JEDDAH: The category’s movies are ‘films that stay with the viewer long after the fall of the curtain,’ says RSIFF’s Antoine Khalife 

‘Agora’  

Director: Ala Eddine Slim 

Starring: Majd Mastoura, Neji Kanawati, Bilel Slatnia 

The Tunisian filmmaker’s third feature, which was backed by Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Fund, has already proven to be a winner. At the Locarno Film Festival in August it picked up the Pardo Verde Award, which is “given to a film that best reflects an environmental theme and is unafraid of asking difficult questions.” It centers on a small town where a series of disturbing events that seem to bridge the world of the living and the dead — including the return of three missing people who don’t appear to be quite themselves any longer — has attracted the attention of the authorities. Or, at least, of people claiming to be the authorities. 

‘Black Dog’ 

Director: Guan Hu 

Starring: Eddie Peng, Tong Liya, Xin the dog 

The winner of the Un Certain Regard prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival is, according to The Observer in one of many favorable reviews from the international press, a “heartfelt tale of outcast redemption.” Set in the Gobi desert in the northwest of China prior to the 2008 Beijing Olympics — a time when the country was undergoing rapid redevelopment — it follows Lang, a recently released ex-convict (and former stuntman and musician) returning to his hometown, which he finds many people have left and is now home to a large community of stray dogs. One of them — the ‘black dog’ of the title — is rumored to have rabies, and there’s a bounty on its head which Lang decides he will try to collect. But when he actually encounters the dog, his plans change. 

‘Santosh’ 

Director: Sandhya Suri 

Starring: Shahana Goswami, Sunita Rajwar, Sanjay Bishnoi 

British-Indian documentary maker Sandhya Suri’s feature debut — a Hindi-language crime drama — is the UK’s entry for next year’s Oscars and has already received critical acclaim following its showing in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes this year. It’s a police procedural set in northern India and follows the title character, a young widow, who has taken over her late husband’s job as a police constable. Her newfound independence and power is somewhat negated by her discovery of the institutional corruption and sexism of law enforcement in the area. 

‘East of Noon’  

Director: Hala Elkoussy 

Starring: Menha El-Batroui, Ahmed Kamal, Omar Rozeik 

Screen Daily called this — Elkoussy’s second feature — “a sumptuous piece of filmmaking.” It’s a surrealist fable about a teenage musician, Abdo and his partner Nunna, who are looking for a way out of their impoverished town, which offers few prospects of a bright future. But the corrupt elders have other ideas, seeking to crush not just their rebellious dreams, but their spirits.  

‘Eephus’  

Director: Carson Lund 

Starring: Keith William Richards, Frederick Wiseman, Cliff Blake 

Set in a small Massachusetts town in the Nineties, “Eephus” follows an team of out-of-shape middle-aged men who play for the Adler’s Paint baseball team as they prepare to face their fiercest rivals in one final game before their stadium is demolished to make way for a new school. Variety called Lund’s movie an “adorably existential, off-kilter take on the sports movie.” 

‘Familiar Touch’  

Director: Sarah Friedland 

Starring: H. Jon Benjamin, Kathleen Chalfant, London Garcia 

Friedland’s intensely moving feature debut won the Lion of the Future at this year’s Venice Film Festival. It centers on a beautiful performance by Chalfant as Ruth, an octogenarian who is dealing with cognitive decline while transitioning to assisted living at a care facility. 

‘Freedom Way’  

Director: Afolabi Olalekan 

Starring: Adebowale Adedayo, Mike Afolarin, Bimbo Akintola 

In Olalekan’s fast-paced thriller, three young co-founders of a startup in Lagos struggle to keep their entrepreneurial dreams alive amid corruption, police violence and extortion that affects both them and their customers. 

‘The Inevitable Journey to Find a Wedding Dress’  

Director: Jaylan Auf 

Starring: Yasmin Raeis, Asmaa Galal, Salwa Mohamed Ali 

Egyptian social drama. On the eve of her wedding, Warda’s wedding dress is accidentally ruined leading her on a frantic trip around Cairo to find a replacement, accompanied by her best friend. It turns into a journey of self-discovery for Warda — one that causes her to reassess her relationship with the city.