SOULA
Saturday, October 15 – Truffaut Theatre – 11:00 am
(Screening ends at 1:00 pm)
+ Short Film Presentation: YA BENTI
Followed by a conversation with writer/director Salah Issaad
FICTION / DRAMA
WORLD CINEMA CO-PRODUCED BY FRANCE
Presented in Association with:
Mad Solutions
North American Premiere | France, Algeria | 2022 | Drama | 92 min | In Arabic & French with English subtitles
Directed by: Salah Issaad
Written by: Salah Issaad, Soula Bahri
Produced by: Salah Issaad, Abdelghafour Issaad & Taqiyeddine Issaad
(Issaad Film Productions), Franck Sottiaux
Cinematography: Arthur Fanget
Film Editing: Salah Issaad
Original Score: Nicolas Montaigne
Cast: Soula Bahri (Soula), Idir Benaibouche (Amine), Franck Yvrai (Sofiane), Amina Belabed (Amel), Ali Bentayeb (Rahim), Djillali Boudjemaâ (Amar Indouchine), Abdenacer Arab (Yahya)
International Sales: MAD Solutions
Actress Soula Bahri reenacts her own real-life experiences in Soula, the tragic story of an unwed mother in eastern Algeria, at the mercy of the few kind souls willing to assist a “disgraced” woman. Fleeing the murderous threats of an enraged father, Soula finds herself on the street with her baby girl, with nowhere to sleep and nowhere to go. Trapped within the confines of a misogynous culture and simply trying to make it through the night, Soula sets off on a somewhat desperate road trip, only to find herself a pawn in a system where men hold all the power and aren’t afraid to wield it with the utmost cruelty. Salah Issaad‘s debut feature is an up-close-and-personal portrait of a defenseless young woman and mother in a 100% man’s world.
Born in 1989 in Arris, Algeria, to an Algerian mother and a Tunisian father, Salah Issaad was raised in a family of publishers. After enrolling in the Batna law school in Algeria, he emigrated to France, where he majored in film studies at the University of Paris VIII, then at the ARFIS audiovisual school in Lyon, and finally at the Factory school in Villeurbanne, graduating with a degree in film directing. Issaad has directed several short films, exploring various narrative forms and genres. They include Dîner sous les étoiles (2017), Cendrillon de Damas (2018), Zizou sur Mars (2018), and I’m Cyrano (2020), which he co-directed with Reda Seddiki. Soula premiered at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Saudi Arabia last December. It has won several prizes including Best Feature Fiction award at the Beirut International Women Film Festival as well as Best Film and Best Actress at the Malmo Arab Film Festival in Sweden, before its North American Premiere at THE AMERICAN FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL.
