Aïcha (Salha Nasraoui) and her husband Brahim (Mohamed Hassine Grayaa) live on a farm in northern Tunisia. It’s a modern rural environment of goats, trucks, home cooking and tight-knit families. In Meryam Joobeur’s feature-length debut “Who Do I Belong To,” an early sequence of Aïcha shaving Brahim’s face — an act of intimacy and trust — introduces a key part of the director’s aesthetic strategy: Dp Vincent Gonneville’s frequent use of extreme close-ups on the actors’ faces. At times, the camera hovers so close that they almost stop looking like faces at all; there’s a landscape quality to facial features observed from this kind of intense proximity. In the shaving scene, Grayaa’s cheeks, lathered with shaving foam, call to mind mountains buried under drifts of snow.
You might expect from this introduction that Brahim, this monumental patriarch, will play a bigger part in the subsequently unfolding events,...
You might expect from this introduction that Brahim, this monumental patriarch, will play a bigger part in the subsequently unfolding events,...
- 2/22/2024
- by Catherine Bray
- Variety Film + TV
Meryam Joobeur’s Who Do I Belong To (Mé el Aïn) offers a timely perspective on war in the Middle East as her Arabic language Isis drama about a family in turmoil premieres in competition at the 2024 Berlin Film Festival.
The Canadian-Tunisian director deftly threads the themes of conflict, family and identity in a fantastical drama that centers on Aicha, a Tunisian mother played by Salha Nasraoui and greatly relieved to see her eldest son Mehdi (Malek Mechergui) unexpectedly return from fighting for the Islamic State in Syria.
But Aicha must deal with her husband Brahim (Mohamed Hassine Grayaa) feeling anger over their son’s betrayal for leaving their rural farm in Tunisia to embrace a violent war and return without his brother Amine and with a mysterious pregnant wife at his side. Soon, the presence of Mehdi and his niqab-clad wife casts a dark shadow that threatens to consume a tiny Tunisian village.
The Canadian-Tunisian director deftly threads the themes of conflict, family and identity in a fantastical drama that centers on Aicha, a Tunisian mother played by Salha Nasraoui and greatly relieved to see her eldest son Mehdi (Malek Mechergui) unexpectedly return from fighting for the Islamic State in Syria.
But Aicha must deal with her husband Brahim (Mohamed Hassine Grayaa) feeling anger over their son’s betrayal for leaving their rural farm in Tunisia to embrace a violent war and return without his brother Amine and with a mysterious pregnant wife at his side. Soon, the presence of Mehdi and his niqab-clad wife casts a dark shadow that threatens to consume a tiny Tunisian village.
- 2/15/2024
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Berlin Film Festival on Monday unveiled the titles selected for its official competition and its sidebar Encounters competitive section.
A total of 20 films have been selected for the international competition, with highlights including La Cocina, directed by Alonso Ruiz Palacios and starring Rooney Mara. The pic is described as a “kinetic and cinematic love story” set over a single day in a Times Square kitchen. French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop returns with Dahomey, a 60-minute doc about art repatriation and Hong Sangsoo plays in competition with A Traveler’s Needs, starring Isabelle Huppert. Scroll down for the full lineup.
The Berlin Film Festival takes place February 15-25.
Organizers have already announced more than 100 titles across sidebars spanning Panorama, Forum, and Berlinale Special. Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger, a feature documentary about influential British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger narrated by Killers of the Flower Moon...
A total of 20 films have been selected for the international competition, with highlights including La Cocina, directed by Alonso Ruiz Palacios and starring Rooney Mara. The pic is described as a “kinetic and cinematic love story” set over a single day in a Times Square kitchen. French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop returns with Dahomey, a 60-minute doc about art repatriation and Hong Sangsoo plays in competition with A Traveler’s Needs, starring Isabelle Huppert. Scroll down for the full lineup.
The Berlin Film Festival takes place February 15-25.
