Singapore-based film marketing and distribution firm Continental Entertainment Pte. Ltd. (Cepl), which holds global distribution rights for Bangladeshi auteur Mostofa Sarwar Farooki’s “Saturday Afternoon,” will release the film in the U.S. and Canada through Reliance Entertainment.
The Bengali-and-English-language film takes its cue from the brutal terrorist attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka in 2016, which took place on a quiet Saturday afternoon and left more than 20 people dead. It had considerable festival play, winning awards at Fukuoka, Moscow and Vesoul.
The film was initially banned and had finally been cleared for release in January after a four year struggle with the Bangladesh Film Censor Board. However Bangladesh’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting appears to have taken a U turn and the situation remains fluid. Consequently, the film will open in the U.S. and Canada on March 10 before its Bangladesh release. It will also be released...
The Bengali-and-English-language film takes its cue from the brutal terrorist attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka in 2016, which took place on a quiet Saturday afternoon and left more than 20 people dead. It had considerable festival play, winning awards at Fukuoka, Moscow and Vesoul.
The film was initially banned and had finally been cleared for release in January after a four year struggle with the Bangladesh Film Censor Board. However Bangladesh’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting appears to have taken a U turn and the situation remains fluid. Consequently, the film will open in the U.S. and Canada on March 10 before its Bangladesh release. It will also be released...
- 2/21/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Bangladeshi auteur Mostofa Sarwar Farooki’s “Saturday Afternoon” has finally been cleared for release after a four year struggle with the Bangladesh Film Censor Board.
The Bengali-and-English-language film takes its cue from the brutal terrorist attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka in 2016, which took place on a quiet Saturday afternoon and left more than 20 people dead. It had considerable festival play, winning awards at Fukuoka, Moscow and Vesoul.
However, the Bangladesh Film Censor Board banned the film. “The board did not sanction permission for the movie’s exhibition, both at home or abroad, as it would disrupt internal security and also tarnish the country’s global image,” the censor board’s then vice chairman Nizamul Kabir had told Afp.
Farooki began a long campaign to get the film cleared for release. Meanwhile, he also made his next film, “No Land’s Man.” The efforts intensified when it emerged that Hansal Mehta’s “Faraaz,...
The Bengali-and-English-language film takes its cue from the brutal terrorist attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka in 2016, which took place on a quiet Saturday afternoon and left more than 20 people dead. It had considerable festival play, winning awards at Fukuoka, Moscow and Vesoul.
However, the Bangladesh Film Censor Board banned the film. “The board did not sanction permission for the movie’s exhibition, both at home or abroad, as it would disrupt internal security and also tarnish the country’s global image,” the censor board’s then vice chairman Nizamul Kabir had told Afp.
Farooki began a long campaign to get the film cleared for release. Meanwhile, he also made his next film, “No Land’s Man.” The efforts intensified when it emerged that Hansal Mehta’s “Faraaz,...
- 1/21/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
The Roku Channel has picked up sci-fi adventure series “The Pact” from Qatar-based Katara Studios and Taipei- and Los Angeles-based Organic Media Group.
The Roku Channel is the home of free and premium entertainment on the Roku hardware and software platform.
The six-part show will be exclusively available on The Roku Channel in the U.S., U.K. and Canada from March 26, 2022, and release to the rest of the world in July.
“The Pact” is an English language series, produced by full-service production firm Katara, created by Bobby Barbacioru, that was written by Gareth Brookes and Katara principal, Ahmed Al Baker.
Al Baker and Barbacioru also served as co-directors with filming in Romania, Bulgaria and Qatar. Rick Ravanello, James Marshall, Robert Knepper, Natassia Malthe, Louis Mandylor, and Eyad Hourani head the main cast.
The story follows a family strained past the breaking point by a post-apocalyptic world as they travel...
The Roku Channel is the home of free and premium entertainment on the Roku hardware and software platform.
The six-part show will be exclusively available on The Roku Channel in the U.S., U.K. and Canada from March 26, 2022, and release to the rest of the world in July.
