OPEN AIR CINEMA: „WWW – What a Wonderful World” (Original with German Subtitles) by Faouzi Bensaïdi (Morocco), Thursday, 2.8.2012 at 9:15 p.m. at Freiluftkino Hasenheide

On Thursday, 2 August 2012 at 9:15 p.m. AfricAvenir in cooperation with Planète Métis is screening the Nouvelle Vague Maroccan Cult Movie „WWW – What a Wonderful World“ by Faouzi Bensaïdi at Freiluftkino Hasenheide in Berlin-Neukölln. Steeped in political symbolism, it tells the story of a hired killer, who falls in love with a policewoman. „WWW – What a Wonderful World“ is a thouroughly modern film, burlesque in its acting, skewed in its image composition, comic and bold. With Nezha Rahil and Faouzi Bensaïdi, a phantastic couple. Günter H. Jekubzik of Programmkino writes: „Cinema at its best, fancyful and poetic, told with original images, modern, cheeky, fresh and comic. The film by Maroccan Faouzi Bensaïdi is a unique newcomer in World Cinema", and Le Nouvel Observateur: „The cinema of poet and visionary“.

Synopsis
Set in Casablanca, What a Wonderful World plays on the anonymity and connections of life in the metropolis. This suspenseful, comedic and romantic thriller opens in the dimly lit, aquamarine tunnels of a public bathroom, as hired killer Kamel takes out his next anonymous victim. Then the camera moves outside to the bright atmosphere of a dusty back alley, where traffic cop Kenza rents her cell phone by the minute to anonymous callers and her best friend-and Kamel’s lover-Souad. The rich vision and intentional contrasts of the opening set the tone for a meticulously crafted movie in which lives intersect in both calculated and unexpected ways. n

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Pressestimmen
„Breathless in Casablanca.“ Walter Ruggle, Trigon

„The cinema of a poet and visionary.“ Le Nouvel Observateur

„Between surreal thriller and meladrama – a beautiful moroccan film about a world in flux.“ Les Inrockuptibles

„With political and cinematic artfulness, the 40 years old moroccan Faouzi Bensaïdi mixes genres and forms. And stages himself as melancholic and amorous killer.“ Thomas Allenbach, Der Bund

„With www Bensaïdi executes a postmodern revolution. [The fil is] an Opus, a film that needs not be understood, but felt, heard and perceived in the global world of communications.“ Mohammed Bakrim, Africiné

„Bensaïdi denaturalises cinema, recycles Almodovar, Jarmush (Down by Law), Murnau (Nosferatu), Tati (Playtime), Fellini (Amarcord) or Arthur Penn (Bonnie and Clyde), and of course Orson Welles, his idol, but also the Music Hall and the Comédie Musicale, the animated film, the thriller, Bollywood, the silent picture, the burlesque and certainly many more that I have missed. In short, he enjoys himself.“ Olivier Barlet, Africultures

„A mix between comedy, gangster movie and romance: The second work of the Moroccan Faouzi Bensaïdi is characterised by a great visual playfulness.“ Julia Marx, Tages-Anzeiger

„In a wonderfully fantastic chaos of genre, people full of hope and longing on the run from disappointments of the social hardship or from personal loneliness meet in a city that is as much chaotic as it is contradictory on its way to modernism.“ Didier Plaschy, Nahaufnahme

„On a big screen, Bensaïdi mixes the repetitions, the signs and effects while joyfully choreographing the energy flows of the city and of the hearts. This formalistic fireworks does not lack beauty, but it is much more: through the art of estrangement and the provocation of its aesthetics, the movies is a wonderful draft of the “Cinema of the South” in the big debate of globalisation.“ Olivier Barlet, Africulture

WWW – What a Wonderful World
R: Faouzi Bensaidi
Morocco, 99 min., Arabic, French with German subtitles
Actors: Faouzi Bensaïdi (Kamel), Nezha Rahil (Kenza), Fatima Attif (Souad), Hajar Masdouki (Fatima), El Mehdi Elaaroubi (Hitcham), Mohammed Bastaoui (father)

Festivals and awards (selection)n

•  2009: MedFilm Festival, Rome, Italy, www.medfilmfestival.org; Showcase Morocco (Nuovo Cinema Marocchino / Elogio all’erranza)
• 2007: CinemaEast Film Festival, New York, www.washingtonmoroccanclub.org/cinemaeastfestival.html 
• 2007: Istanbul International Film Festival, 2007 
• 2007: French Film Festival, Athens, 2007 
• 2007: International Film Festival Rotterdam, 2007 
• 2006: Venice Days (Giornate degli Autori), 2006 
• 2006: Dubai International Film Festival, 2006 
• 2006: The Times BFI, London Film Festival, 2006 
• 2006: Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur, Belgien

n
Director: Faouzi Bensaïdi
Faouzi Bensaïdi was born in Meknès in 1967. After his acting studies at the Theatre Institute of Rabat he got parts in numerous theatre plays. He continued his education at the Conservatoire National Supérieur d’Art Dramatique in Paris and staged several plays himself. In 1997, he presented his first short movie „La falaise“. In 1999, Bensaïdi worked as co-author on the script of André Téchinés’s „Film Loin“, in which he also acted. In 2000,  he shot the short movies „Le mur“, which received an award in Cannes and „Trajets“, which was awarded in Venice. As an actor Faouzi Bensaïdi played in the reflective road movie „Le cheval de vent“ of his fellow countryman Daoud Aoulad Syad. „Mille mois“ (2003), his first feature-length movie won an award in Cannes in 2003. In 2006, his second long movie, WWW.What a Wonderful World, was chosen for the Venice Days of the Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinemato grafica in Venice.

Filmography n

• 1998 La Falaise (The Cliff),
• 2000 Le Mur (The Wall), short movie
• Trajets (The Rain Line), short movie
• 2003 Mille Mois (A Thousand Months)
• 2006 WWW.What a Wonderful World
• 2011 Death for Sale

nThursday, 2. August 2012, 9:15 p.m.
Freiluftkino Hasenheide
Inside Volkspark Hasenheide, 12049 Berlin-Neuköln
Entrance: Hasenheide oder Karlsgartenstr.
U-Bahn: U7 Hermannplatz/U8 Boddinstr.nEntrance Fee: 6,50 €
Children 4,00 Euro; 10-Tickets subscription 50,00 Euro
Kartenreservierung und Infotelefon: 030-283 46 03