Press Release – Timbuktu by Abdelrahman Sissako will open the 8th edition of the Beirut Cinema Days Film Festival

Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Timbuktu by Abdelrahman Sissako will open the 8th Edition of the Beirut Cinema Days Film Festival

BEIRUT, Lebanon – Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film,Timbuktu by director Abdelrahman Sissako will be screened as the opening film of the Beirut Cinema Days film festival on Thursday, March 12.

One of the film’s principal actors, Ibrahim Ahmed (known as Pino) – Winner of the Best African Actor award at the Durban International Film Festival, South Africa –  will attend the screening and present the film on behalf of the director.

Timbuktu was chosen as the selection for Beirut Cinema Days because it reflects the main theme of this year’s festival: Cinema and Religion. Through this year’s festival, Beirut DC, the organizing association, seeks to put the spotlight on efforts to use cinema and culture to fight back against extremism and oppression across the Middle East.

Abdelrahman Sissako has a long history with Beirut Cinema Days. His featureHeremakono (Waiting for Happiness) was the closing film of the second edition of Beirut Cinema Days in 2002, and his feature Bamako was screened at the fourth edition of the festival in 2006.

Beirut Cinema Days brings together filmmakers and producers from around the Arab world with international professionals in order to cultivate cultural exchange and encourage in co-productions that include the new generation of Arab artists.

Synopsis: TIMBUKTU – Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival

Not far from Timbuktu, now ruled by religious fundamentalists, Kidane lives peacefully in the dunes with his wife Satima, his daughter Toya, and Issan, their twelve-year-old shepherd.

In town, the people suffer, powerless, from the regime of terror imposed by the Jihadists determined to control their faith. Music, laughter, cigarettes, and even soccer have been banned. The women have become shadows, but resist with dignity. Every day, the new courts improvise, issuing tragic and absurd sentences.

At first, Kidane and his family are spared the chaos that prevails in Timbuktu. But their destiny changes when Kidane accidentally kills Amadou, the fisherman who slaughtered «GPS», his beloved cow, and he must face the law imposed by foreign occupiers.

Beirut Cinema Days will take place from the 12^th till the 21^st of March 2015.
For more information, www.beirutdc.org , 01-293212