“The Pact” is an English language series, produced by full-service production firm Katara, created by Bobby Barbacioru, that was written by Gareth Brookes and Katara principal, Ahmed Al Baker.
Al Baker and Barbacioru also served as co-directors with filming in Romania, Bulgaria and Qatar. Rick Ravanello, James Marshall, Robert Knepper, Natassia Malthe, Louis Mandylor, and Eyad Hourani head the main cast.
The story follows a family strained past the breaking point by a post-apocalyptic world as they travel...
- 2/9/2022
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Few stars have worked harder to give audiences pleasure over a long haul than Jackie Chan. But lately, his screen appearances have been those of the elder statesman still trotted out to nominally preside over expensive but flavorless official diplomatic functions you doubt even he relishes. The newest case in point reunites him with director Stanley Tong, a sporadic collaborator since “Supercop” nearly three decades ago.
That movie was inspired escapism. “Vanguard” is just the clock-punching variety, big, flashy and generic in all save its silliest excesses. Like several other recent mainland China megaproductions, this action spectacular seems hellbent on containing every possible marketable genre element, with no concern for whether they cohere or cancel one another out.
Delayed from a planned January home-turf launch as one of the first Covid release casualties, it proved a notable box-office disappointment upon finally opening Sept. 30. Gravitas Ventures’ release to 1,500-plus U.S.
That movie was inspired escapism. “Vanguard” is just the clock-punching variety, big, flashy and generic in all save its silliest excesses. Like several other recent mainland China megaproductions, this action spectacular seems hellbent on containing every possible marketable genre element, with no concern for whether they cohere or cancel one another out.
Delayed from a planned January home-turf launch as one of the first Covid release casualties, it proved a notable box-office disappointment upon finally opening Sept. 30. Gravitas Ventures’ release to 1,500-plus U.S.
- 11/20/2020
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
What are your plans for a Saturday afternoon? A trip to the market? To a movie? To a sporting event? Perhaps, like the people in the film Saturday Afternoon, you’re spending the time in a café, and filmmaker Mostofa Sarwar Farooki returns to the London Indian Film Festive with a film that takes inspiration from the deadly July 2016 terrorist attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka, a film that is harrowing and compelling in equal measure. Gone is the black humour the director used effectively in his previous films Television and Ant; instead, Farooki creates a pressure cooker situation in which to examine contemporary Bangladeshi society. The café becomes a kind of microcosm, with people of different nationalities and religions caught in the web of this attempt by a group of fundamentalist Muslims to gain attention for their cause.
In the initial stages, the hostages are separated into two groups: foreigners and Bangladeshis.
In the initial stages, the hostages are separated into two groups: foreigners and Bangladeshis.
- 6/24/2019
- by Katherine Matthews
- Bollyspice
Exclusive: The former engineer tells Jeremy Kay why he wanted his sci-fi TV series to be the first from the Middle East to come to the annual San Diego pop culture convention.
Eric Roberts, Natasha Henstridge, and Eyad Hourani star in Medinah, which takes place in the near future in Qatar as a catastrophic rocket mission to stop global warming plunges humans into a fight for survival against monsters, parallel realities, and their own demons.
Al Baker is polishing off the first season, which shot from January to June this year in English and Arabic, and is funded entirely by Qatar’s privately backed Katara Studios.
Al Baker previously directed short films and a feature debut, sci-fi The Package: Volume 1. He screened the first episode of Medinah at Comic-Con and heads to Los Angeles for meetings before returning to Qatar to write the second season.
Medinah has no distribution anywhere yet, so why bring...
Eric Roberts, Natasha Henstridge, and Eyad Hourani star in Medinah, which takes place in the near future in Qatar as a catastrophic rocket mission to stop global warming plunges humans into a fight for survival against monsters, parallel realities, and their own demons.
Al Baker is polishing off the first season, which shot from January to June this year in English and Arabic, and is funded entirely by Qatar’s privately backed Katara Studios.
