Black Medusa World Premieres at International Film Festival Rotterdam

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To Compete in Tiger Competition

Black Medusa World Premieres at International Film Festival Rotterdam


Black Medusa by director Ismaël will world premiere at the 50 th edition of International Film Festival Rotterdam, Netherlands (February 1-7) where the film will compete at the festival’s prestigious Tiger Competition.

Due to the COVID-19 spread, the 50 th edition of International Film Festival Rotterdam will be held in an extended format in 2021 on two parts. The first part will be held in February with minimal attendance, while the second will be launched during June. International Film Festival Rotterdam is the oldest and most prominent film festival in Europe.

In today’s Tunis, Nada is hard of hearing and communicates through a smartphone app. The 25 years old young woman leads a double life: lonely and boring during the day, violent and extreme during the night. This highly ritualized life is going to shatter the day she falls in love with an old knife, and a colleague of hers - Noura - falls in love with her. The film is a Medusa myth-inspired film noir in the #MeToo era.

Directed and edited by Ismaël who co-wrote the film Youssef Chebbi, Black Medusa stars Nour Hajri, Rym Hayouni, Aymen Ben Hmida and Aymen Mejri and is produced by Utopia films. MAD Solutions handles the film’s distribution across the Arab world.

Ismaël is a multitalented filmmaker, visual artist and writer. He directed the feature documentary Babylon that won Grand Prix at the International Film Festival Marseille and the short narrative Leila’s Blues that premiered at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, 2018. Also, he produced the feature narrative The last of us, which nabbed Lion of the Future at the Venice International Film Festival.