PHONE BREAKER to world premiere at 23rd National Film Festival in Tangier

release date November 01 2023

The highly anticipated Moroccan short film PHONE BREAKER by Hamza Atifi is set to hold its world premiere on November 1st at 9:30 pm at Roxi cinema as part of the Short Film Competition of the prestigious 23rd edition of the National Film Festival in Tangier, which has been running since October 27th and will conclude on November 4th.

PHONEBREAKER explores the story of Jalil — a washed-up employee who, in order to avenge his mother and clear his neighborhood of the incessant ringing of phones, becomes the ‘Phone Breaker’ and leads a ruthless vendetta against the telecommunications industry.

With its thought-provoking narrative, the film sheds light on the potential dangers of technological dominance and delves into the darker side of hyper-connectivity, challenging the notion that smartphones only bring convenience and exploring the consequences of our increasing reliance on technology.

Further highlighting its significance in the Moroccan film industry, PHONE BREAKER has received support from the Moroccan Film Center and features a talented cast that includes Aziz Hattab, Sandia Aboutajdine, Adil Abatorab, and Samia Akariou, with Sylvain Rodriguez serving as a cinematographer and Fatima-Zahra Lyanboui in the seat of the editor.

Hamza Atifi was born in Casablanca and raised in a family of filmmakers, eventually graduating from Morocco’s École Supérieure des Arts Visuels and Belgium’s Institut National Supérieur des Arts du Spectacle et des Techniques de Diffusion with a specialization in direction of photography.

At the age of 23, he signed his first feature film as a DOP, NOUHE, NE SAIT PAS NAGER by Rachid El-Ouali, which received Best Picture Crystal Award at the Festival of Liege in 2018.

Besides being a DOP, Atifi directed four short films, including the multi-award winning SUICIDE CANDIDATES, which received widespread recognition.

As for his TV work, he worked on the highly-watched second season of the miniseries SOUHLIFA. Most recently, he worked on Hicham Lasri’s miniseries LOTFI N7AYLA, which aired on Morocco’s prominent TV network, 2M.