Egypt, Arabic, French - 90 min
Feature Narrative Film
TOTAL BUDGET
US $1,797,268
CONFIRMED FINANCING
US $778,815
CONTACT
info@redstarfilms.com
+201061508623
Ali is an aspiring soccer player from Egypt, recently arrived in Marseille. After suffering a debilitating injury, he is forced to navigate the city's nefarious underbelly while balancing an explosive temper and budding romance.
Ali is 20 years old, and comes from a modest family in the Nile Delta region. He has always dreamed of becoming a soccer star. He is recruited and moves to Marseille, where a slippery agent, Jean-Marc, hopes to sign him to a pro-team. But as he begins training and displays exceptional talent, Ali gets seriously injured. Jean-Marc decides to let him go, as his monetary prospects will dwindle.
Forced to find work in order to help his family back home, Ali soon discovers the underground life of Marseille’s illegal immigrants, their survival strategies and coping mechanisms in the face of crushed hopes. As family pressures start to mount, a drug-dealer offers him a way out. As Ali begins to descend into darkness, will soccer’s ubiquitous presence in the tough neighborhoods of Marseille, and his budding love for Chloé—Jean Marc’s daughter—suffice to reconnect him with his lifelong dream? Will his attachment to money be his liberty or his downfall? What if happiness could be found outside of soccer?
This film addresses some timely issues that are close to my heart; poverty, migration, soccer, love across cultures, and the Mediterranean city of Marseille. I have been searching for a way to combine some autobiographical elements—against the larger backdrop of contemporary, systemic, social and political challenges—with a personable story that is relatable through the universality of soccer and youthful love.
The primary focus is the character of Ali: his inner growth, his outer dream, his healing through love, and the consequences of his decisions. He will have to uncover the ways he subconsciously carries his family’s wounding into his adult life: insecurity that arises from growing up with the pressures of poverty, a flaring temper stoked by the humiliation from his mother, and a deep-seated shame he covers with arrogance, aggression, ambition, and the need for approval. As the circumstances of his life thrust these weaknesses into the fore, he will have to choose between career, country, and love—a struggle I am intimately familiar with.
Marseille serves as an ideal location that embodies an intense communal mania for soccer, and all that the business entails. It has the Mediterranean confluence of cultures and people, decades of migration, and the tensions that naturally arise around identity and belonging.
Ultimately, through these characters and their journeys, we are interested in exploring the universality of human wounds; the ways our masks of fear, judgment, aggression, and ambition thwart our growth, unless we find the courage to confront them with understanding and compassion, inside and out.
Straight to the Goal has undeniably compelling elements for today’s audiences: soccer, romance, migration, greedy villains, and a flawed but heroic underdog, all set against the visually striking and mesmerizing pulse of Marseille. But beyond this captivating premise, what is most appealing about this film is its intimate portrayal of unique characters and their inner evolution. It is rare to find stories that strike such a delicious balance between bold action and attention to the delicate emotional landscapes of each character. Straight to the Goal fuses just that—a heartwarming sensitivity to the deeper roots of why we are the way we are.
The film builds on Ashry’s career in controversial documentary filmmaking. It has a precise rhythm, and sheds a nuanced light on the larger socio-economic issues at play, without distracting from a gritty, twisting plot, and ambitious character arcs. The realism is intense; co-writers Belmahy and Ashry spent a lot of time in Marseille, and have based each character and scene on real people and real situations. Everything hinges on this—their commitment to do justice to the reality of life across the different layers of Marseille is powerful. As such, both mainstream and independent cinema audiences are likely to be drawn to this film.
Red Star Production
2019: Extra Safe, Habib, This Is My Night
2018: Eyebrows, Fork & Knife, Sculpting in Time
2017: Al Asleyeen, Photocopy
2016: Dry Hot Summer, One Week Two Days
2015: Nawara
Bee Media Productions
2018: Eyebrows