Organizers have already announced more than 100 titles across sidebars spanning Panorama, Forum, and Berlinale Special. Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger, a feature documentary about influential British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger narrated by Killers of the Flower Moon...
- 1/22/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
“The Man Who Sold His Skin” and “Coda” stood out among films which picked up awards at the closing ceremony of the 49th Norwegian International Film Festival Haugesund.
For the festival’s grand reopening to the international market, after a restricted 2020 edition due to the Covid-19 pandemic, attendance surpassed pre-pandemic levels with an all-time-high number of industry accreditations for the event which ran Aug. 21-27.
The strong selection of films at this year’s on-site festival and in the virtual confab New Nordic Films was undoubtedly one reason for this strong attendance, as major films shone at the closing ceremony where six awards were doled out.
“The Man Who Sold His Skin,” the Oscar-nominated film from Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, won the ecumenical film prize and the Andreas Award, a collaboration between The Norwegian Film Festival, Film&Kino and the newspaper Vårt Land. The film is a satire of...
For the festival’s grand reopening to the international market, after a restricted 2020 edition due to the Covid-19 pandemic, attendance surpassed pre-pandemic levels with an all-time-high number of industry accreditations for the event which ran Aug. 21-27.
The strong selection of films at this year’s on-site festival and in the virtual confab New Nordic Films was undoubtedly one reason for this strong attendance, as major films shone at the closing ceremony where six awards were doled out.
“The Man Who Sold His Skin,” the Oscar-nominated film from Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, won the ecumenical film prize and the Andreas Award, a collaboration between The Norwegian Film Festival, Film&Kino and the newspaper Vårt Land. The film is a satire of...
- 8/27/2021
- by Alexander Durie
- Variety Film + TV
The Man Who Sold His Skin Trailer — Kaouther Ben Hania‘s The Man Who Sold His Skin (2020) U.S. and U.K. movie trailers have been released by Samuel Goldwyn Films and Studio Soho Distribution. The Man Who Sold His Skin trailer stars Yahya Mahayni, Dea Liane, Koen De Bouw, Monica Bellucci, Saad Lostan, [...]
Continue reading: The Man Who Sold His Skin (2020) Movie Trailer: An Artist Turns a Man’s Back into a Living Piece of Artwork...
Continue reading: The Man Who Sold His Skin (2020) Movie Trailer: An Artist Turns a Man’s Back into a Living Piece of Artwork...
- 7/25/2021
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
During the last years the world has become perhaps even more aware of the phenomenon of mass immigration, especially due to the still ongoing conflict in Syria. While the news of many people, desperate to find peace and the opportunity for a new life somewhere certainly touches us, it was perhaps the constant stream of images which have left a mark on our collective mind. The idea of people ripped from their homes, with nothing left other than the clothes on their bodies and a few other remains, has become a reminder of one of the most pressing conditions of our times, one which will probably only worsen due to the Covid-pandemic. The often cynical notion of the worth of human beings seems to define political debates, a discussion which hides the fates of people in favor of economic and social benefit. In many ways, Kaouther Ben Haria’s feature...
- 4/21/2021
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Certainly one of the most original and unusual movies to be nominated in any category at the Oscars this year is International Film contender The Man Who Sold His Skin from Tunisia. The film merges the world of Syrian refugees and the tony world of high art in a unique mix of drama, comedy, thriller and social issues.
Appearing on a panel for the Samuel Goldwyn Films pic at Deadline’s Contenders Film: The Nominees all-day virtual event, three of the actors and director-writer Kaouther Ben Hania talked about the ambitious film and how it came about.
“It was inspired by a work of a Belgian artist,” said its director. “She was in a museum and saw a man basically on exhibit. That was the starting point. I had the image of this man showing his back in my head, and then the idea came about of merging the story...
Appearing on a panel for the Samuel Goldwyn Films pic at Deadline’s Contenders Film: The Nominees all-day virtual event, three of the actors and director-writer Kaouther Ben Hania talked about the ambitious film and how it came about.
