Hedi (film)
Hedi is a 2016 Tunisian drama film directed by Mohamed Ben Attia. It was selected to compete for the Golden Bear at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival. At Berlin it won Majd Mastoura won the Silver Bear for Best Actor; as of 23 March 2017, the film had grossed $56,386 internationally. Hedi is a young Tunisian men going through an existential crisis, he always done what was told never questioned the conventions of his society and always sought to please his mother Baya who always arranged everything for him. Despite having a decent job as a salesman in a country with an volatile economic, Hedi is indifferent to his job, his mother is arranging his wedding to a relationship that he is apathetic to. However, a week prior to the actual wedding Hedi meets Rim with. Unlike Khedija who comes from a conservative family, Rim is a well travelled independent women with an outgoing character. Rim works as an itinerant event coordinator for tourists at hotels. Hedi is left with a hard decision to make, settle down for a mediocre marriage or follow his globetrotting sweetheart.
Majd Mastoura as Hedi Rym Ben Messaoud as Rym Sabah Bouzouita as Baya Omnia Ben Ghali as Khedija Hakim Boumsaoudi as Ahmed On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 100% based on 11 reviews, an average rating of 7.2/10. Hedi on IMDb
Much Loved
Much Loved is a 2015 French-Moroccan drama film directed by Nabil Ayouch about the prostitution scene in Marrakesh. It was screened in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival; the film has been banned in Morocco for its "contempt for moral values and the Moroccan woman". It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, it is one of the first films to address the issue of prostitution in Morocco. Telling the lives of four female sex workers, it brings to the forefront the exploitation of prostitutes by pimps and the corruption of the police, that sometimes profits from the trade; the film stirred a national debate before it was released when a few video clips were leaked on the web. Thereafter, the lead actress received death threats and religious authorities condemned the film for portraying a negative image of Morocco, with its supporting of extramarital sex and sympathy for homosexuals. Loubna Abidar as Noha Asmaa Lazrak as Randa Halima Karaouane as Soukaina Sara Elmhamdi Elalaoui as Hlima Abdellah Didane as Said Danny Boushebel as Ahmad Much Loved on IMDb
Two Days, One Night
Two Days, One Night is a 2014 Belgian-French-Italian drama film written and directed by the Dardenne brothers, starring Marion Cotillard and Fabrizio Rongione. It competed for the Palme d'Or in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, it won the Sydney Film Prize at the 2014 Sydney Film Festival, was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language, nominated for two César Awards and for nine Magritte Awards, winning three, including Best Film and Best Director for Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. The film was selected as Belgium's submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, but was not nominated, though Cotillard received a Best Actress nomination for her performance in the film, making her the first actor to be nominated for a Belgian film. In Seraing, an industrial town near Liège, young wife and mother Sandra prepares to return to work at Solwal, a small solar-panel factory, after a medical leave of absence for depression and anxiety.
During her absence, Solwal management realises her colleagues are able to cover her shifts by working longer hours and proposes a €1,000 bonus to each if they agree to make Sandra redundant. On Friday evening, after Sandra hears the news and that only two of the 16 voted for her to stay, she breaks down, feeling hopeless and worthless, her husband, tries to lift her spirits. A co-worker friend Juliette, who voted on her behalf, convinces her to talk to M. Dumont, the Solwal manager. Sandra is too petrified to speak. Juliette tells him some of the workers felt pressured to vote against Sandra by the factory foreman Jean-Marc, who insinuated one job must be eliminated. Though hesitant, Dumont agrees to a secret ballot early Monday. Realising that her fate rests in the hands of her co-workers, Sandra must visit each of the 14 over the course of the weekend to persuade them to reject the monetary bonus, she faces an uphill battle to keep her job before the crucial vote on Monday. Most of her co-workers are counting on the bonus for their own families.
Some of her co-workers are immigrants and some are working second jobs to get by. Sandra is crushed when a co-worker she considered a friend pretends not to be home, but is heartened by the few who support her and say they will vote for her. Timur, an immigrant from Dagestan, breaks down in tears and says he is ashamed of himself, as Sandra covered for him when he broke a panel on his first day, he says he will talk to another worker on her behalf. On Sunday afternoon, Sandra discovers that Jean-Marc has been calling their co-workers to convince them not to change their votes, that in reality he is against Sandra coming back because of her depression, she visits her co-worker Anne, whose husband screams at both women. Dejected, Sandra attempts suicide at home by overdosing on Xanax, but when Anne arrives to tell her she will vote for her, Sandra confesses to Manu, who forces her to vomit the pills up. Sandra is touched when she finds out Anne came to the hospital too. Sandra tells Manu; when Anne tells her she has decided to leave her husband, Sandra invites her to their house to spend the night.
