The Band Documentary Film Wins Special Jury Prize at the Cine4all Fest

Director Albaqer Jafeer's documentary film The Band won the Special Jury Prize for Best First Time Director at the 1^st Cine4all Fest, which concluded its activities yesterday, Saturday. This brings the total awards won by the film to four awards. MAD Solutions distributes The Band across the Arab world.

Founded by Egyptian director Waheed Sobhi, Cine4All Fest, which launched its first edition in December 2019, is an Egyptian film festival for documentaries, short films and music videos. The Festival includes an awards ceremony and film screenings. Cine4all aims to provide a platform for independent filmmakers from Egypt and the Arab world.

The Band won three international awards, including the Arab World Institute's Best Feature Documentary Film Award at the Festival des Cinémas Arabes in Paris, France, the Karama Feather for Best Documentary Film Award at the Karama Human Rights Film Festival in Jordan, and a Special Mention at the Oran International Arabic Film Festival in Algeria. The film also screened at the Karama Beirut Human Rights Film Festival and the Sharm El-Sheikh Asian Film Festival (SAFF).

Written and directed by Albaqer Jafeer, The Band is distributed in the Arab world by MAD Solutions. The film tells the story of Hulm Band that is made up of six musicians who are sparing no efforts to fulfill their dream of playing Sufi music in their hometown, Sadr city in Iraq. They only face one dilemma which lies in the fact that they can get murdered for playing music in a city where music is forbidden. In 67 minutes, the film follows the band members as they open up to the film's director, Albaqer Jafeer, on their dreams, aspirations and the reality in which they find themselves.

Albaqar Jafeer is an Iraqi director who studied filmmaking at the Iraqi Independent Film Center in 2009. Later on, Jafeer participated in filmmaking workshops inside and outside Baghdad where he studied screenwriting, directing, editing and production management. Albaqar Jafeer's filmography includes the short documentary film Rafa't Alam (Rising the Flag) and Ghorbat Ghajar (Strangeness of the Gypsies) and the experimental film 50mm Lens. The Band is Jafeer's debut feature documentary film.