Saluting Our Sisters from Sudan and South Sudan

Film Review by Khalid Ali, film and media correspondent Goodbye Julia (Mohamed Kordofani, Sudan, 2023), screening on 14th and 15th October at the London Film Festival, https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/lff//online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=goodbye-julia-lff23 Winner of the Freedom Prize, Un Certain Regard, Cannes Film Festival 2023. Alert: this review contains spoilers The riots, looting, and violence that erupted in Khartoum in 2005 […]

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Of Dogs and Men (and Aging)

Review by Professor Robert Abrams, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York Review of The Truffle Hunters (directed by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw, Italy, 2020), available from Amazon Prime The Truffle Hunters is a subtle, cinematically beautiful documentary, drawn from the personal stories of a group of aging Italian truffle hunters. Taken together, these stories celebrate […]

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Doctors Learning Storytelling and Interpersonal Skills from TV

Series Review Khalid Ali, Film and Media Correspondent Reflections on Seventh Year Itch (TV series, directed by Karim El Shennawy, Egypt, 2023) available on Shahid MBC Integrating medical education with arts and humanities has provided great opportunities for medical students to hone their communication skills and desirable qualities such as respect and empathy.1 Combining the […]

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Find Where Light in Darkness Lies (“Love’s Labour’s Lost”, William Shakespeare)

Film Review by Franco Ferrarini, gastroenterologist, and film reviewer ‘Empire of Light’, Sam Mendes, UK, 2022 Set in the early 80’s, Hilary (Olivia Colman) is a middle-aged woman working as a duty-manager at the “Empire”, a movie theatre in Margate, Kent. ‘’Find where light in darkness lies’’ is the caption from Shakespeare’s ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’ […]

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Listen to Me

Film Review by Robert Abrams Buzz (short film, Sudan 2022, directed by Mohamed Fawi, produced by Amjad Abu Alala, distributed by Mad Solutions), world Premiere at the 2022 Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) Buzz, a new short film created by the visionary director Mohamed Fawi, presents, in just under 20 minutes, several different themes that […]

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Giuseppe Tornatore, A Master of Italian Cinema Constantly Reflecting on the Past

Film Review by Franco Ferrarini, Gastroenterologist and Film Reviewer ‘Film Legends Among Us’ series There is no future, Salvatore: only the past exists. (Quote from “Cinema Paradiso”) Giuseppe Tornatore is an Italian film director and screenwriter who, after the Golden era from the ‘50s to the ‘70’s led by Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti, restored […]

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With or Without Antidepressants, An Ongoing Dilemma

Film Review by Khalid Ali, Film and Media Correspondent ‘Farah’ (Hassiba Freiha, Kenton Oxley, Lebanon, 2022), released in Lebanese cinemas on 24th November 2022, Winner of Jury Award at Chelsea Film Festival, New York A recent systematic review postulated that the serotonin theory as an underlying biochemical basis for depression is not substantiated by robust […]

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How Condors Die

Film Review by Professor Robert Abrams, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York ‘Utama’ (Directed by Alejandro Loayza Grisi, produced by Alma Films/La Mayor Cine, Bolivia, 2022), Winner of the Grand Jury Prize, Sundance Film Festival, in general release in UK cinemas on 25th November 2022 Utama (“our home” in the Quechua language), written and directed by […]

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