Sandra speaks to Alphonse, a young African immigrant, working as a welder on contract. He will only get €150 because he is new, but he is afraid of Jean-Marc, who told him to vote against Sandra if he wants to get along with his co-workers. Alphonse tells her he wants to vote for her, but he's afraid Jean-Marc will find out and write him up for his mistakes, which could damage his chance of renewing his contract when it expires in September. On Monday morning, as the Solwal workers vote again, Jean-Marc reacts angrily to Sandra, she reminds him that he acted unfairly. In the second ballot, eight vote for her to keep the job, eight vote to keep the bonus – not enough to overturn Friday's vote, she tearfully thanks those who voted including Alphonse. She tells Anne she can stay at their house again that stoically clears out her locker. However, Dumont calls her into his office and congratulates her on convincing so many to support her, he tells her he has decided to give everyone the bonus but still keep her on.
Sandra's joy is short lived as he explains he will not renew a worker whose contract expires in September – Alphonse. Sandra politely declines his offer – she now has the confidence to start anew, pursue a new life for herself. "We put up a good fight," she tells Manu proudly. Marion Cotillard as Sandra Bya, working-class wife and mother of two children Fabrizio Rongione as Manu Bya, Sandra's husband who works as a chef Catherine Salée as Juliette, Sandra's friend and co-worker Olivier Gourmet as Jean-Marc, Sandra's supervisor at Solwal Christelle Cornil as Anne, Sandra's co-worker Timur Magomedgadzhiev as Timur, Sandra's co-worker Pili Groyne as Estelle, daughter of Sandra and Manu Simon Caudry as Maxime, son of Sandra and Manu Batiste Sornin as M. Dumont, manager at Solwal Serge Koto as Alphonse, welder at Solwal The film was a Belgian production with French and Italian co-producers, it was produced by Dardenne's Les Films du Fleuve with co-production support from France's Archipel 35, Italy's BIM Distribuzione and Belgium's Eyeworks Film & TV Drama.
It received funding from the Flemish Audiovisual Fund, RTBF and Centre du cinéma et de l'audiovisuel. It received 500,000 euro from Eurimages; the total budget was seven million euros. Filming began in late June 2013 in Seraing and was wrapped in September 2013. Two Days, One Night premiered at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival on
La Promesse
La Promesse is a 1996 drama film by the Belgian brothers Luc Dardenne and Jean-Pierre Dardenne. The plot involves a father, who mercilessly trafficks and exploits undocumented immigrants, his son, Igor, is fifteen and an apprentice mechanic, who works for his father in his labor contracting operation. When one of their illegal workers is injured at the worksite, left to die, the death concealed by Roger and Igor, a guilt-ridden Igor must choose between his father's chosen way of life and his promise to the dying man. Jérémie Renier as Igor Olivier Gourmet as Roger Assita Ouedraogo as Assita La Promesse received positive reviews from critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 95% approval rating, based on 21 reviews, with an average score of 7.8/10. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 82, based on 17 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim ". Belgian Film Critics Association Won: André Cavens Award for Best Film Nominated: Grand Prix César Awards Nominated: Best Foreign Film Los Angeles Film Critics Nominated: Best Foreign Film National Society of Film Critics Won: Best Foreign Language Film Online Film Critics Society Awards Nominated: Best Foreign Language Film Satellite Awards Nominated: Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language Valladolid Film Festival Won: FIPRESCI Prize Won: Golden Spike La Promesse on IMDb La Promesse at Rotten Tomatoes La Promesse at dardenne-brothers.com La promesse: One Plus One an essay by Kent Jones at the Criterion Collection
Horses of God
Horses of God is 2012 Moroccan drama film about the 2003 Casablanca bombings. It was directed by Nabil Ayouch, based on the novel The Stars of Sidi Moumen by Moroccan writer Mahi Binebine; the film won several awards, was Morocco's submission for the 85th Academy Awards. The film opens in 1994. Yachine, his violent older brother Hamid, Yachine's friends Nabil, pot-smoking Fouad, Khalil live in extreme poverty in Sidi Moumen, a shanty town on the edge of Casablanca in Morocco. Hamid earns money by acting as a drug mule; the boys steal liquor from Khalil's father's wedding, Hamid rapes a drunk Nabil in front of the others. In 1999, the shanty town is larger, Hassan II of Morocco has just died. Yachine, Nabil and Khalil spend their time smoking pot, Yachine is in love with Ghislaine, Fouad's sister. Hamid is now a major drug dealer, paying off the policeman known as "Pitbull" and forcing Yachine to stay out of the drug business. Religious zealots force Tamou to leave town. Hamid is given a two-year prison sentence after throwing a rock at Pitbull's car.
