Film Screening: From Abdul to Leila
A documentary by Leila Albayaty | Belgium/Germany/ Iraq | 2024 | 92 min | In Arabic, English and French with English subtitles
The odyssey of Leila, a French woman of Iraqi origin who, after an accident and years of exile, reconnects with her father, a dissident of Saddam Hussein, by learning Arabic and singing her story, driven by an irrepressible desire to live. The film follows her journeys to Iraq, the home her father had fled, and to Cairo, the city where her sister lives. We also learn of her life in France and of her fleeing to Berlin after a traumatic accident from which she still carries scars.
From Abdul to Leila won the best documentary award at the Arab Film Festival Rotterdam and the Annual Aarhus Film Festival in Denmark as well as the Grand Jury Prize at the Tetouan Mediterranean Film Festival.
Leila Albayaty is a French-Iraqi multidisciplinary artist, film director, composer, singer, actress, and scriptwriter. Born in Auvergne, France, to a French mother and an Iraqi father, she pursued studies in violin, opera, architecture, and cinema before forging her own path as a self-taught artist. Her debut short, Vu (2009), received a Special Mention from the Jury at the Berlinale and was showcased at numerous international film festivals. Her first feature film, Berlin Telegram (2012), premiered at Indielisboa and won the TV5 Award for Best Francophone Film. In 2015, she released Face B, a hybrid documentary-fiction that premiered at the Berlinale Forum Expanded. Currently, Albayaty divides her time between Belgium, France, Germany, and Egypt, continuously exploring themes of cultural identity and personal narrative across her diverse body of work.
/// Please note that our library has limited seats and we work on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors open at 6:30PM and the screening starts at 7:00 PM or earlier in case the space reaches its full capacity. Thank you for understanding and see you on Sunday!///
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