CMCA PriMed, Auteur à PriMed

THE LAST BREATH

by Sameh MOUSSA

52 minutes, 2011

Production : 25TV / Egypte

A few years ago the Egyptian president, Hosni Moubarak declared he would serve his country until his dying breath. This documentary is about the last thirty years of tyranny in Egypt, and how the Egyptians have managed to pull themselves out of it.

Sameh MOUSSA is a musician and director. He works as a guitarist, composer, director and radio producer. These are some of his films: “Shisha” (1994); “Beni Sueif Dream” (2000); “Operation Trash” (2001); “Lamma Bada” (2010); “Zaar” (2010); “The Last Breath” (2011); “Dumafkat” (2011).

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THE IMAMS GO TO SCHOOL

de Kaouther BEN HANIA

75 minutes, 2010

Production : Who’Z Prod, 03 Productions / France

They are apprentice imams at France’s biggest mosque, but now they have to learn secularism as well, to conform with the French state policy of modernising Islam. Of all the universities approached, only one volunteered to run such a course: the Catholic Institute of Paris. So, for the first time in the republic, in addition to their usual curriculum French student imams will be given a year’s training in secularism by Catholics.

Having done business studies, followed by training as a film-maker at the School of Arts and Cinema in Tunis, Kaouther BEN HANIA went to the Femis summer school in 2004 where she made her first documentary. In 2005 she did a continuing education course in script writing, also at the Femis. In 2006 she made “Moi, ma soeur et la chose”, a short film shown at many festivals. From 2006 to 2007 she worked for the Al Jazeera Documentary Channel at Qatar.

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KADHAFI, OUR BEST ENEMY

by Antoine VITKINE

95 minutes, 2011

Production : Illégitime Défense, Les Films du Cabestan, avec la participation de France Télévisions, Planète, TV5 Monde / France

At the very moment when the long reign of Muammar Gaddafi is being undermined, this new documentary by director Antoine Vitkine shows some of the different deals the West has done with the Libyan leader over the years, for realpolitik, oil or terrorism. How has this godfather of international terrorism, the world’s enemy number one in the 1980’s, become rehabilitated? How has one of the most brutal dictators, a pariah placed under UN embargo after the Lockerbie bombings and the destruction of UTA’s DC10, managed, ten years later, to rub shoulders with European and American heads of state in Tripoli, Paris or New York? Interviewing some of the most important players, such as Tony Blair and Condoleeza Rice, this film looks back at forty years of relationship between the West and Gaddafi. It shows how Gaddafi used the greatest powers, but also how they used their “best enemy”.

Born in 1977, Antoine VITKINE graduated in Political Science and International Relations at IEP (Paris). He also has a doctorate at the Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches Internationales. As a journalist he has made a series of interviews for INA “Mémoires de la Shoah” (2005-6). For television he has made “Mein Kampf, C’était Ecrit” (2008, 55 minutes), and “Les Esclaves Oubliés” (2008, 52 minutes) for Arte; for the French channel 13ème Rue Universal he has made “Tchernobyl, Un Mensonge à la Française” (2002, 26 minutes) and “Le Syndrome de Stockholm, Otages Sous Influence”(2005, 26 minutes).

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UNFINISHED ITALY

by Benoît FELICI

38 minutes, 2010

Production : Zelig – School for documentary / Italie

A journey to discover Italy’s modern ruins: pieces of unfinished architecture. Symbols of both a doubtful period and the future, these structures, fruit of well-known political corruption, have been given a second life thanks to the inventiveness of the Italians. When the unfinished become a source of creativity .

Benoît FELICI was born in 1986 in France. His Italian origins and his passion for documentary made him decide to study at ZeLIG, the school for documentary cinema in northern Italy. Since then he has worked for several production companies, including EyeSteelFilm (Canada) in 2009.

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PARADISE HOTEL

de Sophia TZAVELLA

54 minutes, 2010

Production : Agitpro / Bulgaria

Young Demir dreams of getting married. But there is not much room for dreams on the outskirts of the Bulgarian town where he lives with other Romany. 25 years ago the tower block he lives in had everything he needed: from the polishedwooden floor to the entry-phone, from the hot water to the light fightings, with benchesset round the apple trees. Someone called the place Paradise Hotel, and the name stuck.But as the years have gone by the wooden flooring has gone, water no longer flows fromthe taps and the lights don’t work.But each of the 1,500 inhabitants has their own plan of how to regain their paradise lost.The documentary is about integration, love, poverty, dreams – and a gypsy wedding.

Sophia TZAVELLA

is an author, director, journalist and script-writer. She has studiedjournalism, Greek linguistics, Balkan history as well as social sciences.For the past five years she has worked as a writer for Bulgarian national TV, and hasmade three documentaries.

