trees

SUDAN: What role can cinema play in democracy building?
Melita Zajc -
documentary

Lordships and parasites

Joon-ho Bong: Parasite

GOLD PALM WINNER: Modern class divisions are strongly present in this year's Film from the South opening film Parasite, which is a bubbling and biting social satire you should not know too much about in advance.
Aleksander Huser -
documentary

The lost defender

Rachel Leah Jones, Philippe Bellaiche: Advocate

ISRAEL: For almost fifty years, Lea Tsemel has been at the forefront of the fight for justice and compassion for those who are lost and impossible to defend.
Bianca-Olivia Nita -
documentary

Meaningful notes from a Japanese master

Stephen Nomura Schible: Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda

: In Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda, director Stephen Nomura Schible presents an intimate encounter with an artist and activist. I feel privileged to be let so close into his creative universe.
Kaisa Ytterhaug -
documentary

No one would think anyone could bu

Christian Krönes, Florian Weigensamer: Welcome to Sodom

: The West's scrapped phones, PC screens and refrigerators become a kind of livelihood for the many who live in the world's largest landfill for electronic products, Sodom
Aleksander Huser -
documentary

Laila, the mother of addicts

Elizabeth Mirzaei, Gulistan Mirzaei: Laila at the Bridge

: Laila at the Bridge takes us on a harrowing journey to Kabul's gloomy drug scene, accompanied by a woman trying to save the addicts.
Sevara Pan -
documentary

A different pop star portrait

Stephen Loveridge: Matangi / Maya / MIA

: "Why are you a problematic pop star?" asks director Stephen Loveridge in the documentary about MIA The answers point far beyond the artist's uncompromising and at times challenging personality.
Aleksander Huser -
documentary

A cinematic prayer

Rithy Panh: Graves Without a Name

: Rithy Panh's cinematic excavation of the genocide in Cambodia is entering its third decade, with at least five aesthetic attempts to approach it.
Daniel Glassman -
documentary

The airport you never leave

Karim Ainoush: Central

: Tempelhof, the ancient German pride and architectural gem of an airport, has been given new life as a refugee reception center.
Ellen Lande -
documentary

The Invisible Facebook Moderators

Hans Block, Moritz Riesewieck: The Cleaners

: The "cleaning helpers" of the global social media platforms live in harsh societies and in relatively disorderly conditions compared to those they clean up after.
Dieter Wieczorek -
documentary

With the child's eyes

Nora Twomey / Ali Soozandeh: The Breadwinner / Tehran Taboo

: Girls dressed as boys in the underworld of Kabul and Tehran with sex, drugs and rave music are depicted through the child's gaze in the animated films The Breadwinner and Tehran Taboo.
Margareta Hruza -
documentary

Difficult and dreaming in Congo

Emmanuel Gras: Makala ("Litter")

: An indomitable will meets the hopelessness of this portrait of a coal breeder in Congo.
Ellen Lande -
documentary

The generation that lost hope

Mohamed Siam: Charity

: Following his young protagonist for six years, the documentary Amal also draws a portrait of Egypt in a period marked by dramatic upheavals.
Aleksander Huser -
documentary

MOVIE FROM THE SOUTH: The waiting room of death

Shevaun Mizrahi: Distant Constellation

: Shevaun Mizrahi's Distant Constellation follows the slow pace of the old home and teaches us something about what it means to grow old.
Kjetil Røed -

Full 100-page MODERN TIMES including the appendix Orientering and Modern Times Review comes out quarterly in early March, June, September and December) with international book reviews (non-fiction) and comments / essays. According to the physical newspaper (and PDF), the articles are published regularly online (see the newsletters).

© MODERN TIMES & Orientering AS. PO Box 3113 Elisenberg, 0207 Oslo. Chief editor: Truls Lie

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