Within Me

Abdulaziz Al Ballam

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We Are Just Fine Like This

Mehdi M. Barsaoui

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Wasati

Ali Al Kalthami

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Turtles Are Always Home

Rawane Nassif

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Three Faces

Sarmad Yassen

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The Wedding Dress

Mohammad Salman

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The Rooster

Salman Yusuf

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The Incident

Meedo Taha

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The Builders

Naji Ismail

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AFI PATRONS

DIAMOND

Diamond

DIAMOND

GOLD

The Kanoo Group’s parent company, Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo is one of the largest, independent, family-owned groups of companies with diversified business industries from shipping, travel, machinery, logistics, property, oil & gas, power industrial chemicals, joint ventures, among others. Founded in 1890 by Haji Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo, the family business grew from its early trading and shipping enterprise into becoming one of the highly regarded business houses in the Gulf region and beyond. From Bahrain, the company spread in Saudi Arabia in 1930s. In 1967, Hamed Kanoo came from Saudi Arabia to the UAE to propagate the family business. He established The Kanoo Group as a trusted name in the UAE from a humble start of 5 people including him.

Presently, The Kanoo Group operates extensively through various divisions, with over 1,200 people working for the group and its joint ventures. Mishal Kanoo serves as the Chairman of The Kanoo Group based in UAE & Oman.

Our Vision
The Leading Family Business In The Region And Beyond

Our Mission
Delivering Sustainable Excellence

Our Values
Customer Focused, Ethical, Innovative, Agile, Competent & Intelligent, Collaborative, Accountable
P.O. Box 290, Dubai, UAE. Toll Free: 800 KANOO, Fax: 04-3933636,
Websites: www.kanoo.com            www.kanoogroup.com

MISSION & VISION

We aspire to build a diversified group of companies that transcend geographic and cultural borders, while striving for inclusive leadership, global competitiveness and sustainable value for all of our stakeholders.

Actively supporting operations across strategic sectors.

Crescent Enterprises, one of the UAE’s most prominent multinational companies, has succeeded in growing a diverse, global range of sustainable, scalable and profitable operating firms. Through its 20 subsidiaries and affiliates, Crescent Enterprises employs over 5,000 dedicated professionals and operates across five continents.

Website: www.crescententerprises.com      

Fully owned by the Mawarid Group, the Orbit Group is a diversified media and communications company with investments in operations across sectors along the entire value chain.

Loyal to its mission to “provide services to every home and business in the Arab world”, the Orbit Group is committed to realise its vision to “create, manage and deliver content in all forms”.

Orbit Group’s current investments include OSN, Media Gates and Orbit Data Systems. Among others, Orbit is affiliated with Integrated Telecom Company (ITC), a leading Saudi based telecom provider.

Website: www.orbit.net

International Film Distribution or IFD is a Kuwait based distribution company specializing in Middle East and North Africa distribution with a catalogue of award-winning feature films. IFD arose out of KNCC’s acquisition and distribution department to become it’s own entity.

Kuwait National Cinema Company (KNCC), Cinescape, was founded in October 5th 1954, and for more than half a century, has been the first exhibitor and distributor in the Gulf Region for Arabic, English, and Indian films. With more than 53 screens across more than 11 locations, KNCC became the Pioneer of the regions cinema industry and the prominent actor of the entertainment landscape in the State of Kuwait. KNCC began in film acquisition and distribution very early on and in 2007 established IFD – International Film Distribution Co. to carry on its legacy.

In 2005, KNCC (now IFD) joined alliances with Front Row Filmed Entertainment, an established Film Distributor in the region which throughout the years, has proved to be one of the strongest Distribution companies in the Middle East to be affiliated with major Independent studios

In 2007, IFD was established as a separate entity that focuses solely on acquisitions and distribution, however it still stays a prominent part of KNCC. IFD has built a fast growing brand at many worldwide markets and film festivals including Cannes, EFM/ Berlinale, AFM, and The Dubai Film Festival. IFD are proud to be partners with Front Row Filmed Entertainment, a prominent Film distribution company based in Dubai.

Website: www.ifd.com.kw      

Within Me

Abdulaziz Al Ballam

Country: Kuwait

Year: 2017

Duration: 20 min

Original Version: Arabic

Credits

Production: BLACK RAIN FILMS

We Are Just Fine Like This

Mehdi M. Barsaoui

Original title: Khallina Hakka Khir

Country: Tunisia

Year: 2016

Duration: 19 min

Original Version: Arabic

Genre: Drama

Synopsis

Baba Azizi is an old man, who has not been spared by illness. Passed around by his adult children, he finds himself at his daughter’s for a couple of days. An ordeal is expected, but things will not go as he imagines.

Credits

Production: HABIB ATTIA

Cast: Nouri Bouzid, Youssef Mrabet, Sawsen Maalej

Screenplay: Mehdi M. Barsaoui

Cinematography: Sofian El Fani

Editing: Mehdi M. Barsaoui

Music: Kais Sellami

Thenical Details

Color: Color

Wasati

Ali Al Kalthami

Country: Saudi Arabia

Year: 2017

Duration: 33 min

Original Version: Arabic

Genre: Drama

Synopsis

Wasati is based on true events that happened during a play in Riyadh 10 years ago. The play was called “Wasati bela Wastiah” which roughly translates to “A Moderate Without a Middle-Ground,” where a group of extremists attacked the theater and the play was shut down. That story shook the society and it was all over the news. The film addresses that event and retells the story from a different point of view.

