Ali Zaoua, Prince of the Road
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Ali Zaoua / Ali Zaoua, Prince of the Road / Ali Zaoua - On the streets of Casablanca |
| Original title | Ali Zaoua, prince de la rue علي زاوا / ʿAlī Zāwā |
| Country of production | France / Morocco / Belgium |
| original language | Arabic , French |
| Publishing year | 2000 |
| length | 99 minutes |
| Age rating | JMK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Nabil Ayouch |
| script | Nabil Ayouch, Nathalie Saugeon |
| production | Etienne Comar, Jean Cottin, Antoine Voituriez |
| music | Krishna Levy |
| camera | Renaat Lambeets, Vincent Mathias |
| cut | Jean-Robert Thomann |
| occupation | |
| |
Ali Zaoua, Prince of the Road is a French - Moroccan film drama directed by Nabil Ayouch from 2000. Ayouch's second feature film describes the life of a group of homeless boys in Casablanca .
action
The twelve-year-old Ali (Abdelhak Zhayra) lives with his friends Kwita (Mounïm Kbab), Omar (Mustapha Hansali) and Boubker (Hicham Moussoune) at the port of Casablanca after he ran away from his mother (Amal Ayouch), a prostitute. They make a living through petty crimes such as theft. To distract themselves from their tough lives, they sniff glue. Ali dreams of a life as a sailor, he would like to discover an island with two suns, as he knows it from a children's fairy tale. That is why he and his three friends separated from a larger gang of children led by the elderly deaf-mute and brutal Dib ( Saïd Taghmaoui ) to live at the port, where he made the acquaintance of the fisherman Hamid (Mohamed Majd), who made himself takes care of him and gives him a compass. When Dib tries to force the four to return, Ali is fatally hit by a stone in the head.
Kwita, Ali's best friend, Omar and Boubker hide the body in a basement hole at the harbor. Through Ali's dreams of a better world, symbolized by the island with two suns, connected in friendship, they decide to bury him with dignity and raise the money for an expensive traditional Muslim burial. They also contact Ali's mother, and Omar, who visits her several times, tells her about her son's death shortly before the funeral. The implementation of their plan is made more difficult by further arguments with Dib, who keeps the younger children of his gang submissive through his targeted brutality and sexual assault, which Boubker also suffers when Dib meets him in a discarded bus. In the end, the boys, supported by the fisherman Hamid, who is building a coffin in the form of a boat for Ali, manage to implement their plan of burying him "like a prince".
production
For his film, Nabil Ayouch accompanied street children in Casablanca for almost two years , who were cared for by the non-governmental aid organization Bayti , which tries to return street children to their families and to get them to go to school. Only after this time were the children ready to take part as amateur actors in his film, which is told from the perspective of homeless children and adolescents. In some cases, the shooting was delayed due to accidents or unannounced absences of individual actors.
Ayouch counters the hard life on the street, which is characterized by violence, drugs, crime, homelessness, abuse and fleeing the police, with the hopes and dreams of children, which are represented by animated chalk sequences, for example in Ali's and Kwita's daydreams. A drawn chalk floor plan divides the concrete floor on which Ali and his friends sleep at the harbor into rooms in an apartment and symbolizes the children's desire for a home and normalcy. The two suns from Ali's fairy tales that shine over an island stand for a peaceful, hopeful, warm future. Originally Ali's dream of a better life, it is adapted and carried on by his friend Kwita after his death.
With 500,000 tickets sold in Morocco, the film is one of the country's most successful productions. It was produced by Playtime (France), TF1 International (France), Ali n 'Productions (Morocco), Alexis Films (Belgium) and Ace Editing (Belgium). In the United States, the film was distributed through Arab Film Distribution and Film Movement.