“It was inspired by a work of a Belgian artist,” said its director. “She was in a museum and saw a man basically on exhibit. That was the starting point. I had the image of this man showing his back in my head, and then the idea came about of merging the story...
- 4/10/2021
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
This very unusual eight-month movie-awards season is winding down as BAFTA and DGA virtual ceremonies take place this weekend and Oscar final voting is set to begin Thursday. What better time for Deadline’s first-ever Contenders Film: The Nominees to take place? The final countdown starts here beginning at 10 a.m. Pt with a total of 18 films from 11 studios featuring 45 nominated filmmakers and stars, all giving us the lowdown on the movies that are bringing them all to the end of a long journey that culminates on Hollywood’s biggest night of the year, April 25 (the latest date ever for an Academy Award show).
To watch the livestream of today’s event, click here.
In January, over the course of two weekends, we presented separate Contenders Film events for Documentary, International and then a big two-day look at all the movie hopefuls in this pandemic-affected year. Now, for the first time,...
To watch the livestream of today’s event, click here.
In January, over the course of two weekends, we presented separate Contenders Film events for Documentary, International and then a big two-day look at all the movie hopefuls in this pandemic-affected year. Now, for the first time,...
- 4/10/2021
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
“The Man Who Sold His Skin” represents a small handful of long-overdue firsts — it’s the first Tunisian film nominated for Best International Feature at the Oscars, thereby making director Kaouther Ben Hania the first Muslim woman who’s ever been invited to compete in this category — but for all of the project’s barrier-breaking success there’s also something naggingly familiar about the choice to honor it alongside heavyweights such as “Another Round” and “Collective.”
It’s not every year that voters are confronted with a glossy romantic melodrama that leverages the Syrian refugee crisis into the smirking kind of art world satire that Ruben Östlund made with “The Square,” and yet Ben Hania’s genre-defying film would seem even more unprecedented if not for the context provided by a smattering of recent Oscar winners and also-rans: “The Lives of Others,” Denis Vileneuve’s “Incendies,” and before that, cultural phenomena like “Life Is Beautiful.
It’s not every year that voters are confronted with a glossy romantic melodrama that leverages the Syrian refugee crisis into the smirking kind of art world satire that Ruben Östlund made with “The Square,” and yet Ben Hania’s genre-defying film would seem even more unprecedented if not for the context provided by a smattering of recent Oscar winners and also-rans: “The Lives of Others,” Denis Vileneuve’s “Incendies,” and before that, cultural phenomena like “Life Is Beautiful.
- 4/8/2021
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
A sterling final lineup of talent, filmmakers and stars will be participating in Deadline’s Contenders Film: The Nominees virtual event on Saturday. Among nominated actors appearing are Leslie Odom Jr., Riz Ahmed, Paul Raci, Sacha Baron Cohen, Maria Bakalova, Carey Mulligan, Andra Day, Amanda Seyfried, BAFTA nominee Mads Mikkelsen, as well as stars from International Film contender The Man Who Sold His Skin including Monica Bellucci, Yahya, Mahayni and Dea Liane.
Filmmakers include all five directors of the International Film nominees, Kemp Powers, Darius Marder, Garrett Bradley, Tomm Moore, Maite Alberdi, Alexander Nanau, Skye Fitzgerald, Aaron Sorkin, Emerald Fennell, Thomas Vinterberg and many other artisans poised to possibly receive the film industry’s highest honors.
A total of 18 Oscar-nominated films from 11 studios and distributors will be highlighted in Deadline’s first-ever nominees Contenders Film for the movie awards season. The all-day livestreamed event is Saturday beginning at 10 a.m.
