UNDER THE HIGH PATRONAGE OF HIS MAJESTY THE KING MOHAMMED VI PRESS RELEASE N° 4 Marrakech, November 20, 2011 THE OFFICIAL SELECTION 83 films from 21 countries THE FEATURE FILM COMPETITION OUT OF COMPETITION THE CINECOLES SHORT FILM COMPETITION GENERATION MEXIQUE MOROCCAN CINEMA AT HEART PLACE JEMAA EL FNA CINEMA FOR THE BLIND THE FEATURE FILM COMPETITION This year's selection includes 15 films focused on emerging filmmakers from around the world. The selected feature films include as many as 10 debut feature films and 3 sophomore outings, altogether representing 15 different nationalities. 180 °°° by Cihan Inan - Switzerland - 1 st film BABY FACTORY (Bahay bata) by Eduardo Roy Jr. & Almon L. Derla - Philippines - 1 st film BELVEDERE by Ahmed Imamovic - Bosnia Herzegovina - 2 nd film DEATH IS MY PROFESSION by Amir Hossein Saghafi - Iran - 1 st film DON'T BE AFRAID (No tengas miedo) by Montxos Armendariz - Spain - 8 th film I CARRIED YOU HOME by Tongpong Chantarangkul - Thailand - 1 st film LAND OF OBLIVION (La Terre outragée) by Michale Boganim - France, Germany, Poland - 1 st film LOUISE WIMMER by Cyril Mennegun - France - 1 st film OUT OF BOUNDS (Labrador) by Frederikke Aspöck - Denmark - 1 st film RIVER OF GOLD (Rio de oro) by Pablo Aldrete - Mexico - 1 st film SEVEN ACTS OF MERCY (Sette opere di misericordia) by Gianluca & Massimiliano De Serio - Italy - 1 st film SNEAKERS (Ketcove) by Valeri Yordanov & Ivan Vladimirov - Bulgaria - 1 st film SNOWTOWN by Justin Kurtzel - Australia - 1 st film THE RIF LOVER (L'Amante du Rif) by Narjiss Nejjar - Morocco - 4 th film - Opening film WITHOUT by Mark Jackson - USA - 1 st film During the Festival’s closing ceremony on Saturday December 10 th , Emir Kusturica and his fellow jury members will present the following awards: - The Golden Star - The Festival Grand Prize - The best performance by an actress - The Jury Prize - The best performance by an actor 180 °°° Switzerland by Cihan Inan 2nd film starring Christopher Buchholz, Sophie Rois, Michael Neuenschwander, Asli Bayram, Siir Eloglu, Carla Juri, Güven Kirac, Mehmet Atesci, Firat Kaplan, Umut Yildirim Early evening in a big city. A teenage couple shyly flirt with each other, a housewife sits down to watch a daily soap, nurses in a hospital gossip before the nightshift starts, a trendy couple drives through rush hour, so excited they can hardly wait to get home, a man with a rifle enters a building seeking revenge. In the blink of an eye seemingly unrelated events turn upside down what were once secure, happy, “normal” lives. Production | C-Films Ph : +41 44 253 65 55 | Email : [email protected] BABY FACTORY (Bahay bata) Philippines by Eduardo Roy Jr. & Almond L. Derla 1st film starring Diana Zubiri, Sue Prado, Yul Servo, Mailes Kanapi, Janna Tiangco Sarah is a nurse at a Public Maternity Hospital. The hospital is short on staff on Christmas Day so Sarah is forced to put in a double shift. The wards are over-crowded: two women and their babies sharing single beds while those in labor are spilling unto the hallways. Sarah takes these all in stride, her heart and mind laboring over her own personal pains. Production | Ignatius Films Ph : +63 45 323 6899 | Email : [email protected] BELVEDERE Bosnia Herzegovina by Ahmed Imamovic 2nd film starring Sadžida Šetić, Nermin Tulić, Minka Muftić, Armin Rizavnović, Adis Omerović This is an intimate story of the survivors of Srebrenica genocide facing a world of contrasts. On one hand, there is their relentless search for the truth while, on the other, there are trivialities of everyday realities of transitional society obsessed with reality shows used as a device to fabricate individuals characterized by superficiality. And when these two worlds collide in a dysfunctional society, a bomb starts its countdown. Production | Comprex Production Sarajevo Ph : +387 33 650 615 | Email : [email protected] DEATH IS MY PROFESSION Iran by Amir Hossein Saghafi 1st film starring Pejman Bazeghi, Amir Aghaei, Maryam Boobani, Sonia Espahram, Mahchehreh Khalili, Akbar Sangi, Ramin Rastad Three ordinary workers in Iran’s alpine region face hardships in providing for their families and end up trying to sell stolen high-voltage power lines. During the burglary, they accidentally kill someone and wind up fugitives… World Sales | Sheherazad Media International Ph : +98 21 22 86 32 60 | Email : [email protected] DON'T BE AFRAID (No tengas miedo) Spain by Montxos Armendariz 8th film starring Michelle Jenner, Lluis Homar, Belén Rueda, Nuria Gago, Cristina Plazas, Rubén Ochandiano, Javier Pereira Silvia is a young girl marked by a dark childhood. When she is hardly twenty-five, she decides to start over and to face people, feelings and emotions that keep her bound to the past. In her fight against adversity and against herself, she will learn to control her fears and become an adult, responsible for her own actions. World Sales | Funny Balloons Ph : +33 1 40 13 05 86 | Email : [email protected] I