Credits

Production: IBRAHIM MISSISSIPPI

Turtles Are Always Home

Rawane Nassif

Country: Lebanon

Year: 2017

Duration: 12 min

Original Version: Arabic

Genre: Experimental, Documentary

Synopsis

I left Lebanon in 2006. For the past 10 years I lived in 7 countries, 10 cities, and 21 homes. I slept in 21 beds, cooked in 21 kitchens, cleaned 21 bathrooms, wrote on 21 desks and locked 21 doors behind me. I packed all of my life into two suitcases and a backpack. The rest stayed behind. Somebody somewhere uses my bed, somebody somewhere has my shoes, somebody somewhere maybe remembers me in those fragmented traces of mine.

I was there. But now I am here. In Qatar. In a fake Venice with colorful houses.

Houses have memories too. They hide them under their windowsills, tuck them in layers of paint and whisper them to birds passing by. I wonder whose memories will they keep. To live is to leave a trace behind, so i try. But these houses are constantly cleaned, watched and protected. So I caress them instead, and I film them, lest I forget.

Credits

Production: DOHA FILM INSTITUTE

Cast: Rawane Nassif

Screenplay: Rawane Nassif

Cinematography: Rawane Nassif

Sound: Sasha Parsons, Rawane Nassif

Editing: Rawane Nassif

Music: Rawane Nassif

Thenical Details

Color: Color

Three Faces

Sarmad Yassen

Country: Iraq

Year: 2016

Duration: 17 min

Original Version: Arabic

Genre: Drama

Credits

Production: SARMAD YASSEN

 

The Wedding Dress

Mohammad Salman

Country: Saudi Arabia

Year: 2016

Duration: 25 min

Original Version: Arabic

Genre: Drama

Synopsis

Asmahan is a superstitious seamstress. She believes, like everyone in town, if she sews her daughter’s wedding dress for herself she would die. A curse all seamstresses must endure. On the other hand, her daughter, Maryam, does not believe in any of the town’s superstitions. Her dream is to wear a wedding dress made by her mother, the best seamstress in town.  As the day of her daughter’s wedding gets closer, she is faced with the challenge, would the dress kill her or not?

Credits

Production: FAHMI FARHAT & MOHAMMED SALMAN

Screenplay: Zainab Al naser

Cinematography: Chaker Ben Yahmed

Editing: Salah Nas

Thenical Details

Color: Color

The Rooster

Salman Yusuf

Original title: Al Ashgar

Country: Bahrain

Year: 2016

Duration: 15 min

Original Version: Arabic

Genre: Drama

Synopsis

Salem’s rooster, El Ashgar, has never lost a fight and he’s determined to rule the “rooster fighting” circuit. His obsession affects his relationship with his wife, whom Salem expects to “serve” his roosters!

Credits

Production: SALEH NASS

Cast: Omar Al Saeedi, Fouz Al Sharqawi, Adel Shams

Screenplay: Salman Yusuf

Cinematography: Chaker Ben Yahmed

Editing: Saleh Nass

Music: Mohammed Haddad

Thenical Details

Color: Color

The Incident

Meedo Taha

Country: Lebanon

Year: 2017

Duration: 22 min

Original Version: Arabic

Genre: Drama

Synopsis

At a bus stop near Beirut, a veiled Muslim wo man and a migrant Syrian worker get in a scuffle and are arrested. They must argue their innocence in the face of the only witnesses: a bus full of women on their way to the mosque, each with her own version of the truth.

Credits

Production: WISSAM NASSAR

Cast: Yumna Marwan, Moe Lattouf, Tony Mehanna, Ghina Abboud Carla Daher, Bendy Abou Zeid, Romy Melhem, Mira Sidawi, Abdo Chahine Wesam Nassar, Meedo Taha, Pol Seif, Belal Al Kara

Screenplay: Meedo Taha

Cinematography: Pôl Seif

Sound: Rayan El Obeideen, Elia Haddad, David Raines

Set Design: Maia El – Khoury

Editing: Wesam Nassa

Thenical Details

Shooting Format: 16mm

Color: Color

The Builders

Naji Ismail

Country: Egypt

Year: 2016

Duration: 19 min

Original Version: Arabic

Genre: Drama

Synopsis

L ifelong friends Ibrahim and Abd Elnaeem, who move f rom South Egypt to Cairo to work as builders. Both sharing a small room and splitting the rent with a new joiner named Saleh who wishes to befriend them, the pair soon fight over payment disputes, which quickly escalates, as Ibrahim suddenly finds himself killing his old companion. Unabl e to cope with the violent episode, Saleh abandons the apartment, leaving Ibrahim by himself. Haunted by his brutal actions, Ibrahim has sinister hallucinations that Abd Elnaeem is still present in the claustrophobic room.

Credits

Production: SHADY ISHAK & NAJI ISMAIL