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A number of the year’s most acclaimed films are coming to Dubai’s home for independent cinema, Cinema Akil, as part of its spring program.
Perhaps most anticipated is the debut of Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round, which finds the director reteaming with Mads Mikkelsen after their highly acclaimed thriller The Hunt (2012) for a comedy drama about four school teachers who embrace a party lifestyle as an experiment. The film, which just picked up a Golden Globe nomination for best Foreign Language film, is a favorite for the 2021 Oscar for International Feature. The film, showing in collaboration with Front Row Filmed Entertainment, will be running at Cinema Akil from March 26 to April 10.
Following their sold out debuts at the Reel Palestine Festival in January, both Najwa Najjar’s Between Heaven and Earth and Amin Nayfeh’s 200 Meters will each be getting an extended release at the cinema, the former running from January 30 to February 18, and the latter from March 12 to 25.
200 Meters, Jordan’s submission to the 2021 Academy Awards, has already racked up more than a dozen awards at film festivals across the world, starring Ali Suliman as a father trying to cross the divide between the West Bank and Israel after his permit expires to reach his son in the hospital. A tense 90 minute dramatic thriller, it features a career-best peformance from Suliman, who rose to prominence with 2005’s Oscar-nominated Paradise Now and recently starred in Amazon’s Jack Ryan opposite John Krasinski.
Between Heaven and Earth centers around a divorced couple named Salma and Tamer who live in Ramallah, with one given a three-day permit to cross the checkpoint in order to file for divorce before the two discover a secret that turns their lives upside down.
Additionally, ahead of International Women’s day on March 8, Billie, the James Erskine documentary about the life of Billie Holiday, will see its regional theatrical premiere, a highly-acclaimed look at the tumultuous life of the legendary jazz singer, who died at the age of 44. The film will be running from February 18 to March 4.
The full schedule, ticketing and COVID-19 regulations are available at their website www.cinemaakil.com.
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