East of Noon by Hala Elkoussy, selected for the Cinéastes Fortnight 2024

In East of Noon, her new film selected for the Cinéastes Fortnight 2024, Hala Elkoussy tells the story of Abdo, a musician who rebels against his elders, seeking freedom through his art in a timeless, confined world.

The Egyptian director has, in the past, made a number of short films, some of which are in the collections of the Tate Modern, the Stedelijk Museum and the Bristol Museum of Fine Arts. In 2017, she shot her first feature film, Cactus Flower . The artist also received the Best Actress award at the Dubai Film Festival.

• To be read
• Cannes Film Festival 2024: Films selected for Critics' Week
• Cannes Film Festival 2024: Films selected for the Directors' Fortnight
• Cannes Festival 2024: Films selected at Acid

Opinion of the Quinzaine des Cinéastes: "A carnivalesque dystopia, a popular tale somewhere between Ubu and Les 1001 Nuits, Sharq 12 (the international name for East of Noon) is the second feature film by an Egyptian artist . A baroque, excessive film that stands out in African and Arab cinema, Sharq 12 is an allegory of an autocratic country trying to stifle its non-conformist, rebellious youth. All the more reason to underline the courage of this gesture, given that Egyptian censorship has never been so ferocious towards authors."

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