Al Baker previously directed short films and a feature debut, sci-fi The Package: Volume 1. He screened the first episode of Medinah at Comic-Con and heads to Los Angeles for meetings before returning to Qatar to write the second season.
Medinah has no distribution anywhere yet, so why bring...
- 7/23/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: The former engineer tells Jeremy Kay why he wanted his sci-fi TV series to be the first from the Middle East to come to Comic-Con.
Eric Roberts, Natasha Henstridge, and Eyad Hourani star in Medinah, which takes place in the near future in Qatar as a catastrophic rocket mission to stop global warming plunges humans into a fight for survival against monsters, parallel realities, and their own demons.
Al Baker is polishing off the first season, which shot from January to June this year in English and Arabic, and is funded entirely by Qatar’s privately backed Katara Studios.
Al Baker previously directed short films and a feature debut, sci-fi The Package: Volume 1. He screened the first episode of Medinah at Comic-Con and heads to Los Angeles for meetings before returning to Qatar to write the second season.
Medinah has no distribution anywhere yet, so why bring it to Comic-Con?
The model in...
Eric Roberts, Natasha Henstridge, and Eyad Hourani star in Medinah, which takes place in the near future in Qatar as a catastrophic rocket mission to stop global warming plunges humans into a fight for survival against monsters, parallel realities, and their own demons.
Al Baker is polishing off the first season, which shot from January to June this year in English and Arabic, and is funded entirely by Qatar’s privately backed Katara Studios.
Al Baker previously directed short films and a feature debut, sci-fi The Package: Volume 1. He screened the first episode of Medinah at Comic-Con and heads to Los Angeles for meetings before returning to Qatar to write the second season.
Medinah has no distribution anywhere yet, so why bring it to Comic-Con?
The model in...
- 7/23/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The proverbial Top Ten List. A sacred tradition passed down by our cinematic elders. This is the fourth time I have partaken in this holy tradition, and one thing has remained constant is that this list is never set in stone. As we catch up with more films we missed or rewatch our favorites it causes us to like a movie more or less causing this list to change. In fact in 2012 and 2013 I ended up seeing my number one film of the year after I wrote up my Top 10. So the question becomes, “Why Do it?”. Well, for one it’s fun. At least I find it an enjoyable exercise as I try to break down the year that was. I watched 163 movies that were released in 2014. Narrowing that 163 down to a Top 10 is a challenge I enjoy.
Looking at 2014 as a whole it is evident it was a pretty good year.
Looking at 2014 as a whole it is evident it was a pretty good year.
- 1/11/2015
- by Dan Clark
- Nerdly
★★★★★Hany Abu-Assad's Oscar-nominated Omar (2013) is a gripping political drama about a young Palestinian baker and freedom fighter (Adam Bakri), who's forced to become an informant. Set in occupied Palestinian territories, we first see Omar successfully scaling the impossibly high separation wall, a forbidding construct covered in graffiti, only to be shot at as he nears the top. Omar has to cross the barrier in order to visit his childhood pals Tarek (Iyad Hoorani) and Amjad (Samer Bisharat). He's in love with Tarek's sister Nadia (Leem Lubany) and each time they meet for coffee, the pair covertly exchange love letters. At night, the friends train as freedom fighters and plan to kill an Israeli solder.
- 10/7/2014
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Nominated for an Academy Award, Hany Abu-Assad’s compelling drama Omar comes to the UK with a bonafide seal of approval – and it’s irrefutably deserving of such recognition. As you can probably imagine from the conspicuous title, this is a captivating, profound character study, where the audience are able to embody the fascinating, eponymous lead.
Adam Bakri takes on the role of Omar, an impassioned, Palestinian freedom fighter who is imprisoned for his part in the shooting of an Israeli soldier, taking the heat off his two accomplices, and close friends, Amjad (Samer Bisharat) and Tarek (Iyad Hoorani). When tricked into an admission of guilt, he has little option but to become an informant for the enemy, putting not only his own life in jeopardy, but also that of his girlfriend, Nadia (Leem Lubany).
