Kaleem Aftab
Variety
United Kingdom
Contact Kaleem
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
| Recent: |
|
| Past: |
|
Past articles by Kaleem:
Cairo Film Festival Reacts to Misconduct Allegations Against Egyptian Filmmaker Islam El Azzazi
The Cairo International Film Festival scrapped the red carpet and press conference for Egyptian filmmaker Islam El Azzazi’s debut feature and competition film “About Her” after a number of sexual misconduct allegations were made against the director and surfaced in the hours before the film’s world premiere this week. The first of the allegations against […] → Read More
British Film ‘Limbo’ Wins the Golden Pyramid for Best Film at the Cairo Film Festival
British film “Limbo,” a wry refugee drama, directed by Ben Sharrock, won the Golden Pyramid for best film at the Cairo Film Festival. → Read More
'Gagarine' Filmmakers Bring Humanity to Depiction of Life in Banlieue
The residents of the Paris housing projects have big dreams but these are often blocked, says Fanny Liatard and Jeremy Trouilh. → Read More
‘About Her’ Director Islam El Azzazi on His Organic Approach to Development
“About Her,” which world premiered in International Competition this week at the Cairo Film Festival, began life as a short story, which director Islam El Azzazi penned in 2003. In 2017, he started adapting the story for the screen. “The short story faded, somehow,” he says of the changes he made in the process. “I […] → Read More
Bassel Ghandour’s ‘The Alleys’ Takes Main Prize at Cairo Film Connection
“The Alleys,” “The Legend of Zeineb and Noah” and “I Can Hear Your Voice… Still” were the big winners of the Cairo Film Connection. → Read More
‘Yacoubian Building,’ ‘Blue Elephant’ Director Marwan Hamed on ‘Kira and El Gen,’ Egypt’s Biggest Budget Film Ever
Marwan Hamed on making "Kira and Gen," the most expensive Egyptian film in history, during the global pandemic. → Read More
Double Oscar Nominee Hany Abu-Assad Wraps ‘Huda’s Salon,’ Aims for Cannes Debut
Hany Abu-Assad on the huge challenge of going from a $40 million movie to a $1 million movie as he readies “Huda's Salon” for Spring debut. → Read More
Amir Ramses Challenges Taboo Subject With Cairo Film Festival Entry ‘Curfew’
Amir Ramses’ "Curfew" takes on the taboo subject of pedophilia at the Cairo Film Festival. → Read More
Maggie Smith Set to Star in Film Version of Christopher Hampton’s ‘A German Life’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Christopher Hampton adapts his one-woman play "A German Life" for the screen, with Maggie Smith to reprise her role as Goebbels’ secretary. → Read More
Alina Gorlova Explores the Cyclical Nature of War in ‘This Rain Will Never Stop’
Kiev-based Alina Gorlova vividly remembers the first time she saw the disputed region of Donbass, in the east of Ukraine and to the southwest of Russia. “I saw this nature in black-and-white,” she says, “because there was a lot of slag heaps in these industrial landscapes.” A graduate of the Karpenko-Kary Kyiv National University of […] → Read More
‘The Last Hillbilly’ Takes a Poetic Look at the Demise of White Rural America
A chance meeting in a diner led the French filmmakers to investigate the hillbilly community and culture in the Appalachian Mountains. → Read More
‘Ziyara’ Director Simone Bitton Looks for Morocco’s Forgotten Jewish Heritage
Simone Bitton makes her debut in the Masters section at IDFA with the world premiere of “Ziyara.” → Read More
‘Garage People’ Director Natalija Yefimkina Enters the Secret World of Russia’s Man-Caves
“Garage People” looks at the different ways in which Russian people use their garage spaces for personal expression. → Read More
How Black Power, Jazz Music Inspired Morocco’s Rebel Cinema of the 1970s
“Before the Dying of the Light,” the latest film from cinema historian Ali Essafi, receives its international premiere at IDFA this week. → Read More
‘She Had a Dream’ Director Raja Amari on Battling Sexism and Racism in Today’s Tunisia
IDFA documentary follows Ghofrane Binous as she runs for office during the 2019 legislative elections in Tunisia. → Read More
Claire Simon Documents the Creation of Tenk, a SVOD Platform for Non-Fiction Films
Claire Simon follows Jean-Marie Barbe, who wants to create an SVOD platform and production facility devoted to documentary filmmakers. → Read More
Claire Simon Documents the Creation of Tenk, a SVOD Platform for Non-Fiction Films
Playing in the IDFA 2020 – International Competition, “The Grocer’s Son, the Mayor, the Village and the World” is a feature-length version of Claire Simon’s documentary series “The Village,” which broadcast in 20 parts on Ciné Plus and 10 parts on TV5 Monde last year. It’s a story that taps into the great cinematic revolution […] → Read More
El Gouna Film Festival Confirms 6 Coronavirus Cases Among Attendees
There are rising concerns over a number of coronavirus cases believed to have originated at last week’s El Gouna Film Festival in Egypt. “I’m seeing a growing number of people who attended the Gouna Film Festival are learning they got COVID-19,” warns a Facebook post circulating among those who attended the Oct. 23-31 event. “If […] → Read More
First Images From Hind Shoufani’s ‘They Planted Strange Trees,’ Philistine Boards Documentary (EXCLUSIVE)
“They Planted Strange Trees,” the new documentary by Hind Shoufani, the Middle East-based Palestinian-American director and poet from the leftist Levantine diaspora, will depict her return to Galilee, after 20 years of absence and her parents’ death, to embrace the vibrant family and community she seeks in her ancestral Christian Arab land. Ossama Bawardi of […] → Read More
Annemarie Jacir Period Film in Development With Producer Ossama Bawardi (EXCLUSIVE)
Arab producer Ossama Bawardi developing Annemarie Jacir period film, talks restarting projects, state of play of filmmaking in Arab world. → Read More