Yachine is forced out of the marketplace in the medina, Nabil gets him a job repairing engines for repairman Ba'Moussa. The day after the September 11 attacks, Hamid is released from prison, having given up drugs and embraced radical Islam. Yachine kills Ba'Moussa after the drunk man attempts to rape Nabil. Nabil gets Hamid, he and his radical friends hide the body. Hamid gives the two refuge in an Islamic compound hidden within the shanty town, Yachine and Nabil meet with Abou Zoubeir—who begins to recruit them into radical Islam. Nouceir, a former neighborhood enemy and now one of Hamid's close friends, intimidates Khalil and Fouad into joining the cell also. All four begin learning jujutsu. Yachine, feeling immense guilt over murdering Ba'Moussa, spends the night with Nabil, but he is drawn to Zoubeir's message of forgiveness through adherence to radical Islam. A year in November 2002, Tarek and Fouad have embraced radical Islam. Zoubeir tells Tarek and Fouad they are being admitted to the innermost councils of the cell, which leaves Hamid jealous and angry.
An extensive montage depicts the radicalization of the friends. Tarek learns. In February 2003, the police raid a public meeting of radical Muslims. Abou Zoubeir begins to preach martyrdom to the cell. Tamou attempts to see Nabil. An unidentified emir arrives and reinforces the message of martyrdom, telling Hamid, Fouad and Nouceir, "Take care, children of Islam, never to become like those who cling to life down here and fear to become martyrs. Fly, horses of God, the gates of paradise will open for you." He selects the four for a suicide mission, Hamid's jealousy toward Tarek worsens. 9 May, the day of the attack, approaches. Abou Zoubeir flees as the police close in on the cell, the attack is moved to 16 May; the five men drive into the foothills near Casablanca, which Tarek and Fouad have never seen before. They are amazed at the city's wealth, surprised to see vast forests and rivers, they camp in the forest. Tarek hopes. Hamid unsuccessfully attempts to convince Tarek not to go through with the attack.
The men return to the shanty town on 15 May, where they meet with Abou Zoubeir and the 14 others in their cell. They prepare extensively for their mission by shaving, setting watches, receiving their bombs. Hamid, Fouad and Nabil enter Casablanca on 16 May, spending the day wandering the city; that night, they approach the Casa de España restaurant. Hamid refuses to let Tarek go through with the attack. Fouad flees. Tarek and Nabil stab and kill the doorman, enter the club. Two minutes they see Hamid in the club as well; the three set off their bombs. The film ends with children in Sidi Moumen playing football in the dark, pausing to listen to the explosions in the city. End titles describe the 2003 Casablanca bombings, where they occurred, how many people died. Abdelhakim Rachid as Tarek/Yachine, the bullied younger brother who dreams of being a football goalie but turns to radical Islam after murdering a man Abdelilah Rachid as Hamid, Yachine's older brother and drug dealer who embraces radical Islam in prison but who fears death Hamza Souidek as Nabil, Yachine's best friend and the son of a prostitute Ahmed El Idrissi El Amrani as Fouad, a friend of Yachine and elder brother of Ghislaine Badr Chakir as Khalil, Yachine's happy-go-lucky friend who fails to embrace radical Islam Mohammed Taleb as Abou Zoubeir, the charismatic leader of the Sidi Moumen radical cell Mohamed Mabrouk as Nouceir, Yachine's former childhood enemy who has embraced radical Islam Imane Benennia as Ghislaine, Fouad's sister and the girl Tarek loves Abdallah Ouzzad as Ba'Moussa, the obese and abusive repair shop owner The film competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.
The film won awards in film festivals in Rotterdam, Bruxelles, Doha, Besançon, but not in its own country, in the Marrakech film festival when it was in competition in February 2013. The film was selected as the Moroccan entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated, it received two nominations at the 4th Magritte Awards, win
Fandango (company)
Fandango is an American ticketing company that sells movie tickets via their website as well as through their mobile app. Industry revenue increased for several years after the company's formation. However, as the Internet grew in popularity and medium-sized movie-theater chains began to offer independent ticket sale capabilities through their own websites. In addition, a new paradigm of moviegoers printing their own tickets at home emerged, in services offered by PrintTixUSA and by point-of-sale software vendor operated websites like "ticketmakers.com". An overall slump in moviegoing continued into the 2000s, as home theaters, DVDs, high definition televisions proliferated in average households, turning their homes into a preferred place to screen films. On April 11, 2007, Comcast acquired Fandango, with plans to integrate it into a new entertainment website called "Fancast.com," set to launch the summer of 2007. In June 2008, the domain Movies.com was acquired from Disney. With Comcast's purchase of a majority stake in NBCUniversal in January 2011, Fandango and all other Comcast media assets were merged into the company.
