East of Noon (SHARQ 12)

a film by Hala Elkoussy

Dutch feature fiction East of Noon is selected for Cannes’ Quinzaine des Cinéastes | Directors’ Fortnight 2024. The film is written and directed by Hala Elkoussy, and is produced by vriza productions (NL) and seriousFilm (NL), in co-production with Nu’ta Films (EG). East of Noon is supported by De Verbeelding (The Imagination), a co-operation between the Mondriaan Fund and the Netherlands Film Fund, Alwan (EG), Fonds 21, Amsterdam Fund for the Arts, and Doha Film Institute.

short synopsis

Set in a confined world outside time, East of Noon is the fable of prodigy ABDO (19) who uses music to rebel against his elders: showman SHAWKY (70), an eccentric showman who rules with a mix of performance and fear, and storyteller JALALA (75), who provides relief with stories of the Sea, which no one else has seen. East of Noon is a satire on the inner workings of an ailing autocracy and its inherent vulnerability to youth’s unchained vision of a better world.

Hala Elkoussy

Hala Elkoussy lives and works in Amsterdam and Cairo. In 2001 she graduated from Goldsmiths College in London. Together with other artists, she founded the Contemporary Image Collective in Cairo in 2004. In 2006, Hala completed a two-year residency at the National Academy of Art in Amsterdam and in 2010 she received the Abraaj Capital Art Prize.

East of Noon is Hala Elkoussy’s second feature film. Her debut feature film Cactus Flower (2017, feature) was selected for, among others, the International Film Festival Rotterdam and won the award for Best Actress at the Dubai International Film Festival and the Special Jury Award at the Aswan International Women’s Film Festival. Hala’s previous work also includes several short films including Memento Mare (2020) and In Search of City (2012), and Mount of Forgetfulness (2010).

genre black comedy, drama | running time 109’ | original title EAST OF NOON (SHARQ 12) | producers vriza productions (NL) – Lonnie Van Brummelen, seriousFilm (NL) – Marc Thelosen | co-producer Nu’ta Films (EG) – Hala Elkoussy, Abdelsalam Moussa | writer – director Hala Elkoussy | D.O.P. Abdelsalam Moussa | © 2024 | language Arabic | cast Ahmed Kamal, Menha Elbatroui, Omar Rozeik, Fayza Shama