Moroccan film Zanka Contact, by director Ismael El Iraki, will take part in the Feature-length Narrative competition of the second edition of the Amman International Film Festival ( Aug.23-Aug.31). The film is slated to release soon in the Moroccan theatres.

Zanka Contact landed its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival where its leading actress Khansa Batma won the Venice Horizons Award for Best Actress. Also, it was selected at the London Film Festival, the Luxor African Film Festival, the Tromsø International Film Festival and the Gabes Cinema Fen.

Organized under the umbrella of the Royal Film Commission – Jordan, the Amman International Film Festival is Jordan’s first international film festival that showcases Arab and international films. With a main focus on emerging filmmakers, AIFF seeks works that manifest artistic boldness, strength of form, and originality in the use of the medium of film.

On the mad streets of Casablanca, new love happens between ex-rocker Larsen and streetwise amazon Rajae, which ignites street wars. Showing a shocking-dark side of Morocco, Zanka Contact is a story of love, street wars and rock n’roll.

Directed and written by Ismael El Iraki, the film stars Khansa Batma, Ahmed Hammoud,
Said Bey and Mourad Zaoui. MAD Solutions handles the film’s distribution across the Arab world.

Ismael El Iraki is a Moroccan director who works and lives between Casablanca and Paris. He joined the directing department of the prestigious French cinema school La Femis. In 2008, El Iraki's two first short films landed great success: Carcasse (2008) won the Short Film Corner Prize at the Festival de Cannes, and 'H’rash' (2009) won a Special Mention of the Jury and the Attention Talent directing award at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. Zanka Contact marks El Iraki's debut feature.