Within a mere matter of moments, both Marlon Brandon and Brad Pitt are referenced, and...
Adam Bakri takes on the role of Omar, an impassioned, Palestinian freedom fighter who is imprisoned for his part in the shooting of an Israeli soldier, taking the heat off his two accomplices, and close friends, Amjad (Samer Bisharat) and Tarek (Iyad Hoorani). When tricked into an admission of guilt, he has little option but to become an informant for the enemy, putting not only his own life in jeopardy, but also that of his girlfriend, Nadia (Leem Lubany).
Within a mere matter of moments, both Marlon Brandon and Brad Pitt are referenced, and...
- 5/28/2014
- by Stefan Pape
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Palestine’s official submission for the Best Foreign Language Oscar is terse, tense suspense drama, and less overtly political than you might expect. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
It’s less overtly political than you might expect, Palestine’s official submission for this year’s Oscar for Best Foreign Language film (and one of the nominees): Omar could be much the same terse, tense suspense drama if it were taking place in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, or in East Berlin in the 1960s, or in almost any place at almost any time when a small band of resistance fighters push against a far more powerful — and some would say despotic — ruling force. Omar (Adam Bakri) has to climb high walls separating Palestinian neighborhoods and risk getting shot at in order to meet...
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
It’s less overtly political than you might expect, Palestine’s official submission for this year’s Oscar for Best Foreign Language film (and one of the nominees): Omar could be much the same terse, tense suspense drama if it were taking place in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, or in East Berlin in the 1960s, or in almost any place at almost any time when a small band of resistance fighters push against a far more powerful — and some would say despotic — ruling force. Omar (Adam Bakri) has to climb high walls separating Palestinian neighborhoods and risk getting shot at in order to meet...
- 3/2/2014
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
Omar (2014) Film Review, a movie directed by Hany Abu-Assad, and starring Adam Bakri, Leem Lubany, Waleed F. Zuaiter, Samer Bisharat, and Iyad Hoorani. I would argue that, by and large, a sizable portion of the World’s population knows, or has known, a thing or two about occupation. Even in the [...]
Continue reading: Film Review: Omar (2014): Great Desire Means Greater Leverage...
Continue reading: Film Review: Omar (2014): Great Desire Means Greater Leverage...
- 2/22/2014
- by Sam Joseph
- Film-Book
Omar
Directed by Hany Abu-Assad
Palestine, 2013
Omar (Adam Bakri in his feature-film debut) considers himself a Palestinian freedom fighter. The Israeli authorities in the central West Bank consider him a terrorist. After participating in an assassination under the guidance of Tarek (Iyad Hoorani) and alongside his childhood friend Amjad (Samer Bisharat) he’s arrested and convinced to work as an informer.
The most thrilling part of this thriller is, oddly enough, not the action and suspense. It’s the love story. That’s rare for the genre, which usually lets any romantic angle stand to the side as filler.
Omar has long loved Nadia (Leem Lubany, the standout performer), Tarek’s younger sister. Their relationship, like the film, begins mostly silently with exchanged looks and notes before becoming something close to melodrama toward the middle of the second act. When Amjad comes into the picture as a potential suitor the plot twists,...
Directed by Hany Abu-Assad
Palestine, 2013
Omar (Adam Bakri in his feature-film debut) considers himself a Palestinian freedom fighter. The Israeli authorities in the central West Bank consider him a terrorist. After participating in an assassination under the guidance of Tarek (Iyad Hoorani) and alongside his childhood friend Amjad (Samer Bisharat) he’s arrested and convinced to work as an informer.
The most thrilling part of this thriller is, oddly enough, not the action and suspense. It’s the love story. That’s rare for the genre, which usually lets any romantic angle stand to the side as filler.
Omar has long loved Nadia (Leem Lubany, the standout performer), Tarek’s younger sister. Their relationship, like the film, begins mostly silently with exchanged looks and notes before becoming something close to melodrama toward the middle of the second act. When Amjad comes into the picture as a potential suitor the plot twists,...
