Kindil el Bahr
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)