Based on Fatima Elayoubi’s book, Prayer to the Moon, Phillipe Faucon’s Fatima is a slice of immigrant life story that’s become increasingly familiar as filmmakers have examined the generational divide in family structures. But while Faucon’s film treads over many of the same thematic conversations of films ranging from The Namesake to La Promesse, it nonetheless offers an impressively empathetic understanding of three very different generations.
Fatima (Soria Zeroual) is a resolutely traditional Muslim woman who feels out of sync with the values and basic characteristics of France – even as she emigrated decades earlier from Algeria. Divorced from her husband, Fatima works herself to death trying to provide for her two daughters – Nesrine (Zita Hanrot) and Souad (Kenza Noah Aïche) who view the world in vastly different ways than her.
Souad is a high-schooler who actively rebels against the expectations of Muslim women. She’s both...
Fatima (Soria Zeroual) is a resolutely traditional Muslim woman who feels out of sync with the values and basic characteristics of France – even as she emigrated decades earlier from Algeria. Divorced from her husband, Fatima works herself to death trying to provide for her two daughters – Nesrine (Zita Hanrot) and Souad (Kenza Noah Aïche) who view the world in vastly different ways than her.
Souad is a high-schooler who actively rebels against the expectations of Muslim women. She’s both...
- 8/26/2016
- by Michael Snydel
- The Film Stage
Raising a family is difficult under the best circumstances, but it’s especially difficult when you’re living in a foreign country without knowing the language and must learn to assimilate quickly. Philippe Faucon’s “Fatima” captures that plight wonderfully as it follows Fatima (played by first-timer Soria Zeroual) who emigrated from Morocco to Lyon, France with her husband. Though Fatima and the husband divorced, she soon takes up a cleaning job to support her two daughters — 18-year-old medical student Nesrine (Zita Hanrot) and rebellious 15-year-old Souad (Kenza-Noah Aiche). A loose adaptation of “Prayer to the Moon,” a short collection of writing by North African writer Fatima Elayoubi, this poignant film captures the hardships of fish-out-of-water life and dealing with the generation gap between parents and their children. Watch an exclusive trailer below and check out the film’s poster as well.
Read More: Kino Lorber Acquires Acclaimed French Drama...
Read More: Kino Lorber Acquires Acclaimed French Drama...
- 7/22/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
Best film at the Césars: non-professional actor Soria Zeroual in Philippe Faucon’s Fatima Photo: Unifrance
A debut feature by a woman director, which came out of nowhere, has scooped one of the top prizes as best first film in the French Oscars, the Césars, at a ceremony earlier this evening (26 February) at the Chatelet Theatre in Paris.
Mustang by Deniz Gamze Ergüven could now be set for Oscar glory among the best foreign-language nominees. She is the only female director for a narrative feature competing in the Academy Awards.
Mustang also won accolades for editing and its original score as well as best original screenplay for Deniz Gamze Ergüven and Alice Winocour.
Best first film award for Mustang at the Césars awards in Paris Photo: Unifrance
As if to demonstrate France’s all-embracing cultural diversity, Philippe Faucon’s Fatima won best film. This gentle yet affecting celebration of the...
A debut feature by a woman director, which came out of nowhere, has scooped one of the top prizes as best first film in the French Oscars, the Césars, at a ceremony earlier this evening (26 February) at the Chatelet Theatre in Paris.
Mustang by Deniz Gamze Ergüven could now be set for Oscar glory among the best foreign-language nominees. She is the only female director for a narrative feature competing in the Academy Awards.
Mustang also won accolades for editing and its original score as well as best original screenplay for Deniz Gamze Ergüven and Alice Winocour.
Best first film award for Mustang at the Césars awards in Paris Photo: Unifrance
As if to demonstrate France’s all-embracing cultural diversity, Philippe Faucon’s Fatima won best film. This gentle yet affecting celebration of the...
- 2/26/2016
- by Richard Mowe
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Kino Lorber has acquired U.S. rights to Fatima, Philippe Faucon's drama based on the experiences and poetry of North African writer Fatima Elayoubi in France. The pic, which world premiered in May in the Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight section, just picked up four Cesar Award nominations including for Best Film and Best Actress for Soria Zeroual. The movie will have its U.S. premiere at the upcoming Rendez-Vous with French Cinema film festival in New York and…...
- 2/19/2016
- Deadline
Fatima
Directed by Phillipe Faucon
France, 2015
Philadelphia Film Festival
Fatima is a marvelous, small drama about the immigrant experience. Fatima (Soria Zeroual) works hard as a cleaner to support her two daughters Souad (Kenza Noah Äiche), a rebellious high-school student, and Nesrine (Zita Hanrot), a first-year medical student. Tensions build as all three women become jaded by their respective places in life.
Director Philippe Faucon shoots Fatima mostly in a static medium shot. This isn’t the cold, static European arthouse, nor is it classically blocked cinema. Neither is the camera particularly observational. Instead, Faucon’s style is simple and designed to let the actors do the work. It’s a no-frills film, the guileless style of which does anything but distract.
A dialogue heavy film (in that, and also the framing, it’s reminiscent of recent Asghar Farhadi films), Fatima leans heavily on the performance of two non-actors – Zeroual and Äiche,...
Directed by Phillipe Faucon
France, 2015
Philadelphia Film Festival
Fatima is a marvelous, small drama about the immigrant experience. Fatima (Soria Zeroual) works hard as a cleaner to support her two daughters Souad (Kenza Noah Äiche), a rebellious high-school student, and Nesrine (Zita Hanrot), a first-year medical student. Tensions build as all three women become jaded by their respective places in life.
Director Philippe Faucon shoots Fatima mostly in a static medium shot. This isn’t the cold, static European arthouse, nor is it classically blocked cinema. Neither is the camera particularly observational. Instead, Faucon’s style is simple and designed to let the actors do the work. It’s a no-frills film, the guileless style of which does anything but distract.
A dialogue heavy film (in that, and also the framing, it’s reminiscent of recent Asghar Farhadi films), Fatima leans heavily on the performance of two non-actors – Zeroual and Äiche,...
- 11/2/2015
- by Neal Dhand
- SoundOnSight
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