Tunisia, Arabic - Melik Kochbati+
Feature Narrative Film
TOTAL BUDGET
US $591,926
CONFIRMED FINANCING
US $128,501
CONTACTS
elyesbac@gmail.com
+32 32169759
melik.kochbati@paprikafilms.com
+216 20110181
Rania, a young rebel, and her conservative family are preparing her engagement ceremony to Sami. A terrorist attack takes place and a curfew is declared. Both families spend the night together. This will further reveal their secrets.
Rania is a 25-year-old rebel coming from a conservative family. She rejects her mother's old customs and traditional ideas regarding her engagement ceremony to Sami, a young man from a bourgeois family living in the capital.
Rania's family assiduously prepare for a big dinner ceremony and rearrange the house and its big garden, creating more room for the guests. Karim, Rania's cousin, sets up a large stage and places a big screen for the attendees to watch the whole ceremony.
Sami's sister, Salma, his parents, and a few other relatives arrive at the colonial house located in the suburbs of Tunis. Meanwhile, a terrorist attack takes place in the city center resulting in the death of members of the presidential security.
A curfew is declared. Both families hesitate at first but end up choosing to carry on with the ceremony. Impelled by the event, they'll spend the night together. Rania and Selima secretly drink then decide to perform a dance for the guests. Their performance ends, they head to the back of the stage and kiss behind the screen.
Karim mistakenly films them. Both families are shocked after finding out the unbelievable truth. Sami agreed to get engaged to Rania so that she can carry on her relationship with Salma without others knowing. The scene will have its different consequences on both parties and will further reveal their other secrets.
Curfew is a modern social drama where adversaries evolve in a fragile and bumpy territory. This is what attracts me about the project, contradictions that exist on several levels (woman-man, rich-poor, believer-non-believer, young-old, liberal-conservative, heterosexual-homosexual etc.) Furthermore, what makes this film essential is that all of the triggers of the conflicts are interlinked whether by a family connection, a professional connection or a social one. All of the characters share the same roof, live through the same tragic event, yet everyone reacts differently. The metaphor is easy to grasp.
It raises several questions at the heart of the Tunisian debates such as individual liberties versus collective power, the power of terror within the Tunisian society, the homosexual relations facing lawmaking, religion and tradition, etc. The pertinent structure as well as the depth of the characters reunite to make a powerful script, making it a lively, incisive and hard-hitting film.
In addition to the seven weeks of filming, the film requires a lot of preparation and rehearsal because the actions and sequences of this hyperlinked movie must be perfectly synchronized. The choice of production, in agreement with the director, is to plan rehearsals in situation in order to be more concerned with the acting than its synchronization during the shooting.
The cast will be composed of confirmed leading actors who are able to transcribe, by the subtlety of their acting, the complexity of situations, feelings and emotions in a small environment where all the characters will interact. Our production strategy is of course relying on the quality of the scenario and the credibility of the project leaders, to obtain the expected funding from the Tunisian Ministry of Culture and Heritage Preservation. Then we will focus on our search for additional funding from the various funds we are eligible for (DFI, Francophonie, South East Vision, etc.), and that we have already obtained elsewhere for previous projects. We also intend to apply for the Tunisian-French co-production fund in its next session in 2019. Finally, we intend to establish partnerships with foreign production companies.
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