Rattle the Cage

Zinzana is the Arabic word for cell. Talal wakes up in one, in a police station in a remote town, with no identification and no memory of the night before. Being unable to make bail turns out to be the least of his problems: a friendly visit from Daban, an officer from a neighbouring town, becomes a bloodbath, and Talal is forced to play a madman’s game to keep his family alive. Majid Al Ansari directed and co-wrote it, financed entirely by the Abu Dhabi company Image Nation, and it is generally counted as the first film of its kind made in the United Arab Emirates. Saleh Bakri plays Talal and Ali Suliman plays Daban. Al Ansari took the best Arab filmmaker of the year award at the Berlinale in 2016.