Honey Cigar
Director: Kamir Aïnouz
Drama – 2020 – 100 minutes – 18+ – Arab Premiere
France, Algeria, Belgium
Language: French and Berber Languages – subtitled in English
Screenplay: Kamir Aïnouz
Cast: Zoé Adjani, Amira Casar, Lyes Salem, Louis Peres
Cinematography: Jeanne Lapoirie
Editing: Albertine Lastera
Producers: Christine Rouxel, Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar
Synopsis:
Paris, 1993. Selma, 17, lives in a bourgeois and secular Berber family. When she meets Julien, a provocative young man, she realis for the first time how the heavy rules of patriarchy affect her intimacy. As she faces her own fears to explore the power and dangers of her desire, her family crumbles and the terror of fundamentalism emerges in her country of origin. Selma must fight back to reclaim her body and become a free woman.
Director’s Biography:
Born in Paris to Algerian parents, Kamir Aïnouz lived seven years in Los Angeles where she studied film writing at UCLA and participated in various filmmaking workshops at USC School of Cinematic Arts. Sister of renowned Brazilian-Algerian director Karim Aïnouz, she has been developing original content inspired by her dual Algerian and French culture. Aïnouz has also worked as a screenwriter for cinema and television, notably on “Lol USA” (2012) by Lisa Azuelos. “Honey Cigar” (2020) is her directorial debut. Her original script was selected at the Rawi Screenwriters Lab with the Sundance Institute and awarded the Fondation Beaumarchais-SACD cinema grant.