The first of four installments in the groundbreaking Heartbeat of the World anthology film series. Comprised of several short films by some of the world's most exciting directors, Words with Gods follows the theme of religion - specifically as it relates to an individual's relationship with his/her god or gods...or the lack thereof. In Words with Gods, each director recounts a narrative centered around human fragility, as well as environmental and cultural crises involving specific religions with which each has a personal relationship; including early Aboriginal Spirituality, Umbanda, Buddhism, the Abrahamic faiths, Hinduism, and Atheism. An animated sequence by Mexican animator Maribel Martinez is woven through each of the film segments, with each segment narratively connected as a feature-length film.
Deeply in love but separated by an unbridgeable divide, a young couple must navigate conflicting family blessings and deep-seated differences to discover if their relationship can truly survive.
The strong bond between two Royal Egyptian brothers is challenged when their chosen responsibilities set them at odds, with extraordinary consequences.
The secret US abduction of a suspected terrorist from his Middle East homeland leads to a wave of terrorist attacks in New York. An FBI senior agent and his team attempt to locate and decommission the enemy cells, but must also deal with an Army General gone rogue and a female CIA agent of uncertain loyalties.
A young British officer resigns his post when he learns of his regiment's plan to ship out to the Sudan for the conflict with the Mahdi. His friends and fiancée send him four white feathers as symbols of what they view as his cowardice. To redeem his honor, he disguises himself as an Arab and secretly saves their lives.
In 1971 Salford fish-and-chip shop owner George Khan expects his family to follow his strict Pakistani Muslim ways. But his children, with an English mother and having been born and brought up in Britain, increasingly see themselves as British and start to reject their father's rules on dress, food, religion, and living in general.
Bertram Pincus, a cranky, people-hating Manhattan dentist, develops the unwelcome ability to see dead people. Really annoying dead people. Even worse, they all want something from him, particularly Frank Herlihy, a smooth-talking ghost, who pesters him into a romantic scheme involving his widow Gwen. They are soon entangled in a hilarious predicament between the now and the hereafter!
Three women seek justice due to the difficult daily situation which sexual harassment causes in the streets of Cairo, Egypt.
A social drama that deals with the tense relationship between Muslims and Christians, through the story of a young Muslim who falls in love with a Christian girl and marries her despite the objection of everyone. On the other hand it revolves around the involvement of a businessman in a major corruption case in the country.
Sweety has to contend with her over-enthusiastic family that wants her to get married but the ultimate truth is that her love might not find acceptance in her family and society.
Kiki's successful life changed drastically after the death of her husband, Ronald. She faced various problems: financial difficulties, job loss, and the threat of losing her daughter. She did not give up. Together with her best friend Rahma, she tried to find happiness in her life again.
A Citizen Under Investigation is the great Egyptian director Henry Barakat's last film, and a damning indictment of Egypt's ruling military dictatorship.
The film revolves around a Hindu man (Paresh Rawal) who goes through an identity crisis when he discovers he was adopted as a son in a Hindu family but was born in a Muslim family. The journey starts with finding his real father.
A delicate exploration of the highs and lows of intimacy between Leila and Ibrahim, a loving couple, as they deliberate the difficult decisions surrounding conception and parenthood.
That old theatrical war-horse Bella Donna (previously filmed in America by Alla Nazimova) was resurrected by Britain's Twickenham Studios in 1934. Conrad Veidt stars as sinister Egyptian Mahmoud Baroundi, who even before the film gets under way has left a long trail of ruined women behind him. His latest victim is American girl Mona Chepstow (Mary Ellis), whom Baroundi treats like dirt and makes her like it. The plot centers around a murder by poison, as evidenced by the film's deliberately exotic title. Critics in 1934 praised newcomer Mary Ellis for underplaying her role, but many film fans preferred Nazimova's arm-waving histrionics in the earlier version.
An intimate look into the life of icon Quincy Jones. A unique force in music and popular culture for 70 years, Jones has transcended racial and cultural boundaries; his story is inextricably woven into the fabric of America. Jones came to prominence in the 1950s as a jazz arranger and conductor before working on pop music and film scores. He moved easily between musical genres, producing major pop hits of the early 1960s and serving as an arranger and conductor for several collaborations in the same time period.
1440°
Alexandria, Egypt, 1940. Three young Egyptians come to the aid of a woman being attacked by three British soldiers. One of them is arrested and thrown in jail. When the military surrounds the police station and begins an all-out assault, it's up to one man, Gen. Youssef al-Masri, to defend his prison and protect his people.
Fast paced, action packed comedy. Tension flares in The Motor City as Officer Richardson profiles every Muslim he sees as a terrorist. He goes on an arrest frenzy, which makes the community activists, Jihad and Osama take to the streets and rally the people to stand up for their rights. The Chief of Police wants to gain the trust of the Muslim community in order to get re-elected, but Attorney Leila Rodriguez is standing in the way with a discrimination law suit against Officer Richardson and the Motor City Police Department. The Chief calls on his most unreliable detective, Mohammed and partners him with a Middle Eastern, Sharia Law fanatic, Detective Abdul. The Chief wants them to "Speak Muslim To The Muslims" which he thinks will guarantee his re-election. - Written by Omar Regan
A young Belgian is incited by his imam to view a teacher as an apostate and assassinate her; after he fails, he is sent to juvenile reform.