CARRIED YOU HOME Thailand by Tongpong Chantarangkul 1st film starring Apinya Sakuljaroensuk, Akhamsiri Suwannasuk, Torphong Kul-on, Porntip Kamlung A mother comes to Bangkok to visit her teenage daughter, Pann, who lies to her to avoid spending time with her. Soon after Pann returns to her friends, she receives a phone call from her aunt in tears that her Mum has been in a terrible accident and is in a coma. Pann hurries to contact her elder sister, Pinn, who had run away from her marriage to Singapore to start a new life away from family constraints. Both of them will be forced to spend time together and to slowly begin to open up to each other again. World Sales | Triton Company Ph : +66 2662 2777 | Email : [email protected] LAND OF OBLIVION (La Terre outragée) France / Germany / Poland by Michale Boganim 1st film starring Olga Kurylenko, Illya Iosivof, Andrzej Chyra, Vyacheslav Slanko, Serguei Strelnikov, Nikita Emshanov April 26, 1986. On that day, Anya and Piotr celebrate their marriage. Little Valery and his father Alexei, a physicist at the power station in Chernobyl, plant an apple tree. Nikolai, the forest warden, makes his rounds in the surrounding woods. Then, an accident occurs at the power station. Insidiously, the radioactivity transforms nature. Piotr, a volunteer fireman, leaves to extinguish the flames. He never returns. A few days later, the population is evacuated. Alexei, forced to keep silent by the authorities, prefers to disappear. Ten years later, the city of Pripiat has become a no man’s land and a bizarre tourist attraction.... World Sales | Le Pacte Ph : +33 1 44 69 59 59 | Email : [email protected] LOUISE WIMMER France by Cyril Mennegun 1st film starring Corinne Masiero, Jérôme Kircher, Anne Benoît, Marie Kremer, Jean-Marc Roulot, Frédéric Gorny Louise Wimmer goes from one small job to another. Despite her loud speech and tall height, she‘d rather stay alone to avoid any conflict. Her past life is now far behind her and everything she owns is in her car. At the dawn of her fifties, she lost everything when separating from her husband, but she wants to make it by herself. Nonetheless it is only if she accepts to open herself to others that she will be able to start her life again. French Distribution | Haut et Court Ph : +33 1 55 31 27 27 | Email : [email protected] OUT OF BOUNDS (Labrador) Denmark by Frederikke Aspöck 1st film starring Carsten Bjørnlund, Stephanie León, Jakob Eklund A desolate, windswept island. Stella and Oskar, a young couple, visit Stella’s father Nathan who lives a lonely life in the company of his labrador dog. Stella is pregnant and looking forward to the birth of their baby, but Oskar appears to be in doubt. When Oskar falls prey to Nathan's provocations and feels bewildered by the relationship between father and daughter, a clash between the two men is inevitable. World Sales |TrustNordisk Ph : +45 36 86 87 88 | Email : [email protected] RIVER OF GOLD (Rio de oro) Mexico by Pablo Aldrete 1st film starring Gonzalo Lebrija, Stephanie Sigman, Kenny Johnston, Deshava Apachee, Karl Makinen, Chesley Wilson Sonora, Mexico, 1853. During the war with the Apaches and the invasion of the United States, a muleteer decides to sell his animals to seek a better life in the city of Mexico. To do so, he will have to cross through the mountains that are Apache territory. Production | Mantarraya Producciones Ph : +52 55 5273 9307 | Email : [email protected] SEVEN ACTS OF MERCY (Sette opere di misericordia) Italy by Gianluca & Massimiliano De Serio 1st film starring Roberto Herlitzka, Olimpia Melinte, Ignazio Oliva, Stefano Cassetti, Cosmin Corniciuc Luminita, a young illegal immigrant living on the edge of a shanty town, has hatched a plan to get herself out of her predicament. To carry it through she bumps into Antonio, a sick and mysterious old man. The clash between the two of them is unavoidable and harsh, and leads to unforeseeable consequences. World Sales | Intramovies Ph : +39 06 8077 252 | Email : [email protected] SNEAKERS (Ketcove) Bulgaria by Valeri Yordanov & Ivan Vladimirov 2nd film starring Philip Avramov, Valeri Yordanov, Ivan Barnev, Vassil Draganov, Ivo Arakov, Ina Nikolova In the beginning of summer, six young people escape from their failures – in their families, love, money, ambitions, meeting with those that are different. They escape from the City, taken over by those that are different. Each one of them escapes East of Hell... to the point farthest away, the sea coast, a clean and pristine beach. The clean beach brings them together and reopens the prospective of hope to them all. But is such an escape at all possible? World Sales | Media Luna New Films Ph : +49 221 510 91 891 | E-mail : [email protected] SNOWTOWN Australia by Justin Kurtzel 1st film starring Lucas Pittaway, Daniel Henshall, Louise Harris, Frank Cwertniak, Matthew Howard, Marcus Howard, Anthony Groves When sixteen-year-old Jamie is introduced to a charismatic man, a friendship begins.