Soudade Kaadan’s NEZOUH, Starring Kinda Alloush and Samer Al Masri, Moves on to Post-Production

release date May 21 2022

Syrian Director Soudade Kaadan wrapped up the shooting of her most recent film NEZOUH, which is now in post-production. NEZOUH stars Kinda Alloush, Samer Al Masri, and young actress Hala Zein and is Soudade’s second feature film after THE DAY I LOST MY SHADOW, which won the Venice Film Festival’s Lion of the Future. The film received numerous awards at Cannes, Berlinale, to name a few.

MAD Solutions acquired the Arab world distribution rights to the film while mk2 films is in charge of the film’s worldwide sales. Recently, the Paris-based company co-produced the Academy Award-Nominated film The Worst Person in the World by Joachim Trier. Nezouh is distributed in France by Pyramide and is financed through BFI (awarding National Lottery funding), FILM4 and Stars Collective

"We have believed in Soudade Kaadan's talent since we first watched her short films. Previously, we contributed to screening 3 of her films on Netflix; THE DAY I LOST MY SHADOW, AZIZA and BESIEGED BREAD, and we worked on distributing her documentary film Obscure; the thing that drives us to be extremely excited for her latest film NEZOUH, especially with its cast starring high-profile names, like Kinda Alloush and Samer Al Masri." Said Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab, Co-founders of MAD Solutions, about the film and the director.

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.

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 stars Kinda Alloush, Samer Al Masri, Hala Zein, Nizar Alani and Darina Al Joundi, and lensed by prominent cinematographer Hélène Louvart.

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 and Doha Film Institute.

Born in France, Soudade Kaadan is a Syrian director who studied theatre criticism at the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts and graduated from the Institut des Etudes Scénique, Audiovisuelles et cinématographiques (IESAV), Saint Joseph University in Lebanon. Her film THE DAY I LOST MY SHADOW marks her feature debut. It won the Lion of the Future award at the Orizzonti Competition of Venice Film Festival and the jury prize at LA Festival.

A few months ago, 3 films by Soudade were screened on Netflix (Feature film The Day I Lost My Shadow and the two short films; AZIZA and BESIEGED BREAD). The films, which nabbed dozens of international awards, shed light on the situation in Syria during the previous decade. From now, they are available for subscribers worldwide.