Still: East of Noon -Hala Elkoussy

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 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).

The Directors’ Fortnight programme also includes the Dutch co-production To a Land Unknown by director Mahdi Fleifel and minority co-produced by Amsterdam-based Studio Ruba.

Six other Dutch minority co-production will celebrate their world premieres on the Croisette next month in different programme sections:

Cannes Official Selection - Competition
All We Imagine as Light* by Payal Kapadia
NL Co-producer: BALDR Film
Sales: Luxbox

Cannes Official Selection - Un Certain Regard
Armand** by Halfdan Ullman Tøndel
NL Co-producer: Kepler Film
Sales: Charades

Viet and Nam* by Truong Minh Quý
NL Co-producer: An Original Picture
Sales: Pyramide International

Cannes Official Selection - Cannes Premiere
Everybody Loves Touda* by Nabil Ayouch
NL Co-producer: Viking Film
Sales: MK2

Cannes Official Selection - Special Screenings
The Invasion by Sergei Loznitsa
NL Co-prod: Atoms & Void

Semaine de la Critique
Baby* by Marcelo Caetano
NL Co-producer: Circe Films

Lastly, Dutch minority co-production When the Light Breaks has been selected as the opening film for Un Certain Regard at Cannes this year. Read more about it here.

The upcoming edition of the Cannes Film Festival takes place from 14 to 25 May.