Cinema Releases - Fatima
Winner of Best Film at this year's French César awards.
Fatima lives on her own with two daughters to support: fifteen-year old Souad, a rebellious teenager, and eighteen-year old Nesrine, who is about to start medical school.
Fatima hasn’t quite mastered French and this, in turn, becomes a source of frustration in her daily interactions with her daughters. Both are her pride and joy, what drives her, and a constant source of worry. To ensure the best possible future for them, she works odd hours as a cleaning woman, until one day, she falls down the stairs.
While on sick leave, Fatima begins to write everything that she has not been able to express to her daughters in French in her native Arabic.
Official Selection, Directors' Fortnight, Cannes Film Festival
Best Film, French Césars 2016
Best Young Actress, French Césars 2016
Best Adapted Screenplay, French Césars 2016
Prix Louis Delluc
After completing his studies in French Literature at the University of Aix-Marseille, he began to work as an assistant director for Jacques Demy (Trois places pour le 26), Leos Carax (Mauvais sang) and René Allio (Un médecin des Lumières).
In 1984 he directed his first short film, titled La Jeunesse. After a couple of short films and documentaries for television, his encounter with the maverick French producer Humbert Balsan led to the production of his first feature-length fiction film, L’Amour (1989, Perspectives du Cinéma award at Cannes). Humbert Balsan went on to produce his next five films. In 2005, he founded Istiqlal Films with Yasmina Nini-Faucon.
Working for both cinema and television and often with non-professional actors, Philippe Faucon’s film credits as a writer–director include: Sabine (TV, 1992), Mes dix-sept ans (tv, 1996), Muriel fait le désespoir de ses parents (1997), Les Étrangers (1999), Samia (2000), Grégoire peut mieux faire (TV, 2001), La Trahison (2005) and the accliamed Dans la vie (2007). He has also directed a number of TV series episodes.
In 2015, his film Fatima was screened in the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. Fatima was awarded the Louis Delluc Prize for Best Film, the César Award for Best Film and for Best Adaptation, as well as the César for most promising actress for Zita Hanrot.
Although little known in the UK, Philippe Faucon’s films and TV series have won critical and public acclaim in France for their engagement in the world we live in and their poetic and subtle approach to the stories, subject matters. The release of Fatima in the UK and Ireland will hopefully help to bridge this gap.
1989 L’Amour
1992 Sabine
1995 Muriel fait le désespoir de ses parents
1996 L’amour est à réinventer (TV series, one episode: ‘Tout n’est pas en noir’)
1996 Mes dix-sept ans (Being Seventeen) (TV)
1999 Samia
1998 Les Étrangers (Strangers) (TV)
2002 Grégoir peut mieux faire (TV)
2004 La Trahison (The Betrayal)
2007 Dans la vie
2008 D’Amour et de révoltes (TV series, four episodes: ‘L’Enfant de l’utopie’, ‘De Woodstock aux désillusions’, ‘Road to San Francisco’, ‘La Fin des sixties’)
2010 La Désintégration (The Disintegration)
2015 Fatima
CAST |
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Fatima |
SORIA ZEROUAL |
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Nesrine |
ZITA HANROT |
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Souad |
KENZA NOAH AÏCHE |
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The Father |
CHAWKI AMARI |
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CREDITS |
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Script, adaptation and dialogue |
PHILIPPE FAUCON |
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Script and dialogue consultants |
AZIZA BOUDJELLAL, |
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YASMINA NINI-FAUCON, MUSTAPHA KHARMOUDI |
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Inspired by Fatima Elayoubi’s books: |
Prière à la lune and Enfin, je peux marcher seule |
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published by Bachari |
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Photography |
LAURENT FÉNART |
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Sound |
THIERRY MORLAAS-LURBE |
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Costumes |
NEZHA RAHIL |
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Editing |
SOPHIE MANDONNET |
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Original music |
ROBERT-MARCEL LEPAGE |
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Producers (France) |
YASMINA NINI-FAUCON, PHILIPPE FAUCON |
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(ISTIQLAL FILMS) |
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Producers (Canada) |
SERGE NOËL (POSSIBLES MÉDIA) |
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Executive producer |
NADIM CHEIKHROUHA (TANIT FILMS) |
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A France-Canada coproduction |
ISTIQLAL FILMS - POSSIBLES MÉDIA - ARTE FRANCE CINÉMA - RHÔNE-ALPES CINÉMA |
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With the participation of |
PYRAMIDE PRODUCTIONS |
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CENTRE NATIONAL DU CINÉMA ET DE L’IMAGE ANIMÉE |
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And the support of |
FONDS IMAGES DE LA DIVERSITÉ |
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With the participation of |
LA RÉGION RHÔNE-ALPES ET DU CENTRE NATIONAL DU CINÉMA, and the support of LA RÉGION PROVENCE-ALPES-CÔTE D’AZUR in partnership with the CNC |
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With the support of |
L’AGENCE NATIONALE POUR LA COHÉSION SOCIALE ET L’ÉGALITÉ DES CHANCES - ACSÉ – |
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COMMISSION IMAGES DE LA DIVERSITÉ |
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LA PROCIREP - SOCIÉTÉ DES PRODUCTEURS |
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With the financial participation of |
LA SODEC TÉLÉFILM CANADA |
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With the participation of |
CRÉDIT D’IMPÔT POUR LE CINÉMA ET LA TÉLÉVISION (QUÉBEC) CRÉDIT D’IMPÔT POUR PRODUCTION CINÉMATOGRAPHIQUE OU MAGNÉTOSCOPIE CANADIENNE (CANADA) |
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And the participation of |
FILMOPTION INTERNATIONAL |
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2015 - France - 1h19 - 1.85 - Dolby 5.1 |
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Stephen Holden, The New York Times
'...A nuanced, sensitive study of immigrants ultimately finding their place in France’s accepting society.'
Steve Rose, The Guardian
'Vibrant'
Isabelle Régnier, Le Monde
'...A film that brings clarity and even a sense of exhilaration to the struggle of mother and daughters to succeed on their own terms and for one another.'
Amy Taubin, Sight and Sound
'This poignant slice-of-life dramedy proves as modest in length (78 minutes) as it is generous in rueful insight and emotional complexity...'
Justin Chang, Variety
'Fatima adds another trim chapter to Faucon’s catalog of social dramas with its affecting, highly focused story of a hard-working first-generation Moroccan mother, Fatima, and her two teenage daughters in Lyon.'
Nicolas Rapold, Film Comment
Watch an interview with Philippe Faucon an Zita Hanro held during the Cannes Film Festival (in French)
Read a portrait of the actress Zita Hanrot who was awarded the Cesar for best young actress for her role in Fatima (in French)