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Jassad gharib

Foreign Body
Forum 2017
© Nomadis Films / Mon Voisin Productions
Samia is from Tunisia and has arrived in France illegally, barely surviving the journey across the Mediterranean. Yet arriving in a new society hardly means an end to obstacles: How do you lose your status as a foreign body?
Samia makes friends with Imed, who she knows from her home country. At first glance, he seems to have made it: he works in a bar without papers, has a flat and friends. She stays with him but soon realises that he and his social circle will not permit self-determination on her part. She decides to move on and manages to get Mme Berteau, a bourgeois widow, to employ her as a maid. Flat, clothes, residence permit – Samia now gets it all. The two women grow closer, while Samia's relationship with Imed cools. He represents the life she left behind. But then Mme Berteau and Imed take a liking to each other.
Within the web of attraction and dependency that develops between the three characters, the camera always keeps close to Samia, making tangible just how urgently she seeks to take her fate in her own hands. Jassad gharib is the portrait of a determined young woman looking to live in freedom.
by Raja Amari
with Hiam Abbass, Sarra Hannachi, Salim Kechiouche, Marc Brunet Tunisia / France 2016 French, Arabic 97’ Colour

With

  • Hiam Abbass (Leila)
  • Sarra Hannachi (Samia)
  • Salim Kechiouche (Imed)
  • Marc Brunet (​Jacques)

Crew

Written and Directed by Raja Amari
Cinematography Aurélien Devaux
Editing Guerric Catala
Music Nicolas Becker
Sound Ludovic Escallier
Sound Design Cyril Holtz, Benoît Hillebrant
Production Design Rauf Helioui
Costumes Soraya Mangin, Nabila Cherif
Producer Dora Bouchoucha Nomadis Images, Dominique Besnehard Mon Voisin Productions

World sales

UDI

Produced by

Nomadis Images

Mon Voisin Productions

Additional information

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Photos

Raja Amari

© Nomadis Films / Mon Voisin Productions

Born in 1971 in Tunis, Tunisia. She studied at the film school La Fémis in Paris.

Filmography

1998 Avril; 30 min. 2001 Un soir de juillet; 20 min. 2002 Satin rouge (Red Satin); 89 min., Berlinale Forum 2002 2004 Les traces de l’oubli (Seekers of Oblivion); 52 min. 2009 Dowaha (Buried Secrets); 91 min. 2014 Printemps Tunisien (Tunisian Spring); 93 min. 2017 Jassad gharib (Foreign Body)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2017