- 2/21/2014
- by Neal Dhand
- SoundOnSight
There is a giant metaphor sitting in the Occupied West Bank, in the shape of a wall. That isn’t meant to diminish the massive, real-world impact that the wall has on the inhabitants on either side, mind you. It’s simply that the enormous Israeli barrier, bisecting the lands and lives of the people around it, is an extraordinary symbol. Like that of Cold War Berlin, it stands as a powerful representation of something, though what that may be depends on the artist. And few have handled it quite like Hany Abu-Assad. Omar, Abu-Assad’s second Oscar-nominated feature, is the story of a young man stuck in the middle. The titular Omar (Adam Bakri) is linked with the wall from the very beginning. He climbs up and down with just a sturdy rope, commuting (illegally) between his home neighborhood in the West Bank and the bakery where he works. The...
- 2/19/2014
- by Daniel Walber
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Omar, Palestine's Submission for the Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. U.S. : Adopt Films. International Sales Agent: The Match Factory
There is nothing new under the sun when it comes to the Palestinian/ Israeli conflict. The rules have been set for a very long time, and both sides have their own perception of the situation. What is still intriguing, however, is the way people adapt and live within such parameters, and how life is affected by the occupation, the division, and the perpetual animosity. Director Hany Abu-Assad has been the unofficial cinematic spokesman for the Palestinian cause for some time now. His stories, although set in the midst of the war ridden towns of his homeland, are much more about the emotional scars and the spirit of survival that people there have developed. Omar, his latest tale focuses on a man who finds himself betraying those closest to him in the hope of being with his loved one.
Skillfully used to it and as part of his daily routine Omar (played outstandingly by newcomer Adam Bakri) must jump the wall that divides the occupied and non-occupied communities. He works as a baker on one side of the wall but his friends and secret girlfriend Nadja (Leem Lubany ) live on the other side. In spite of the constant reminders that his freedom is an illusion - Israeli soldiers repeatedly harass him abusing their power- Omar doesn’t have any vengeful plans of his own, his main concern is to get his best friend Tarek (Iyad Hoorani ), also Nadja’s brother, to give him her hand in marriage. Nonetheless, soon enough the seed of violence is planted in him by Tarek and their puny bud Amjed (Samer Bisharat) then they decide to shoot an Israeli soldier as their grain of sand in the efforts of liberation.
After carrying out the deed, Omar falls in the hands of the police and is submitted to less than friendly treatment to coerce him into spilling the truth about Tarek’s whereabouts. Persuaded by ruthless Agent Rami (renowned Palestinian-American actor Waleed Zuaiter), he reluctantly agrees, but, instead of keeping his word, he conspires with his posse to retaliate against the Israeli occupying forces once more. It fails. In custody again and looking at almost a century in prison, he must make a choice. Either he joins the ranks of the enemy as an informant in exchange for a second chance or he accepts a life behind bars never to see Nadja again.
In this tragic romantic-thriller with Romeo and Juliette undertones, Abu-Assad uses the physical separation as a motif for the conflicting duality Omar experiences. In a land where loyalty is the most valued currency, betrayal is outright unacceptable. But in order to save his life and not be ostracized by his own, Omar is forced to be disloyal to both sides simultaneously. Agent Rami claims his full cooperation knowing he has no other choice if he wants to recover his pseudo-liberty; on the other hand, his compatriots expect the same allegiance on the grounds of their shared suffering and struggles to claim back their land. Therefore, when a loathsome secret is uncovered, Omar’s sacrifices seem to have been in vain and his vision of the future is shattered, an event that shifts the thrilling narrative into full gear leading to an accidental murder and an unexpected, abrupt, but powerful conclusion.
