Kindil el Bahr

DIRECTOR: Damien Ounouri   COUNTRIES: Algeria, Kuwait, USA   YEAR: 2016   LANGUAGE(S): Arabic, Aleutic   SUBTITLES: English   RUNNING TIME: 40 min  

SECTION: International Forum 2017

SCREENINGS
Thursday, 28.09., 9.00 p.m., kinoeins, Q&A with Damien Ounouri
Saturday, 30.09., 10.15 p.m., kommkino

SYNOPSIS

Feminist fantasy films are thin on the ground. This angry feature from Algeria is, therefore, all the more surprising. Its exploration of legendary female monsters and violence against women could appeal to fantasy fans and feminists alike. Nfissa is a young mother. One day, she goes to the beach without her husband. She goes into the water alone to cool down. She is harassed and eventually murdered by a group of unknown men. Nobody seems to notice anything. The husband is grief-stricken but the police imply Nfissa was somehow culpable. Suddenly, there are mysterious deaths in the sea. Kindil El Bahr, the deadly jellyfish woman, seems to have returned to a wage revenge on Nfissa’s murderers… 

DAMIEN OUNOURI
Damien Ounouri is a Franco-Algerian director based in Algiers. He studied film at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University, while developing his cinema practice in an autodidact way. His graduate film project on Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhang-Ke, Xiao Jia Going Home, was selected for several international film festivals. His first feature film, documentary Fidaï was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, before travelling the world and receiving several awards. In 2013 Fidaï was selected for the International Competition in Nuremberg. Damien Ounouri is also a tutor, conducting cinema workshops. He is also one of the artists contributing a trailer to NIHRFF 10.

FILMOGRAPHY
Xiao Jia Going Home (2008), Fidaï (2012), Kindil el Bahr (2016)

SCRIPT: Adila Bendimerad, Damien Ounouri   PRODUCERS: El Hadi Bouabdallah, Talal Al-Muhanna, Amin Bengana, Karim Bengana, Amina Castaing, Thomas Castaing, Nathalie Fedrizzi, Amin Mentseur   CAMERA: Mohamed Tayeb Laggoune   EDITORS: Damien Ounouri, Adila Bendimerad, Matthieu Laclau   MUSIC: Fethi Nadjem, Cheb Khaled, Zahouania , Safy Boutella   CAST: Adila Bendimerad, Nabil Asli, Souad Sebki, Aziz Boukerouni, Jawad Ayachi, Jawhara Ayachi
PRODUCTION: Bang Bang Production, Linked Productions, Monumental, Mediacorp   WORLD SALES: L’Agence du court métrage