When the country's religious authorities started cracking down on movie theaters, the Jamjooms switched to distributing videos and later DVDs. Jamjoom's late cousin, Fouad, was jailed repeatedly for smuggling the latest Hollywood movies into the country, even though he had paid for the rights to distribute them in Saudi Arabia. … [Read more...] about Saudi Arabia’s first new cinema in decades holds its grand opening with a screening of ‘Black Panther’
Fouad massoum
‘On Borrowed Time’: Film Review | Palm Springs 2018
One of the films that had its world premiere in Palm Springs this year was from a country not often represented at any festival: the United Arab Emirates. On Borrowed Time, which benefits from the talents of several Middle Eastern actors, is not a political testament about the conflicts in that part of the world. It’s a tender, humane comedy that might have been set in any country where a group of aging citizens struggle to retain their dignity and their vitality. It might be described as an Arabian variant on Going in Style, which was a hit in 1979 and scored again in a remake just last year.In this case the four elderly men at the center of the story do not engage in a criminal enterprise to improve their lot, but they do have dreams of striking it rich that might free them from their retirement home. The leader of the group, Abu Hasan (Saad Al Faraj), dabbles in astrology as he oversees the lives of his three best friends. But the character who makes the strongest impression … [Read more...] about ‘On Borrowed Time’: Film Review | Palm Springs 2018