IEFTA Alumni, Ala’a al Qaisi’s “Cinderella” selected to compete at Malmö Arab Film Festival

30 Mar IEFTA Alumni, Ala’a al Qaisi’s “Cinderella” selected to compete at Malmö Arab Film Festival

Posted at 11:43h in Announcements, El Gouna Film Festival, Film Festivals, TorinoFilmLAB by

Jordanian filmmaker and IEFTA alumni Ala’a al Qaisi has been selected to compete in Malmö Arab Film Festival’s “Short Film Development Project,” for her film “Cinderella.” The film is one of 5 in competition, and the presentation will be on April 8th from 12-12:30 CET.

30 October 2020: Ala’a Al Qaisi was selected at the 2020 El Gouna Film Festival where she won the Monaco based International Emerging Film Talent Association “IEFTA” Award, which then led on to her participating in Torino Film lab 2021.

Her film Cinderella tells the story of Farah, a 13-year-old girl who lives in poverty with her mother, grandmother and two-year-old brother. As Farah goes through a tough puberty, her mother prepares to marry a man and leave their home with Farah’s brother, abandoning the young girl to live with her grandmother. In their culture, it would never do to bring a young girl, especially a pubescent one into a new man’s household.

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Ala’a Al Qaisi

JORDAN

Ala’a Al Qaisi is a Jordanian-Australian Writer-Director. Ala’a participated in the RFC Rawi Screenwriting Lab. She has developed The Day of Arafah under the mentorship of the well-known filmmakers Annemarie Jacir (“Wajib” “When I Saw You”), Karim Traidia (“The Polish Bride” “The Ghandi Murder”) and Abu Bakr Shawky (‘Yomeddine” Cannes Film Festival) She has received several awards for her screenwriting from The University of Jordan, The Hashemite University and The Jordan Language Centre. Ala’a Al Qaisi moved to Australia in 2009. While there, she studied filmmaking at Sydney Film School and graduated from Actors Centre Australia. Ala’a worked on numerous short films there including two she directed: “Walk in My Shoes,” and “Pink Swing.” Both films were featured at the Sydney Film School Festival, where she was awarded The Sydney Film School Courage, Curiosity and Compassion Award in 2013. Ala’a Al Qaisi recently returned to Jordan at the request of the Royal Film Commission to develop and produce her film.

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