This 12th edition, sponsored by Tunisian filmmaker Raja Amari (Satin Rouge, Les secrets), in the presence of guests, will put the spotlight on Syrian cinema, little known to the public. A tribute will be paid to a great figure of Arab cinema, Omar Amiralay, who died in 2011. Hala Alabdalla, a key figure in Syrian cinema, will come to present the films of the filmmaker - Deluge in the land of the Ba'aths and the Man with the Golden Soles. The program will address the status of women: opening, the first feature film by Lebanese filmmaker, Georges Hachem, Balle Perdue with Nadine Labaki, actress-director of Caramel and And now we go where? and the film, Passion - a fiction taken from a true story which took place in Aleppo in Syria, city of history and music - by the Syrian filmmaker, Mohamed Malas, traveling companion of Omar Amiralay. In preview, Last Days in Jerusalem, in the presence of its director, Tawfik Abu Wael, tells us the story of the birth to the death of a couple. Two Egyptian films, Cairo Exit and Hawi, confirm the creativity and renewal of this cinema. Tunisian Ridha Behi's latest feature film, Always Brando, will deal with the confrontation of two worlds, Hollywood and Tunisia, a country which has been “the backdrop” for American fictions. The Moroccan film, The Mosque of Daoud Aoulad-Syad describes, with distance and humor, the workings of Moroccan society. Finally, echoing the 50th anniversary of Algeria's independence, discover the cult film of Algerian cinema, Chronicle of the Years of Ember by Mohamed Lakhdar Hamina, Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, in 1975.

Regard Sud is an open window on “our” world, which is looking for a spring of freedom. This window is open at the Institut Lumière in Lyon, where the cinema was born. A symbol that links cinema and freedom.

Abdellah Zerguine

Artistic director