Faouzi Bensaïdi’s sixth feature film, “Deserts”, was screened at the Théâtre Croisette, as part of its selection for the 55th edition of the Quinzaine des Cinéastes.
The film crew, made up of director and actors Fehd Benchemsi, Abdelhadi Taleb and Nezha Rahil, received a moving welcome from the public at the end of the screening.
For his part, Kamal Lazraq, surrounded by his two actors Ayoub Elaid and Abdellatif Masstouri, was very moved to present a preview of his first feature film “Les Meutes”, in competition in the Un Certain Regard section.
In “Deserts”, Mehdi and Hamid, longtime friends, work for a collection agency in Casablanca. They are sent to the distant villages of the great Moroccan south…
In this “modern and twilight western”, as described by its director, the different chapters bring together the values, traditions and humanity of the old with the brutality of the new. The border is porous, uncertain. A mystery hovers, the characters and the stories become entangled.
“I see the film as a round. The story is made up of ruptures, displacements and roads criss-crossed at full speed. With Déserts, I want one story and its staging to gradually give way to another and leave a lot of room to the spectator’s imagination. The burlesque could be tinged with film noir, the social with suspense, and the real, welcoming abstraction, could open onto the cosmic”. explains Faouzi Bensaïdi.
In addition, “Les Meutes” takes place in the popular suburbs of Casablanca, where Hassan and Issam, father and son, live from day to day, chaining small traffic for the local underworld. One night, they are tasked with kidnapping a man. Then begins a long night through the slums of the city…
According to its director, Kamal Lazraq, “Les Meutes” is the desperate journey of a father and a son who tirelessly pursue, from place to place, from encounter to encounter, an unattainable goal.
“It’s a nocturnal journey into an underworld populated by strange characters. A suffocating, tense crossing through the margins of the city of Casablanca. A thriller marked by the urgency, the anguish and the guilt of the characters. The failures follow one another mysteriously. The story is tinged with absurdity and burlesque. he points out.
And to add: “Les Meutes also tells the intimate story of a filial relationship. Hassan and Issam are caught in a gear that is beyond them. Faced with this, they confront each other but also realize the almost indestructible strength of the bonds that unite them.