In March 2012, Fandango announced a partnership with Yahoo! Movies, becoming the official online and mobile ticketer serving over 30 million registered users of the Yahoo! service. On January 29, 2016, Fandango announced its acquisition of M-GO, a joint venture between Technicolor SA and DreamWorks Animation which it would rebrand as "FandangoNOW". In February of that same year Fandango announced its acquisition of Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes from Time Warner's Warner Bros. Entertainment; as part of the deal, Warner Bros. would become a 30% shareholder of the combined Fandango company. In December 2016, Fandango Media purchased Cinepapaya, a Peru-based website for purchasing movie tickets, for an undisclosed amount. Fandango charges a premium to use its services, ranging from 75¢ to $2.50, which reserves a ticket to be printed out upon arrival at a movie theater, thereby avoiding lines. Seating was promised for sold-out shows, but this feature was discontinued for most theaters, as not all were equipped to handle reserved seating and will call lines.
With ticket prices in many areas exceeding US$10.00, purchasing tickets through Fandango and other ticketing websites can make movie-going an expensive proposition. Fandango's advertisements play before previews at participating movie-theater chains and feature lunch bag puppets telling various one or two-line jokes and riddles centering on the company's name; the company produced an advertising segment, based on the song, "We are the World". Fandango's website offers exclusive film clips, celebrity interviews, reviews by users, movie descriptions, some web-based games to their members; as of March 5, 2015, Fandango provides customers with memberships the ability to refund or exchange their orders 2 hours before the showtime of their film. Fandango's Android app was listed among Techlands 50 Best Android Applications for 2013. Fandango is one of three major online advance movie ticket sale sites, along with MovieTickets.com and AtomTickets.com. Before being acquired by Comcast in April 2007, Fandango was owned, with the major stakeholder being the second largest movie-theater chain in the U.
S. Regal Entertainment Group, including the United Artists and Hoyts theater chains. Along with other partners, Regal founded Fandango to prevent the older MovieTickets.com from establishing a monopoly on phone and online ticketing services. It's advertising agency decided on its name because it sounded "fun and smart," "easily pronounce and remember--even though it has nothing to do with movies."Mergers of movie chains have complicated matters regarding which company provides online ticketing for a particular chain. Upon Regal's acquisition of Consolidated Theatres, that chain was under contract to MovieTickets.com. On the other hand, Regal's acquisition of the Hoyts chain resulted in Fandango taking over their online ticketing. Prior to 2012, Fandango did not provide online ticketing for many AMC Theatres. However, it provided online ticketing for those AMC Theatres part of the Loews Cineplex Entertainment chain, due to contractual obligations in place prior to the 2005 merger of the two movie chains.
Loews had attempted to break the contract in 2002 under pressure of bankruptcy and from AOL Moviefone and its partner, Loews' Cineplex subsidiary. As of February 8, 2012, Fandango began providing ticketing for all AMC Theatres in the US, after which MovieTickets.com's fellow shareholders sued AMC for breach of contract. AMC and MovieTickets.com settled in 2013, with an agreement that the theater chain's online ticketing would be available on both Fandango and MovieTickets.com. In May 2012, Fandango announced a partnership with former partner of MovieTickets.com. Atom Tickets, a movie ticketing app and website, launched in 2014, has been called a "serious competitor" for Fandango. In July 2009, it was revealed that Fandango along with other websites, including buy.com and Orbitz, were linked with controversial Web loyalty
Insyriated
Insyriated is a 2017 Belgian drama film directed by Philippe Van Leeuw. It was screened in the Panorama section at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Panoroma Audience Award. At the 8th Magritte Awards, the film won all six awards it was nominated for, tying the Magritte Awards record for most awards won, including Best Film and Best Director for Van Leeuw. Hiam Abbass as Oum Yazan Diamand Bou Abboud as Halima Juliette Navis as Delhani Mohsen Abbas as Abou Monzer On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 86% based on 37 reviews, an average rating of 6.9/10. Insyriated on IMDb
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