
Faouzi Bensaïdi
Directing
Biography
Faouzi Bensaïdi, born 14 March 1967, is a Moroccan film director, actor, screenwriter and artist. His film A THOUSAND MONTHS (2003) was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. In 2007 and 2009 he has taken part in the Arts in Marrakech Festival showing and discussing his films and installations. In 2011, his film DEATH FOR SALE premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film was selected as the Moroccan entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist.
Known For

1967-1976. As one of history's greatest fashion designers entered a decade of freedom, neither came out of it in one piece.
Saint Laurent

Three war-torn strangers posing as a family flee Sri Lanka’s civil war to start over in a troubled Paris suburb, but their past traumas resurface as they struggle to survive in their new environment.
Dheepan

Filmmaker Elia Suleiman travels to different cities and finds unexpected parallels to his homeland of Palestine.
It Must Be Heaven

Tangier. Dounia decides to sell on the black market the antiques uncovered on the building site she manages. She hopes to raise enough money to be able to leave Morocco with her son, who she hardly ever sees since her divorce. The death of a worker disrupts her plan...
Goodbye Morocco

Football seen through the eyes of some of the best directors of the world.
Short Plays

Algiers, a few years after the civil war. Amal and Samir have decided to celebrate their twentieth wedding anniversary in a restaurant. While on their way, their share their views on Algeria: Amal talks about lost illusions and Samir about the necessity to cope with them. At the same time, their son Fahim and his friends Feriel and Reda are wandering about in a hostile Algiers about to steal their youth.
The Blessed

When his mother dies, Zino decides to look for his father, Farid. But twenty-five years ago, Farid became Lola.
Lola Pater

Serge is a long distance lorry driver between Morocco andEurope. In Tangier, he tries to reconcile with his former girlfriend, Sarah. She has refused to have anything to do with him since her mother’s death and intends to join her brother in Canada. Serge appeals to Sarah’s protector, a young Arab named Saïd, to allow him to meet up with Sarah, promising in return to smuggle Saïd into Europe...
Far Away

Started in 2018, the project – comprised of 11 segments by filmmakers from all around the world – reflects on the intertwined relationship between human society and nature that is aggravated by climate change on multiple scales, hinting at possible solutions.
Interdependence

Longtime friends, Mehdi and Hamid, work for a collection agency. They crisscross the villages of southern Morocco in their old car and share double rooms in shabby hotels. They are exactly the same size, and wear the same suits and ties, as well as the same shoes. Paid nearly nothing, they try to play hard to make good figures. One day, in a gas station planted in the middle of the desert, a motorcycle parks in front of them. A man is handcuffed to the luggage rack, threatening. It’s the Evader. Their meeting marks the beginning of an unforeseen and mystical journey.
Deserts

A young woman attending a conference in Tangier with her husband is kidnapped and raped, but rebuilds her relationship with her husband on a trip to the south of Morocco.
Mektoub

In Tetouan, at the northern edge of Morocco, three young men decide to rob a jewelry store. The heist goes awry, and their destinies part drastically.
Death for Sale
Tahar is a retired blacksmith living with his son from his first marriage. After seeing his late second wife in a dream, he decides to visit her grave, in Azemmour. In the trip, he meets Driss who is going to Essaouira, looking for his mother whom he has never known after receiving a letter about her. The two men go to Marrakech together where Driss gets a combination motorbike that Tahar calls "wind horse". And they begin their journey together, first to Azemmour, then to Essaouira, looking for their past.
Wind Horse

Sofia, 20, lives with her parents in Casablanca. Suffering from pregnancy denial, she finds herself breaking the law by giving birth to a baby out of wedlock. The hospital gives her 24 hours to provide the father's papers before informing the authorities…
Sofia

In the désert, a lone rider approaches at full gallop. His old tired horse is not convincing. Let's do the scene again. Still not convincing. What are we going to do with this horse?
Why Did You Leave the Horse Alone?
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Jeudi moins le quart

Twelve international filmmakers create connections between humans and animals, through biodiversity, ecosystem, climate change, environment and water risks.
Interactions - When Cinema Looks to Nature

The members of a debt-ridden family reunite in an evanescent Tangier, running away from painful memories but at the same time clinging to a past they do not want to forget. Their childhood home and its magnificent estate are due to be sold in early autumn; increasingly, summer days fade into distant memory.
Summer Days
A rainy night between Rabat and Casa; a young girl, her mother, and her father: characters in disarray seeking to reunite...
The Rain Line

Volubilis is a tale of love in a world of despair, of beauty among the ruins. In the Moroccan city of Meknès, recently married Abdelkader and Malika struggle to make ends meet. They dream of leaving the family house and finally starting a life of their own together. But one day at work, Abdelkader gets mixed up in a violent incident that will turn their lives upside down.