Southern Cinemas Festival 2022
Lyon
Regard Sud and the Institut Lumière are pleased to invite you to the Cinémas du Sud Festival which takes place from April 27 to 30 at the Institut Lumière. Putting the spotlight on films from the Maghreb and the Middle East, this 22nd edition offers itself a godmother of choice in the person of Dora Bouchoucha, a Tunisian producer, a key figure in Arab cinema. On this occasion, 9 feature films will be screened at the Institut Lumière, birthplace of the 7th art. Unpublished and committed works that invite the spectators to a real tour of the Eastern world: Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq will be highlighted. Without forgetting Lebanon, worthily celebrated during the preview of the film “Costa Brava, Lebanon”. Directors, actors, producers: many guests will be present to celebrate Arab cinema.
This year, the festival will offer a focus on Algerian cinema on the occasion of the anniversary of the Evian agreements signed in 1962, ending 7 years of war and 132 years of colonization of Algeria. “Heliopolis”, the first feature film by filmmaker-screenwriter Djaffar Gacem, will launch this spotlight on Algerian cinema. The film will be presented on Thursday April 28 in the presence of its director and actress Souliha Mallem. The films “Dream” by Omar Belkacemi and “Chronicle of the Burning Years” by Mohamed Lakhdar-Hamina will complete this Algerian trilogy.
Cinémas du Sud makes it a point of honor to introduce the public to new talents in the 7th Arab art. Selected and awarded in numerous international festivals, the nuggets of young filmmakers are part of the DNA of the festival. Five first feature films are included in the festival program this year. Among them, “Costa Brava, Lebanon” by Mounia AKL, presented in preview and crowned with the Audience Award at the London Film Festival (BFI London) and the Critics’ Prize at the Montpellier International Mediterranean Cinema Festival. In the cast of this Lebanese jewel is the filmmaker and actress Nadine Labaki, Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival for her film “Capharnaüm”.
Led in partnership with the City of Lyon, the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes Region, the Cinémas du Sud festival will take place in Villeurbanne au Zola, for a special screening. The film “We are from There” by Lebanese-Syrian filmmaker Wissam Tanios will be screened on Monday May 2. A work selected at the Rotterdam International Film Festival 2020 and the International Francophone Film Festival of Namur. So many events not to be missed during this 22nd edition of Cinémas du Sud, which promises to be promising. Mark your calendars!