Pakistan’s first all-local Berlinale entry, Lali, will turn love into something sinister on Valentine’s Day
Premiering at Berlin’s Panorama section, the film's trailer explores marriage, superstition and fear through a cursed bride.
Award-winning Sudanese filmmakers, director Mohammed Alomda and producer Amjad Abu Alala, formally withdrew from the Berlinale Co-Production Market after being refused visas by the German Embassy in Cairo, which claimed they were a “migration risk”.
On Thursday, Alomda and Abu Alala, filmmakers of Sudanese feature Blue Card, and the film’s writer Paula Thabet were informed that their German visa applications had been rejected for travel from Egypt to attend the co-pro platform, citing uncertainty over why they were travelling to Germany and whether they intended to return, Screen Daily reported.
In an official statement, the team showed deep concern about the implications of the refusal. The statement noted, “When professional records, prior compliance, and institutional support are not enough to overcome a presumption of ‘migration risk,’ […] it suggests that artists connected to regions affected by war or displacement may be viewed through a form of labelling that reduces them to perceived migration profiles rather than recognising their professional legitimacy.”
The 23rd edition of the Berlinale Co-Production Market, which was scheduled as part of the European Film Market from February 14 to 17, invited makers of 35 promising feature-film projects and 10 series projects from around the world to meet with a wide range of potential international co-production and funding partners.
The makers were given an option by the market to take part remotely, but after accepting it initially, they later declined the offer and proceeded to completely withdraw.
“Why should we take part remotely when we have been made to feel unwanted by this country?” Screen Daily quoted Abu Alala, the Cairo-based Sudanese director of Venice award-winner You Will Die At Twenty and producer of Cannes award-winner Goodbye Julia. He has also previously served as a jury member for the Berlinale’s Generation section.
“With our strong reputation in the film industry — with hits at international festivals — we had to take action to save our dignity as Arab and African filmmakers. It’s like they cannot accept the idea of us being decent enough to travel legally and trusting that we will be back to shoot our film in Cairo this April.”
Abu Alala said he placed no blame at the door of the Berlinale, which he described as “a platform that consistently supports films about displacement, exile and the human search for belonging”.
In a statement, Martina Bleis, the head and project curator of the Berlinale Co-Production Market, said: “We were looking very much forward to having the project’s producer, director and writer with us in Berlin, for them to share their vision here with potential partners in person, and we are sad not to have them with us now. The stories that our participants bring onto the screen connect people beyond borders, and we wish the same for our market.”
Blue Card is currently in its pre-production stage, with its filming scheduled from April to May ahead of delivery by November. On Saturday, the film’s producer shared a news story on his social media announcing that MAD World, Arab cinema’s first-ever sales agency, had boarded Blue Card for international sales.