Reviews
"With this film, which in its relentless realism and at the same time reminiscent of the dreams and fantasies of the protagonists of the cinema of neorealism, Ayouch has impressively succeeded in giving the socially ostracized street children back their human dignity - and without a moral index finger and with a lot Feel for the power of images. "
“Ayouch's amateur actors impress with their authenticity. They really are street children. (...) Despite the harsh reality on the street (...) the boys have not forgotten how to dream. "
Awards
The film has received numerous international awards with 44 prizes and three nominations.
| festival | year | country | Award | person |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Festival International de Film Francophone de Namur |
2000 | Belgium | ACCT Promotional Award for Best Actor |
Mounïm Kbab |
| Golden Bayard for Best Actor | ||||
| Youth Jury Award | Nabil Ayouch | |||
| Nominated for the Golden Bayard for best film | ||||
| Festival international du film d'Amiens | 2000 | Audience award for best film | Nabil Ayouch | |
| Stockholm International Film Festival | 2000 | Sweden | Main prize The Bronze Horse for the best film | Nabil Ayouch |
| Montreal World Film Festival | 2000 | Canada | Ecumenical Jury Prize | Nabil Ayouch |
| Nominated for the Grand Prix des Amériques | ||||
|
2000 |
Germany | Filmkunstpreis Mannheim-Heidelberg, best film | Nabil Ayouch | |
| Recommendation of cinema operators in international competition | ||||
|
Zlín International Film Festival for Children and Youth |
2001 | Czech Republic | Don Quixote Award | Nabil Ayouch |
| Golden Slipper in the international competition in the youth film section | ||||
| Ecumenical Jury Prize - Special Mention | ||||
| 2001 | Burkina Faso | COE Award as "Film of Hope" | Nabil Ayouch | |
| Etalon de Yennega as best film | ||||
| UNICEF award | ||||
|
2001 |
Germany | Film award for children's rights | ||
|
Mediterranean Film Festival Cologne |
2001 | Germany | Grand Prix | Nabil Ayouch |
|
Giffoni Film Festival |
2001 |
Italy | Bronze griffin in the Free to Fly section for children aged 12 to 14 | Nabil Ayouch |
|
2001 |
India |
FIPRESCI award
"For the emotional and intense portrayal of street kids in the outskirs of Casablanca, merging reality and dreams in a very cinematic way." |
Nabil Ayouch | |
| Main prize of the international Golden Crow Pheasant competition
"... sensitive portrayal of the life of a group of Moroccan children, demonstrable spirit, excellent use of cinematic technique, scripting, editing, music and sound, and skilful handling of children." |
||||
|
Milan African Film Festival |
2001 |
Italy | 3rd place as best film | Nabil Ayouch |
|
St. Louis International Film Festival |
2002 | United States | Interfaith Award | Nabil Ayouch |
|
Black Movie Film Festival |
2002 |
Switzerland | Audience award | Nabil Ayouch |
|
Buster International Children's Film Festival |
2002 |
Denmark | Buster's Grand Prix | Nabil Ayouch |
literature
- Frauke Vilmar: The reality of dreams: street children using the example of Ali Zaoua . Bachelor thesis, University of Mannheim, 2004
Web links
- Ali Zoua: Prince of the Streets in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Ali Zaoua in the All Movie Guide (English)
- Andrea Khalil (Ed.): North African Cinema in a Global Context: Through the Lens of Diaspora . Routledge, 2008, ISBN 978-0-415-46032-3 , pp. 93-102
- Roy Armes (Ed.): Postcolonial Images: Studies in North African Film . Indiana University Press, 2005, ISBN 978-0-253-21744-8 , pp. 171-176
- The New York Times: Film Review: Living, Thieving and Dying on Casablanca's Mean Streets , April 16, 2003 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Age rating for Ali Zaoua, Prince of the Road . Youth Media Commission .
- ^ Institute for Cinema and Film Culture, Cologne: Ali Zaoua - On the streets of Casablanca . Retrieved May 29, 2016
- ↑ Children's Film Festival 2001 in Berlin: Interview with director Nabil Ayouch ( Memento from May 3, 2001 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Frauke Vilmar: The Reality of Dreams: Street Children Using the Example of Ali Zaoua . Bachelor thesis, University of Mannheim, 2004, pp. 32–34
- ^ Josef Gugler (ed.): Film in the Middle East and North Africa: Creative Dissidence. University of Texas Press, 2011, ISBN 978-0-292-72327-6 , p. 339
- ^ Internationales Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg: 49th Internationales Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg - 9.-18. November 2000 ( memento of February 24, 2017 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved May 29, 2016