Filmmakers include all five directors of the International Film nominees, Kemp Powers, Darius Marder, Garrett Bradley, Tomm Moore, Maite Alberdi, Alexander Nanau, Skye Fitzgerald, Aaron Sorkin, Emerald Fennell, Thomas Vinterberg and many other artisans poised to possibly receive the film industry’s highest honors.
A total of 18 Oscar-nominated films from 11 studios and distributors will be highlighted in Deadline’s first-ever nominees Contenders Film for the movie awards season. The all-day livestreamed event is Saturday beginning at 10 a.m.
- 4/6/2021
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Writer-director Emma Seligman brings her feature Shiva Baby to theaters and Tvod starting today — and it is quite a comedic ride.
Released by Utopia, Shiva Baby follows a young woman who is trying to keep the different versions of herself in order when she runs into her sugar daddy and her ex-girlfriend at a shiva with her parents.
Let’s elaborate on all of that.
Danielle (Rachel Sennott) is a college student on the verge of graduation. She has a sugar daddy Max (Danny Deferrari) that pays her on a regular basis. One day, after rushing from her sugar daddy to her neurotic parents’ family shiva, she is given the third degree by various estranged relatives about her appearance and lack of post-grad plans. Meanwhile, her ex-girlfriend, Maya (Molly Gordon) is getting all the praise because she got into law school.
Things take even more of a turn when her...
Released by Utopia, Shiva Baby follows a young woman who is trying to keep the different versions of herself in order when she runs into her sugar daddy and her ex-girlfriend at a shiva with her parents.
Let’s elaborate on all of that.
Danielle (Rachel Sennott) is a college student on the verge of graduation. She has a sugar daddy Max (Danny Deferrari) that pays her on a regular basis. One day, after rushing from her sugar daddy to her neurotic parents’ family shiva, she is given the third degree by various estranged relatives about her appearance and lack of post-grad plans. Meanwhile, her ex-girlfriend, Maya (Molly Gordon) is getting all the praise because she got into law school.
Things take even more of a turn when her...
- 4/2/2021
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
Kaouther Ben Hania: “It’s basically that the Faust legend is our daily bread.”
Kaouther Ben Hania’s gripping The Man Who Sold His Skin (Oscar-nominated for Best International Feature Film), shot by Christopher Aoun (Nadine Labaki’s Capernaum) with a score from Amin Bouhafa (Abderrahmane Sissako’s Timbuktu and Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh’s Gagarine with Evgueni Galperine and Sacha Galperine), stars Yahya Mahayni, Dea Liane, Koen De Bouw, and Monica Bellucci.
Connections to the auction scene with Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest, Kim Novak sitting in the museum in Vertigo, Jean-Pierre Léaud’s white lie in François Truffaut's The 400 Blows, Faust, peacocks, and the “long journey in preparation” for writer/director Kaouther Ben Hania, all came up in the first part of our in-depth conversation on Tunisia’s Oscar submission The Man Who Sold His Skin.
Kaouther Ben Hania on...
Kaouther Ben Hania’s gripping The Man Who Sold His Skin (Oscar-nominated for Best International Feature Film), shot by Christopher Aoun (Nadine Labaki’s Capernaum) with a score from Amin Bouhafa (Abderrahmane Sissako’s Timbuktu and Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh’s Gagarine with Evgueni Galperine and Sacha Galperine), stars Yahya Mahayni, Dea Liane, Koen De Bouw, and Monica Bellucci.
Connections to the auction scene with Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest, Kim Novak sitting in the museum in Vertigo, Jean-Pierre Léaud’s white lie in François Truffaut's The 400 Blows, Faust, peacocks, and the “long journey in preparation” for writer/director Kaouther Ben Hania, all came up in the first part of our in-depth conversation on Tunisia’s Oscar submission The Man Who Sold His Skin.
Kaouther Ben Hania on...
- 3/31/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Jayro Bustamante on La Llorona, co-written with Lisandro Sanchez: “I wanted to give women that honor to be in the center of looking for justice in the film.”
