Welcome

Mark your calendars!

Ten years after it first opened its doors, the film event Middle East: What Cinema Can Do would like to announce its up-coming 6th edition to be held from November 29 to December 8 at the cinema art-house Les 3 Luxembourg on the Left Bank.

As is the tradition, the famous trio: Leila Shahid (representing the state of Palestine in the European Union), Michel Warschawski (writer/activist living in Israel) and Dominique Vidal (journalist/writer), will be present to inaugurate the event. Making its avant-premiere in France as our opening film, A World Not Ours by Mahdi Fleifel has already achieved a certain success at international film festivals.



Completing this more compact yet rich edition are another 40 films that revolve around the evening debate themes: the right to return, the diaspora and refugee camps, cultural censorship, pillage and spoliation, occupation, repression, after Tahrir, the revolution in Libya…

This sixth edition is dedicated to our dear friend Stephane Hessel, who died in February of this year at the young age of 95. Last festival he was among us and we showed two films that painted his portrait and underlined his life's works. This year we pay tribute to him.

"Time for Outrage!" (Indignez-Vous) proclaimed Stephane Hessel, a WWII survivor who contributed to the drafting of the Declaration of Human Rights. His words resonated amongst the Middle East youth to whom we also dedicate the festival. They may not be waving placards in the streets today, but we know they are still fighting for liberty and democratic values.

Through the vehicle of this ten-day event, the audience will be able discuss these topics with filmmakers and specialists, draw information from the debates and participate in the Q&A offered at each showing. It is a rare occurrence to witness such a mix of Middle Eastern artists and to view films from Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Palestine and Syria on the same program.

See you in December!