| Director: | Ismaël el Iraki |
|---|---|
| Production: | Barney Production (Saïd Hamich Benlarbi), Mont Fleuri Production (Saïd Hamich Benlarbi), Velvet Films (Sebastian Schelenz) |
| Running Time: | 120’ |
| Language: | Arabic, English |
| Country: | France, Morocco, Belgium |
| Main Cast: | Khansa Batma, Ahmed Hammoud, Saïd Bey, Abderrahmane Oubihem, Mourad Zaoui, Fatima Attif |
| Cinematographer: | Benjamin Rufi |
| Editor: | Camille Mouton |
| Production Designer: | Adrien Ernandez |
| Costume Designer: | Alice Eyssartier
|
| Music: | Alexandre Tartière, Neyl Nejjai |
| Sound: | Fabrice Osinski, Fred Meert, Ingrid Simon, Manu de Boissieu |
| Visual Effects: | Steve Jama, Cavern FX |
Cinema
Zanka Contact
Orizzonti
synopsis
In hellish Casablanca, a car-crash sets ablaze a burning, passionate love story between has-been rocker Larsen and the streetwise amazon Rajae. An unspoken trauma is their common history; rock ’n’roll their mutual saviour. Larsen’s snakeskin-covered guitar and Rajae’s liquid gold voice could be heaven, if only everything from his drug-induced visions to her music-buff pimp didn’t get in the way. The only hope for their blooming romance is to skip this ferocious town. Is there a way out of this crazy Moroccan underworld with its menagerie of sadistic cops, venomous snakes, metal concerts and shotgun-wielding modern-day Calamity Janes? For these punk Romeo and Juliet, maybe the answer lies in a song—the one they’ve been writing and dreaming together: Zanka Contact.
director's statement
In my mind, Zanka Contact is not a film but a wild fire. The desire for this movie consumed me like a flame, devouring everything in its path. Everything I love: 1970s Moroccan rock bands and Italian westerns, silver skull rings and powerful women characters; the dream of live music on 35mm Cinemascope and the street poetry of Casablanca’s slang. The fire fed on everything I dread too, mixing it all into a flaming cocktail stirred by unhinged fiction. To me, emotion is the only reality. As an African filmmaker I want to claim my right to fiction, to imagination, to a territory seldom occupied by films from my region. Cinema is not about the subject; it’s not even about the story. It’s a spell we fall under: it’s a belief in magic. That, to me, is the political stance of Zanka Contact: to claim a part in this shared dream, not for its subject but for its witchcraft.
PRODUCERS/DISTRIBUTORS
PRODUCTION 1: Saïd Hamich Benlarbi - Barney Production
17 rue de Pali Kao
75020 – Paris, France
Tel. +33 0972527496
said@barneyproduction.com
rym@barneyproduction.com
PRODUCTION 2: Saïd Hamich Benlarbi – Mont Fleuri Production
23 rue Jean Jaurés
20000 – Casablanca, Morocco
Tel. +212 0522490978
said@montfleuriproduction.com
PRODUCTION 3: Sebastian Schelenz - Velvet Films
107 avenue Besme
1190 – Brussels, Belgium
Tel. +32 0485748924
sebastian@velvetfilms.be