This is Abu-Assad’s second film entirely done in the torn ancient land after his Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning Paradise Now. Analyzing the conflict from a different and less political point of view, Omar is equally compelling. At one point in the film, defeated and tired of running from all the troubles that chase him, the title character is seen crying at the bottom of the wall he has climbed so many times before without trouble. His childhood friendships are now nonexistent and the redeeming strength his love for Nadja once gave him is also gone. There is no community to go back to and he will never be fully trusted by the opposite side. Abu-Assad’s electrifying Omar is essentially a film about an orphan and a foreigner in the place he calls home, to a certain extent that devastating feeling summarizes the troubling Palestinian experience.
Read more about all the 76 Best Foreign Language Film Submission for the 2014 Academy Awards...
There is nothing new under the sun when it comes to the Palestinian/ Israeli conflict. The rules have been set for a very long time, and both sides have their own perception of the situation. What is still intriguing, however, is the way people adapt and live within such parameters, and how life is affected by the occupation, the division, and the perpetual animosity. Director Hany Abu-Assad has been the unofficial cinematic spokesman for the Palestinian cause for some time now. His stories, although set in the midst of the war ridden towns of his homeland, are much more about the emotional scars and the spirit of survival that people there have developed. Omar, his latest tale focuses on a man who finds himself betraying those closest to him in the hope of being with his loved one.
Skillfully used to it and as part of his daily routine Omar (played outstandingly by newcomer Adam Bakri) must jump the wall that divides the occupied and non-occupied communities. He works as a baker on one side of the wall but his friends and secret girlfriend Nadja (Leem Lubany ) live on the other side. In spite of the constant reminders that his freedom is an illusion - Israeli soldiers repeatedly harass him abusing their power- Omar doesn’t have any vengeful plans of his own, his main concern is to get his best friend Tarek (Iyad Hoorani ), also Nadja’s brother, to give him her hand in marriage. Nonetheless, soon enough the seed of violence is planted in him by Tarek and their puny bud Amjed (Samer Bisharat) then they decide to shoot an Israeli soldier as their grain of sand in the efforts of liberation.
After carrying out the deed, Omar falls in the hands of the police and is submitted to less than friendly treatment to coerce him into spilling the truth about Tarek’s whereabouts. Persuaded by ruthless Agent Rami (renowned Palestinian-American actor Waleed Zuaiter), he reluctantly agrees, but, instead of keeping his word, he conspires with his posse to retaliate against the Israeli occupying forces once more. It fails. In custody again and looking at almost a century in prison, he must make a choice. Either he joins the ranks of the enemy as an informant in exchange for a second chance or he accepts a life behind bars never to see Nadja again.
In this tragic romantic-thriller with Romeo and Juliette undertones, Abu-Assad uses the physical separation as a motif for the conflicting duality Omar experiences. In a land where loyalty is the most valued currency, betrayal is outright unacceptable. But in order to save his life and not be ostracized by his own, Omar is forced to be disloyal to both sides simultaneously. Agent Rami claims his full cooperation knowing he has no other choice if he wants to recover his pseudo-liberty; on the other hand, his compatriots expect the same allegiance on the grounds of their shared suffering and struggles to claim back their land. Therefore, when a loathsome secret is uncovered, Omar’s sacrifices seem to have been in vain and his vision of the future is shattered, an event that shifts the thrilling narrative into full gear leading to an accidental murder and an unexpected, abrupt, but powerful conclusion.
This is Abu-Assad’s second film entirely done in the torn ancient land after his Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning Paradise Now. Analyzing the conflict from a different and less political point of view, Omar is equally compelling. At one point in the film, defeated and tired of running from all the troubles that chase him, the title character is seen crying at the bottom of the wall he has climbed so many times before without trouble. His childhood friendships are now nonexistent and the redeeming strength his love for Nadja once gave him is also gone. There is no community to go back to and he will never be fully trusted by the opposite side. Abu-Assad’s electrifying Omar is essentially a film about an orphan and a foreigner in the place he calls home, to a certain extent that devastating feeling summarizes the troubling Palestinian experience.
Read more about all the 76 Best Foreign Language Film Submission for the 2014 Academy Awards...
- 11/18/2013
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
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