release date December 13 2022
THE DAMNED DON’T CRY garners widespread acclaim at Red Sea Film Festival
Fyzal Boulifa's feature film THE DAMNED DON’T CRY earned the public and critics’ admiration at the second Red Sea International Film Festival (RSIFF) in its first screening among the Festival Favorites section on Saturday, December 3rd.
The film’s producer Karim Debbagh and renowned directors Soudade Kaadan and Fatih Akin were among the first screening’s attendees, in addition to Tarek El-Bahar, Mamdouh Salem, and Abdel-Satar Nagy.
“We are delighted to be part of this pleasant second edition of the Red Sea Film Festival. It was a real pleasure to have Fatih Akin among the audience at the screening of our movie,” said Debbagh.
The film will be featured once more throughout the ten-day festival on Sunday, December 4th from 9:30 pm to 11:20 pm at VOX Cinema 4 - Red Sea Mall.
Previously, the film had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival’s Giornate Degli Autori and its Arab world premiere at the Marrakech International Film Festival.
Moreover, the film was featured at several festivals, including the BFI London Film Festival’s official competition, where it was nominated for Best Film; the Bordeaux International Independent Film Festival’s Feature Films Competition, where it was awarded Best Original Music and nominated for the Grand Prize of the Jury; and the Stockholm International Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Bronze Horse.
THE DAMNED DON’T CRY follows the story of FATIMA-ZAHRA and her teenage son SELIM as they move from place to place, forever trying to outrun the latest scandal she’s caught up in. When Selim discovers the truth about their past, Fatima-Zahra vows to make a fresh start.
In Tangier, new opportunities promise the legitimacy they each crave — but not without pushing the volatile mother-son relationship to the breaking point.
THE DAMNED DON’T CRY was critically acclaimed, with Guy Lodge from Variety saying, “Boulifa, by contrast, knits disparate generations and geographies of big- and small-screen melodrama into a single, refined aesthetic that never stoops to simple pastiche or bedazzled kitsch.”
Additionally, David Katz from Cineuropa said that “Fyzal Boulifa’s beautifully made second feature charts the divergent fortunes of a mother and her adolescent son in Morocco, who are forced into itinerant, unstable work.”
Fyzal Boulifa — the film’s director and writer — is based between Paris, London, and Tangier. He learned cinema by watching and shooting as many films as he could. His short films have twice been awarded in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight and nominated at the BAFTAs.
In 2019, he directed his first feature LYNN+LUCY, for which he was nominated for a Debut Director Award at the British Independent Film Awards. The film also premiered in San Sebastián and won multiple awards in Macau, Marrakech, Les Arcs, and Vilnius.
Karim Debbagh — the film’s producer — was born in Tangier, Morocco, and was first introduced to the film industry through his late friend, the American writer and composer Paul Bowles. He first studied American Literature and then later graduated from the renowned Filmakademie in Ludwigsburg Germany as a producer. In 2005, he founded KASBAH FILMS Production.
He is known for A HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING (2016), MEN IN BLACK: INTERNATIONAL (2019), and MOSUL (2019).
Caroline Champetier is the DOP, while François Quiqueré is the editor, and the original soundtrack is by Nadah El-Shazly.
The film also stars Aïcha Tebbae, Abdellah El-Hajjouji, Antoine Reinartz, Moustapha Mokafih, Walid Chaibi, and Sawsen Kotbi.
The film is produced by BBC Film and Vixens Production and co-produced by Frakas Productions and Kasbah Films. Also, it’s distributed in France by New Story, in Belgium by O’Brother, and in the Arab world by MAD Solutions.
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