By Libya Herald staff.
Tripoli, 3 April 2015:
A Libyan fiction film about a young . . .[restrict]human rights activist’s experiences of militia violence and rule will be screened at this year’s Cannes International Film Festival.
Al Emarah (“The Emirate” – a reference to the emirate the Islamic State wants to establish in Libya) highlights the issue of extremist terrorist ideology and tells the story of Wesam – a fictional character – who is jailed and tortured after speaking out on television against human rights abuses in prisons, and giving his opinion on the state.
During his imprisonment, Wesam is exposed to the various ideologies of the different militias running the country. These range from local and tribal forces to well-established militias prone to using excessive force, and even more powerful ones that “control all these groups and use them for their own interests and to hold the reins of the government,” according to the film’s plot summary listed on the internet movie database IMDb.
Written by Hashim Al-Zaroog and directed by a leading young Libyan director Mouayed Zaptia, Al Emarah is one of 1,602 movies listed in this year’s Short Films Corner at the Cannes Film Festival.
It is the second Libyan film to be shown in the Cannes Short Film Corner.
The 33-minute film was shot on location in Libya by Libyan filmmakers and its budget – understood to be $120,000 – was reportedly funded by a local man.
The film stars up-and-coming Libyan actors Ali Al-Gidiri, Abdul Lateef Al-Jafri, Abdel Hamed Al-Tayib, Nedal Kahlol and Waheb Khaled.
The 2015 Cannes Film Festival will be held from 13-24 May. [/restrict]
