NEZOUH by Soudade Kaadan competes in BFI London Film Festival’s official competition
27 August 2022:
The 66th edition of BFI London Film Festival selected NEZOUHby Soudade Kaadan to compete in the official competition, marking the return of Soudade to the BFI four years later, after screening her film THE DAY I LOST MY SHADOW. The upcoming edition is held from 5 to 16 October, the festival programme to be announced on 1st of upcoming September.
The announcement coincides with NEZOUH’s preparation for its world premiere at Venice Film Festival on September 3-4, in which it competes in Orizzonti Extra competition. The film takes place during the Syrian conflict, when a missile destroys the ceiling of the house of the 14-year-old Zeina (Hala Zein). As a result, she sleeps for the first time under the stars and makes friends with Amer(Nizar Alani), the boy next door. When the violence escalates, Zeina’s mother, Hala, (Kinda Alloush) decides to leave. She puts up a fight with her husband Motaz (Samer Al Masri) who refuses to become a refugee and tries everything to stop his family from leaving his house.
The film received Baumi Award for script development from Berlinale and was awarded ARTE at Cannes Film Festival and Sorfond award as part of Cinéfondation’s workshop. Also, it received support from Torino Film Lab, Doha Film Institute and the British Film Institute (National Lottery funds).
Shot in Turkey, NEZOUH is written and directed by Soudade Kaadan. It’s produced by Zajal Productions (Soudade Kaadan) and Berkeley Media Group (Yu-Fai Suen) in association with Ex Nihilo (Marc Bordure). NEZOUH starsKinda Alloush, Samer Al Masri, Hala Zein, Nizar Alaniand Darina Al Joundi, and lensed by prominent cinematographer Hélène Louvart. MAD Solutions manages the film’s distribution in the Arab world while MK2 films is in charge of the film’s worldwide sales. Moreover,it is distributed in France by Pyramide and is financed through FILM4 and Stars Collective.
Born in France, Soudade Kaadan is a Syrian director who studied theater criticism in Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts and graduated from the Institut des Etudes Scénique, Audiovisuelles et cinématographiques (IESAV), Saint Joseph University in Lebanon. Her first feature is THE DAY I LOST MY SHADOW which won Best Debut Film in Venice Film Festival, in addition to the SpecialJury Prize in Los Angeles Film Festival.
Netflix started displaying three films by Soudade 3 months prior; the feature film THE DAY I LOST MY SHADOW and the two short films Aziza and Besieged Bread, all of which are available so far to watch around the world. Soudade’s films highlights the situation in Syria over the past decade, which made her receive dozens of international awards.
