Leila and the Wolves (1980-84)
Australian Premiere - 4K Restoration
“Visually, Heiny Srour’s film is a treat, combining tinted newsreel footage with memorable images and clearly loving shots of a strife-torn nation; the acts of courage she reveals, and the example she sets to other film-makers to engage their own history, are exalting.” – Frances Dickinson, Time Out Film Guide
“Ignored and forgotten, the role of Arab women in the Middle East’s political history is illuminated here for the first time…Using narrative structures of the ‘mosaic’, a common device in oriental stories, Leila travels through time from the British Mandate of Palestine to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, participating in the insurrections of the 1920s, the revolution of 1936-39 – during which women organised a wedding to transport weapons – and the massacre of the Palestinian village of Deir-Yassin.
Acclaimed by critics for its originality and the talent of its director, Leila and the Wolves was distributed worldwide but censored in most Arab countries. Thanks to this new restoration we rediscover a work of great complexity, which even in its most imperfect moments, speaks beyond its, albeit fundamental, feminist message.” – Cecilia Cenciarelli, Il Cinema Ritrovato 2023.
Introduced by Elly Carantinos at Ritz Cinemas and by Samia Mikhail at Lido Cinemas.
Rating
Unclassified 18+
Duration
90 min
Country
United Kingdom, Lebanon, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden
Language
Arabic (English Subtitles)
Cast
Nabila Zeitouni, Rafik Ali Ahmad, Raja Nehme
Director
Heiny Srour
