WINDHOEK– The 2013 Moroccan movie Oscar entry, Death for Sale, by Faouzi Bensaïdi, premieres next Saturday at the Goethe Centre.
Faouzi Bensaïdi’s critically acclaimed Oscar-entry movie deals with religious fundamentalism, abuse of power and the failure of society to provide opportunities for its citizens. A town that is under a permanently low, heavy sky, three losers, a dream of grandeur, a jewellery store, and a woman who arrives in town.
Three friends strive to preserve their loyalty to each other in spite of a corrupt society. These young men live in Tétouan, an impoverished Moroccan city. Soufiane, the youngest, spends his days pilfering. Allal, the oldest, is trying to gain a foothold as a drug dealer. Malik falls in love with Dounia who works as a prostitute in a night club. The three friends part to make their own way in life, but before long it looks as though their futures will founder in a maelstrom of violence, greed, jealousy and betrayal. Seeing no other way out, they decide to get together and raid a jeweller’s shop. The film opens with Malik walking towards Dounia, silently laughing. Behind her, knots of video tape float up from a rubbish dump like paper dragons.
Faouzi Bensaïdi gives his relaxed young actors plenty of room to manoeuvre. His work casts a spell on account of a visual style that is both laconic and powerful and demonstrates how each friend’s dream of happiness only serves to drive a wedge between them. Beneath permanently leaden city clouds they nonetheless find a way to treat each other with generosity and trust.
The movie will screen at seven O’clock (19H00) and entrance is N$ 40.
The movie has received widespread reviews in the media internationally, among them:“I enjoyed the film very much. Tough, strong, lyrical, well acted, and designed…” – Martin Scorsese, (Letter to Faouzi Bensaïdi)
“A gritty and stylized urban thriller with strong social overtones” – The Hollywood Report
The Director, writer and actor, Faouzi Bensaïdi was born in Meknès, Morocco, in 1967.
After completing a diploma at the Dramatic Arts Institute of Rabat, he started working in theatre. In 1995, he moved to Paris to study at the National Academy of Dramatic Arts. He directed his first short film, La Falaise, in 1998; it earned several awards and toured a number of festivals. The following year, he collaborated with veteran French filmmaker André Téchiné on the script of Loin. In 2000, he directed two shorts, Le Mur and Trajets; the first received an award at Cannes; the second, at Venice. In 2003, his first feature film, A Thousand Months (Alf Shahr), was screened at Cannes in “Un Certain Regard,” winning the Prix de la Jeunesse and the Prix Premier Regard.“Death for Sale”, his latest film, was Morocco’s official entry for Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards (Oscars) in 2012.