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Monday, March 15, the nominations for the 93rd Oscars. Best International Feature Film nominees are from Denmark, Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round; From Hong Kong, Derek Tsang’s Better Days; From Romania, Alexander Nanau’s Collective; from Tunisia, Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Man Who Sold His Skin, and from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jasmila Žbanic’s Quo Vadis, Aida?.
Jayro Bustamante: “I can understand victims. And I can feel empathy with them.”
The Oscar-shortlisted film from Chile, Maite Alberdi’s The Mole Agent snared a Best Documentary nomination. From Norway, Maria Sødahl’s Hope...
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Monday, March 15, the nominations for the 93rd Oscars. Best International Feature Film nominees are from Denmark, Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round; From Hong Kong, Derek Tsang’s Better Days; From Romania, Alexander Nanau’s Collective; from Tunisia, Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Man Who Sold His Skin, and from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jasmila Žbanic’s Quo Vadis, Aida?.
Jayro Bustamante: “I can understand victims. And I can feel empathy with them.”
The Oscar-shortlisted film from Chile, Maite Alberdi’s The Mole Agent snared a Best Documentary nomination. From Norway, Maria Sødahl’s Hope...
- 3/17/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The Man Who Sold His Skin (L’homme qui vendu sa peau) Samuel Goldwyn Films Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net linked from Rotten Tomatoes by: Harvey Karten Director: Kaouther Ben Hania Writer: Kaouther Ben Hania Cast: Yahya Mahayni, Dea Liane, Koen De Bouw, Monica Bellucci, Saad Lostan, Darina Al Joundi, Jan Dahdouh, Christian Vadim Screened at: […]
The post The Man Who Sold His Skin Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post The Man Who Sold His Skin Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 3/11/2021
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
The doings of the international art world often seem arcane and over the top, but never moreso than as depicted in The Man Who Sold His Skin. This is a madly dramatic and engrossing melodrama about a political refugee whose unique predicament bundles with it issues pertaining to personal and political identity, the Middle East quagmire, romantic rejection and the outer limits of art world presumption and extravagance. Tunisia’s shortlisted submission in the International Feature Oscar race is a very tasty couscous of fine ingredients and flat-out entertaining enough to warrant significant international exposure.
Tunisian director-screenwriter Kaouther Ben Hania’s follow-up to her 2017 Cannes Un Certain Regard selection Beauty And The Dogs is notable for its gutsy narrative moves, rich visuals and sheer drive, which marks her, along with her notably resourceful and elegant Lebanese cinematographer Christopher Aoun, as talents who should emerge even more decisively before long.
The...
Tunisian director-screenwriter Kaouther Ben Hania’s follow-up to her 2017 Cannes Un Certain Regard selection Beauty And The Dogs is notable for its gutsy narrative moves, rich visuals and sheer drive, which marks her, along with her notably resourceful and elegant Lebanese cinematographer Christopher Aoun, as talents who should emerge even more decisively before long.
The...
- 3/8/2021
- by Todd McCarthy
- Deadline Film + TV
Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars from Film Awards Editor Clayton Davis. Following Academy Awards history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar predictions are updated regularly with the current year's contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four phases, running all year long: Draft, Pre-Season, Regular Season and Post Season. Eligibility calendar and dates of awards will determine how long each phase lasts and will be displayed next to revision date.
To see all the latest predictions, of all the categories, in one place, visit The Collective
Draft>>>Pre Season>>>Regular Season>>>Post Season
2021 Oscars Predictions:
Best International Feature
Updated: Mar. 4, 2021
Awards Prediction Commentary: Denmark has dominated the season with “Another Round,” even presenting itself as a film that can show up in other categories like best actor (Mads Mikkelsen). While “Honeyland” made history last year when it...
