A new video-on-demand platform for North African and Middle-Eastern films, YEMA, has announced its official launch on June 9th.
YEMA describes itself as “the first VOD platform for North African and Middle-Eastern films.”To promote films from these countries the platform carefully selects content: “Every month, in addition to a rich and eclectic catalogue, our team will choose a universal theme (family, laughter, love) and then select films associated with this theme. Every month we will also show an interview with a well-known personality discussing the theme, to better understand the films and their context. These explanatory videos will be free, as will a selection of short films made by emerging film-makers.”
For its launch YEMA has chosen films which look at the different conditions of women. The Franco-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani is the guest of this selection. In a video interview, “she talks about the theme and how it is expressed in films like Much Loved (Nabil Ayouch), Papicha (Mounia Meddour) and Le Procès de Viviane Amsalem (Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz).”
The press release also specifies that Algeria will be celebrated on the 60th anniversary of its independence. Several Algerian and Franco-Algerian authors and film-makers including Sofia Djama (Les Bienheureux), Zak Kedzi (Chroniques Algériennes) and historian Benjamin Stora “will take the floor to share their view of Algerian cinema of yesterday and today.”
Find all the information on the YEMA web-site.
Source : YEMA
