Man Who Sold His Skin, The

homme qui a vendu sa peau, L’

DIRECTED BY: Kaouther Ben Hania COUNTRY: France, Tunisia, Belgium, Sweden, Germany YEAR: 2020 SPOKEN LANGUAGE(S): Arabic, English SUBTITLES: German RUNNING TIME: 104 min

SECTION: Previews at Cinecitta

SCREENINGS

SYNOPSIS
Sam Ali, a young sensitive and impulsive Syrian, 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.

BIOGRAPHY
Tunisian director and writer Kaouther Ben Hania studied cinema in Tunisia and then in Paris (Femis and la Sorbonne). She directed her first short film La Brèche in 2004 followed by Me, my Sister and the Thing in 2006, Wooden Hand in 2013 and Sheikh’s Watermelons in 2018. In 2014, she directed her first feature film The Blade of Tunis followed two years later by her documentary Zaineb Hates the Snow. She directed many award winning films among them Beauty and the Dogs which has been selected at the Festival de Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2017. Her last movie The Man Who Sold His Skin, selected in Venice Mostra 2020 official selection Orizzonti competition, where it received the award of best actor, has been nominated for the Oscar of Best International Feature at the Academy Awards 2021.

FILMOGRAPHY
Moi, Ma soeur et la chose (2006), Les Imams vont à l’école (2010), Peau de colle (2013), Le challat de Tunis (2014), Zineb n’aime pas la neige (2016), Le Belle et la Meute (2017), The Man who sold his Skin (2020)

SCRIPT: Kaouther Ben Hania PRODUCER: Nadim Cheikhrouha, Habib Attia, Thanassis Karathanos, Martin Hampel, Annabella Nezri, Andreas Rocksen CINEMATOGRAPHY: Christopher Aoun EDITOR: Marie-Hélène Dozo SCORE: Amine Bouhafa CAST: Yahya Mahayni, Dea Liane, Monica Bellucci

PRODUCTION COMPANY: Tanit Films WORLD SALES: BAC Films (contact@bacfilms.fr)