Director
Jawad Rhalib
Cast
Lubna Azabal, Johan Heldenbergh, Fabrizio Rongione, Babetida Sadjo, Kenza Benbouchta, Medhy Kachachi, Ethelle Gonzalez, Catherine Salée
Edition 2023
107'
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2023
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Drama
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Dialogue:
Arabic, French
A brilliant performance by Lubna Azabal (which is a pleonasm!) is the foundation on which Amal rests. A remarkable Belgian film by the tireless Jawad Rhalib.
"Memento mori," translated as "remember to die." It is the first image in Amal tattooed on the back of a young woman who is crying in the shower. She has injuries on her shoulder. This is the back of Mounia, a teenager who is bullied and mistreated by some fellow students because she is a lesbian. Her tattoos are also met with disapproval. The calming presence in the ruthless jungle that is high school is Amal, an unconventional French teacher. Jawad Rhalib, known for socially engaged documentaries such as The Pink Revolution and Au temps où les arabes dansaient presents a new fictional film eight years after his previous one with Amal. Amal, portrayed by the formidable Lubna Azabal, positions herself as a strong advocate for free speech, but this threatens to profoundly disrupt both the lives of her students and her own. Raw cinema, like an open wound.
“Encouraged by the lessons of Amal, a French teacher with daring pedagogical practices, Mounia, a student of Moroccan origin, begins to accept her homosexuality and decides to come out. She will be harassed with dramatic consequences, while Amal is confronted with the ghosts of her past life.” - Serendipity Films
Image gallery
Credits
Directors
Jawad Rhalib
Cast
Lubna Azabal, Johan Heldenbergh, Fabrizio Rongione, Babetida Sadjo, Kenza Benbouchta, Medhy Kachachi, Ethelle Gonzalez, Catherine Salée
Scenario
Jawad Rhalib, David Lambert, Chloé Léonil
Director of Photography
Lisa Willame
Editors
Nicolas Rumpl
Producers
Geneviève Lemal
Co producers
Ellen De Waele
Production studios
Scope Pictures, Serendipity Films
Distributor
Scope Pictures
More info
Dialogue
Arabic, French
Countries of production
Belgium, France
Year
2023
Filmography
Jawad Rhalib
El Ejido, the Law of Profit (2007), The Damned of the Sea (2008), Boomerang (short, 2010), Le chant des tortues (2013), 7, rue de la Folie (2014), Insoumise (2016), When Arabs Danced (2018), Fadma: Even Ants Have Wings (2019), Amal (2023)