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DIARIES

by May ODEH

53 minutes, 2010
Production : Lillehammer University College / NORVEGE

“Diaries” is about three women in Gaza confronted with two forms of restrictive control: the Israeli occupation and the religious authority which has the wrecked town almost totally within its grip. The three young women share their fears, their memories, their thoughts and their hopes for a better life.

May ODEH was born in Birzeit, Palestine, in 1981. She studied radio and television in Palestine before working for several Arab television channels, including Al Jazeera’s Children’s Channel. She made two short films during her studies, followed by her first full-length documentary “Diaries”. She has also worked on the production of several films, particularly “Laila’s Birthday”, “Salt of this Sea” and “Rico in the Night”. She is currently doing a Masters in film directing in Norway.

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JOKING A PART

by Vanessa ROUSSELOT

54 minutes, 2010

Production : éO Productions / France

Can laughter stand up to any tragedy? If yes, how? Very early on Vanessa Rousselot, ayoung French director, had the intuition that laughter has no frontiers. In 2005 she travelled across Palestine studying Palestinians’ sense of humour. Her method is simple: ask each new person you meet “Do you know a Palestinian joke?” The first answer unsettles: “Our whole situation is a joke”. Then tongues are loosened, humour rises to the surface, jokes abound…. The Palestinians’ favourite targets? The people of Hebron (like jokes about the Irish in Britain) and of course the Israelis. “Joking Apart” is a moving take on the forces of survival at the heart of a conflict. We discover a people’s humour, but also their infinite tenderness.

Vanessa ROUSSELOT, studied the languages and history of the Arab world then spent a year on the West Bank continuing her studies in Arabic. She is co-author and actor in a comic double-act “Duo des pâquerettes”, and has made current affairs films for television. “Joking Apart” is her first film.

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MY SWEET CANARY

by Roy SHER

90 minutes, 2011

Production : Sher Film and Music Productions, IBA, ARTE, ERT, TAU / Israël

In Greece and Turkey Roza Eskenazi is the most famous singer of the 1930’s, the “diva” of Rebetiko music. Following three young musicians from Greece, Turkey and Israel, the film tells the story of her life, of a world which no longer exists. Brought together by their love of her music, today’s musicians go in search of Eskenazi’s heirs and her musical, multicultural heritage.

Roy SHER is a producer and director of documentaries and dramas. Born in 1977 in Haifa (Israel) he studied film and television at the University of Tel Aviv. Back at Haifa he produced and directed the short drama “Mazal” (2008, 18′) which has received 5 awards and been shown in more than 40 international festivals. Roy Sher is a member of the Israeli Union of Directors and the Forum of Israeli Documentary Directors. “My Sweet Canary” is his first full-length film.

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MOUSS ET HAKIM, CONTROLLED ORIGINS

by Samia CHALA

52 minutes, 2011

Production : Alif Productions / France

Who could have imagined that people in French towns and in the deepest countryside, from the Vendée to Alsace, would boogie to the old Algerian songs of the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s, re-modelled by two singers from the group Zebda? This film is partly about the rapport between Mouss and Hakim and their public, but by building the film around the two singers’ father, Si Mohand Salah, it is also about handing culture down from one generation to the next. What do we do with the cultural heritage of our parents? How do we live with it? Mouss and Hakim succeed where many politicians and intellectuals have failed: they make the immigrant culture of their parents not only known but loved – in Arabic, in Kabyle and in French. With “Monitored Origins”, Algerian immigration is no longer a political issue or a social problem, but a human story – and a rejoicing.

Samia CHALA was born in Algiers in 1964. Having studied as an engineer, she left Algeria in the middle of the civil war and arrived in France in 1994. Starting as a production assistant, then journalist and assistant director on many documentaries, she has been making her own films for the past seven years, amongst which “Bled-musique à l’Usine” (2006, 52′), “Chahinaz – Quels droits pour les Femmes ?” (2007, 52′), and “Lamine la Fuite” (2009, 90′). Her documentaries are about Algeria, women, exile and, more generally, the waves of migration moving from south to north.

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FORTUNY AND THE WONDERFUL LAMP

by Claudio ZULIAN

8 minutes, 2010

Production : Acteon / Espagne

“Fortuny and the wonderful lamp” is a documentary about the way culture passes from the East to the West, as exemplified in this curious story of the creations of Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo (1871-1949), a Spanish fashion-designer and textile creator who was also a painter, photographer, architect, sculptor, engraver and stage-designer.

Claudio ZULIAN is a young director becoming known for his work in film, literature and music. Among his latest films “Fortuny and the Wonderful Lamp”, produced by Spanish televison (TVE) and “It Won’t Be The Same”, a drama set in the future with teenagers as the main characters.