<span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">With the Venice Film Festival opening, Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir, whose films </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic"><em>Salt of the Sea</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]"> (2008) and </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic"><em>When I Saw You</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]"> (2010), both served as the country's </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">Oscar nominations, has spoken out about a lack of diversity at the festival, and at European film festivals in general: "Very often, half of the films screened at Arab festivals are directed by women, or even more," she told </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic"><em>Variety</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]"> earlier this month. "Compare that with major European film festivals, and it's the opposite story. Look at the Venice line-up this year: 21 films in the official competition, and only one of them directed by a woman? That's something you would hardly find in an Arab festival."</span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-track="-10">Jacir has a point, and it's not just women who appear somewhat under-represented at this year's festival. Not a single film from the Arab world features in this year's competition line-up either – the closest approximation is French/Tunisian director Abdellatif Kechiche's </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic" data-atex-track="-10"><em>Mektoub, My Love : Canto Uno</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-track="-10">, though as a French-language film, funded, shot and set in France with a French cast and a title that mashes up French, Arabic, English and Italian, it could hardly be held up as a textbook example of Arab cinema.</span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">To find any movies from the region at this year's festival, we have to look a little further afield, to the concurrent, independently run Venice Days spin-off, which features two films from the region among the 12 films in its competition section. </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">Iranian-American director</span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]"> Shirin Neshat, who previously won the Silver Lion at Venice for 2009's </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic"><em>Women Without Men</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">, returns with </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic"><em>Looking for Umm Kulthum</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">. </span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">The film features rising star Yasmine Raees, who picked up Diff's Best Actress Award for her role in Mohammed Khan's 2013 film </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic"><em>Factory Girl</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">.</span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">As the name suggests, the movie tells the story of the legendary Egyptian singer and actress Umm Kulthum, who paired her career as an entertainer with a life of social activism, seeking to break the cultural and gender barriers of conservative, 20th-century Egyptian society. </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">Kulthum</span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]"> was also known for hosting concerts and donating her fee as well as the concerts' profits to support the Egyptian army in the war against Israel. The film is a German, Austrian, Italian, and Moroccan co-production, and was shot in Morocco and Austria.</span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">Also in competition at Venice Days, Moroccan director Faouzi Bensa</span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{Ligatures:ZmFsc2U=,OTFContextualAlternate:ZmFsc2U=}">ï</span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">di returns with his first film as a director since 2011's </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic"><em>Death for </em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic"><em>Sale</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]"> – fans have seen him</span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]"> recently playing a </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">part </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">in Jacques Audiard's critically acclaimed, 2015, Tamil-language drama </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic"><em>Dheepan</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">. </span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">In </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic"><em>Volubilis</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">, Mouhcine Malzi plays Abdelkader, a security guard in the Moroccan city of Meknes. He has recently married Malika, a maid, played by Nadia Kounda. The pair are madly in love, and despite their financial difficulties, they dream of </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">living a long and blissful life together. However, </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">Abdelkader experiences a violent incident at work, and the pair's destiny spirals in an unexpected direction. </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic"><em>Volubilis</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]"> is a Moroccon, French and Qatari </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]"> co-production, and is set to receive an international cinema release thanks to a distribution deal with French distributor and exporter Doc & </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">Film International.</span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-track="4">Back over at the main festival, there may be a lack of regional films in competition, but the uncompleted Egyptian-German docu-mentary, </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic" data-atex-track="4"><em>Dream Away,</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-track="4"> is set to take part in the Final Cut workshop programme</span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-track="4">. It </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-track="4">aims to assist in the completion of Arab and African films that are still in the production phase, by exposing producers and directors to international film professionals, distributors, and potential partners, with a </span><span data-atex-af="BrunelText" data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="Roman" data-atex-track="4" data-atex-uat="{Capitalization:QWxsQ2Fwcw==,Ligatures:ZmFsc2U=,OTFContextualAlternate:ZmFsc2U=}">€</span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-track="4">5,000 (Dh22,065) </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-track="4">prize available for the best film. </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic" data-atex-track="4"><em>Dream Away</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-track="4"> is directed by Marouan Omara from Egypt and Johanna Domke from Germany, who previously worked together on the 2014 censorship documentary </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic" data-atex-track="4"><em>Crop</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-track="4">. Their latest collaboration </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-track="4">follows the struggle of rural youth working in the tourist industry in the Egyptian resort city Sharm El Sheikh. In this Westernised environment, some seem to find the values of freedom and independence to which they have aspired since the 2011 Revolution, while others equate vacationers' behaviours with sin. </span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic"><em>Dream Away</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]"> is co-produced by Alexandria-based Fig Leaf Studios and German production house Monokel.</span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">There have been some new additions to the line-up at the main festival since the full schedule was announced at the end of June</span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">. Jon Woo is probably the biggest name among the late additions – he returns to the crime thriller genre with</span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic"><em> Manhunt</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">, which will premiere out of competition. </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic"><em>Philomena</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]"> and </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic"><em>Florence Foster Jenkins</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]"> director Stephen Frears joins Jane Fonda and Robert Redford on the list of stars due to receive career achievement awards – he's set to receive the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award.</span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">The Venice Film Festival opens today </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">with the </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">world premiere of Alexander Payne's sci-fi </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic"><em>Downsizing</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">, while other directors who will present eagerly anticipated new movies at the event include Guillermo del Toro (</span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic"><em>The Shape of Water</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">), George Clooney (</span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic"><em>Suburbicon</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">) and Andrew Haigh (</span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic"><em>Lean on Pete</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">).</span> ____________________ <strong>Read more: </strong> ____________________