To see all the latest predictions, of all the categories, in one place, visit The Collective
Draft>>>Pre Season>>>Regular Season>>>Post Season
2021 Oscars Predictions:
Best International Feature
Updated: Mar. 4, 2021
Awards Prediction Commentary: Denmark has dominated the season with “Another Round,” even presenting itself as a film that can show up in other categories like best actor (Mads Mikkelsen). While “Honeyland” made history last year when it...
- 3/4/2021
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired the U.S. distribution rights for Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Man Who Sold His Skin, Tunisia’s short-listed entry for Best International Film for the 93rd Academy Awards.
Written and directed by Hania, the film stars Yahya Mahyni, Dea Liane, Koen De Bouw and Monica Bellucci. The Man Who Sold His Skin tells the story of Sam Ali, a young sensitive and impulsive Syrian, who left his country for Lebanon to escape the war. To be able to travel to Europe and live with the love of his life, he accepts to have his back tattooed by one of by the World’s most sulfurous contemporary artist. Turning his own body into a prestigious piece of art, Sam will however come to realize that his decision might actually mean anything but freedom.
“The Man Who Sold His Skin is a powerful film that draws...
Written and directed by Hania, the film stars Yahya Mahyni, Dea Liane, Koen De Bouw and Monica Bellucci. The Man Who Sold His Skin tells the story of Sam Ali, a young sensitive and impulsive Syrian, who left his country for Lebanon to escape the war. To be able to travel to Europe and live with the love of his life, he accepts to have his back tattooed by one of by the World’s most sulfurous contemporary artist. Turning his own body into a prestigious piece of art, Sam will however come to realize that his decision might actually mean anything but freedom.
“The Man Who Sold His Skin is a powerful film that draws...
- 2/18/2021
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
Samuel Goldwyn Films has picked up the U.S. rights for “The Man Who Sold His Skin,” Tunisia’s short-listed entry for the international feature film Oscar. The film is represented in international markets by Paris-based Bac Films.
“The Man Who Sold His Skin” stars Yahya Mahayni as Sam, a Syrian man who decides to have a large Schengen visa, the document he desperately needs to enter Europe, tattooed on his back by a famous artist, thus becoming a human artwork to be exhibited in a Brussels museum. Turning his own body into a prestigious piece of art, Sam will come to realize that his decision might actually mean anything but freedom.
The film world premiered at Venice, where it won the best actor award for Mahayni, and went on to have its Middle East premiere at Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival, where it scooped the best Arab film award.
“The Man Who Sold His Skin” stars Yahya Mahayni as Sam, a Syrian man who decides to have a large Schengen visa, the document he desperately needs to enter Europe, tattooed on his back by a famous artist, thus becoming a human artwork to be exhibited in a Brussels museum. Turning his own body into a prestigious piece of art, Sam will come to realize that his decision might actually mean anything but freedom.
The film world premiered at Venice, where it won the best actor award for Mahayni, and went on to have its Middle East premiere at Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival, where it scooped the best Arab film award.
- 2/17/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Now shortlisted in the international feature category, Tunisia’s ambitious entry “The Man Who Sold His Skin” from female writer-director Kaouther Ben Hania (“Beauty and the Dogs”) offers a provocative contemporary take on a Faustian bargain. An audacious but not always palatable mix of drama, tragedy, romance, satire and dark humor, the plot centers on Sam (newcomer Yahya Mahayni), a displaced Syrian with a chip on his shoulder who allows a cryptic art-world guru to use his back as a canvas. Paradoxically, it becomes easier for him to travel to Europe as an artwork than as a refugee. But what he thought of as freedom turns out to be anything but.
Lest anyone think the central idea is farfetched, helmer Ben Hania was inspired by the Belgian artist Wim Delvoye (seen here in a cameo role), who tattooed and signed the back of a man called Tim. The piece was...
Lest anyone think the central idea is farfetched, helmer Ben Hania was inspired by the Belgian artist Wim Delvoye (seen here in a cameo role), who tattooed and signed the back of a man called Tim. The piece was...
- 2/11/2021
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
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