Five films are set to fly under the MAD banner at this year’s Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, with Oscar-nominated director Kaouther Ben Hania’s Venice-premiering and multiple award-winning THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB taking the lead in the World Panorama section.
 
MAD’s other entries at the festival include the unforgettable political documentary SUDAN REMEMBER US by Hind Meddeb, Cannes’ premiering AISHA CAN’T FLY AWAY by Morad Mostafa, acclaimed film THE SETTLEMENT by Mohamed Rashad, and the poignant A PROMISED SKY by Erige Sehiri.
 
THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB — Tunisia’s official submission for the 98th Academy Awards — is a docudrama that tells the shocking true story of a girl from Gaza who was murdered by Israeli forces.
 
On January 29th, 2024, Red Crescent volunteers received an emergency call from a 6-year-old girl trapped in a car under fire in Gaza, pleading for rescue. While trying to keep her on the line, they did everything they could to dispatch an ambulance to her location. Her name was Hind Rajab. The film uses real voice recordings from the victim and Red Crescent correspondents who attempted to save her life.
 
Executive produced by Hollywood luminaries including Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, and Alfonso Cuarón, the Tunisian-French co-production has already garnered significant acclaim in a short span of time, winning a Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize, the UNICEF Award, an Edipo Re Award, an Arca Cinema Giovani Award, as well as the CICT-UNESCO Enrico Fulchignoni Award at its Venice Film Festival world premiere. It also received a thunderous standing ovation lasting over 20 minutes, the longest in the festival’s history.
 
The film has been selected for a multitude of festivals worldwide, including the Toronto International Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, San Sebastián International Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, Cairo International Film Festival, and the Doha Film Festival, thus far.
 
THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB screens at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, October 7th, at the festival’s Cine Odeon; 4:30 pm on Wednesday, October 8th, at Cinesystem Belas Artes 6; 7 pm on Saturday, October 11th, at Estação Hall 1; and finally 4:30 pm on Sunday, October 12th, at the Kinoplex Sao Luiz 2. 
 
Hind Meddeb’s documentary SUDAN REMEMBER US, which also premiered at Venice, is a collective portrait of a generation fighting for freedom with their words, poems, and chants, offering a form of resistance. It follows five young Sudanese political activists as they struggle to overthrow the country's military regime in the tumultuous years leading up to the Sudanese Civil War and their subsequent exile.
 
Winning multiple awards, the film has since screened at Toronto, Casablanca, Malmo, Carthage, Arab Film Festival Berlin, Movies that Matter at The Hague, Goteborg, and DocPoint-Helsinki, to name a few. 
 
The documentary is screening at 7:15 pm on Saturday, October 4th, at Estação NET Rio 4 Hall, and 1:45 pm on Saturday, October 11th, at the CineCarioca José Wilker 2 Hall.
Morad Mostafa’s AISHA CAN’T FLY AWAY, which notably premiered at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, follows a 26-year-old Sudanese caregiver living in a neighborhood in the heart of Cairo, where she witnesses the tension between her fellow African migrants and other groups. Unwittingly, she becomes involved with an Egyptian gang that blackmails her into stealing her patients’ keys so that they can rob them.
 
The film recently won the top award at Colombia’s Festival Villa del Cine, prior to which, it garnered a FIPRESCI win at the Golden Apricot Yerevan Film Festival in Armenia. The film has also screened at the Durban International Film Festival, São Paulo's Festival De Filmes Incríveis, and is scheduled for a European premiere at Filmfest Hamburg.
 
It stars South Sudanese model Buliana Simon as the eponymous lead Aisha, and Egyptian rapper Ziad Zaza in his feature-film debut, alongside stellar supporting actors Emad Ghoniem and Mamdouh Saleh.
 
The crew behind AISHA CAN’T FLY AWAY includes renowned Egyptian cinematographer Mostafa El Kashef, who also worked on Cannes entry THE VILLAGE NEXT TO PARADISE, as well as art director Eman Elelaby, who earned a FIPRESCI Prize for her work on FEATHERS.
The film screens at 4:30 pm on Friday, October 3rd, at the Estação NET Gávea 4 Hall; 9 pm on Monday, October 6th, at the Cinesystem Belas Artes 2 Hall; 2 pm on Tuesday, October 7th, at the Reserva Cultural Niteroi 2 Hall; and finally at 9 pm on Saturday, October 11th, at the Estação NET Rio 4 Hall.
 
Mohamed Rashad’s THE SETTLEMENT is a true story about two brothers — 23-year-old troublemaker Hossam and his 12-year-old brother Maro — living in a disenfranchised community in Alexandria, who are offered jobs by the local factory after their father's untimely death in a workplace accident as compensation for their loss in lieu of pursuing legal action. As they navigate their new roles, they begin to question whether their father’s death was truly accidental.
 
It stars Adham Shukr, Ziad Islam, Hajar Omar, Mohamed Abdel Hady, and Emad Ghoneim, with the film being shot by cinematographer Mahmoud Lotfi and edited by Heba Othman, known for her work on the acclaimed Sudanese film GOODBYE JULIA.
 
Marking Rashad’s narrative-length debut, the film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and has been lauded by critics ever since. It won an Audience Award at the Mi World Young Film Festival in Italy.
 
THE SETTLEMENT screens at 1:45 pm on Thursday, October 2nd, at the CineCarioca José Wilker 2 Hall, and again at 6:45 pm on Monday, October 6th, at the Estação NET Rio 4.
 
A PROMISED SKY by Erige Sehiri — which also premiered at the 78th Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section — is ultimately a tale about sisterhood and its bonds. Marie, an Ivorian pastor and former journalist, has lived in Tunisia for ten years. Her home becomes a refuge for Naney, a young mother seeking a better future, and Jolie, a strong-willed student carrying her family’s hopes. The arrival of a little orphan girl challenges their sense of solidarity in a tense social climate, revealing both their fragility and strength. 
 
Shortly after its prestigious premiere, the film went on to score three top prizes at the Festival du Film Francophone d’Angoulême in France — Best Director, Best Actress for Deborah Naney, and Best Screenplay, respectively.
 
It stars Aïssa Maïga, Laetitia Ky, Deborah Naney, and Tunisian actor Mohamed Grayaa, with production by Didar Domehri, and cinematography by Frida Marzouk, who previously worked with Sehiri on her acclaimed UNDER THE FIG TREES, also worked on the John Wick films, as well as the surreal psychological horror BLACK SWAN. 
 
Catch the screenings at 2 pm on Saturday, October 4th, at the Kinoplex in São Luiz 2 Hall; 6:30 pm on Tuesday, October 7th, at the Cinesystem Belas Artes 2 Hall; and finally at 9 pm on Thursday, October 9th, at the Estação NET Rio 4 Hall.
 
The Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival runs from October 2nd to the 12th.