Annual Top Films Lists

Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2015: #60. Miguel Gomes’ Arabian Nights

Published on January 7, 2015

Arabian Nights

Director: Miguel Gomes// Writers: Miguel Gomes, Telmo Churro, Mariana Ricardo

Miguel Gomes’ 2012 film Tabu managed to elevate the Portugeuse filmmaker’s international status when it picked up two awards at the Berlin film festival that year, and had a hand in at last making his 2008 Cannes premiered sophomore feature Our Beloved Month of August at last available for DVD consumption in the US. Experimentally inclined, Gomes next tackles the famed Arabian nights tale but abandons all except for the structure to depict a modern Portugal in peril under Troika control. It’s the most ambitious treatment of the material since Pasolini adapted Arabian Nights back in 1974. We’ll be expecting stunning musical interplay and visually innovative sequences.

Cast: Carloto Cotta, Joana de Verona, Adriano Luz

Producer: O Som e a Fúria

U.S. Distributor: Rights available

Release Date: Rumored to be aiming for a Spring 2015 release, we’re wondering if Gomes missed the Berlin deadline, because if it doesn’t appear in the lineup we expect to see Gomes at Cannes. Perhaps the Main Comp.

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.