Zanka Contact
Director: Ismaël El Iraki
Romance, Action, Music – 2020 – 120 minutes – 18+ – Jordanian Premiere
Morocco, France, Belgium
Language: Arabic and English – subtitled in English
Screenplay: Ismaël El Iraki
Cast: Khansa Batma, Ahmed Hammoud, Saïd Bey, Abderrahmane Oubihem
Cinematography: Benjamin Rufi
Editing: Camille Mouton
Producers: Saïd Hamich
Awards: Best Actress (Venice Horizons Award) – Venice Film Festival 2020
Synopsis:
In hellish Casablanca, the burning love story between has-been rocker Larsen and the streetwise prostitute Rajae sets ablaze a crazy Moroccan underworld in this story of passion, trauma, and rock ‘n roll. The only hope for their blooming romance is to skip this ferocious town, and for these punk Romeo and Juliet, maybe the answer lies in a song - the one they’ve been writing and dreaming together: Zanka Contact.
Director’s Biography:
Born in 1983, Ismaël El Iraki lives between Casablanca and Paris, where he studied directing at La Femis. His award-winning short films reinvent genre tropes relocated to his native Morocco. Passionate about live music, he founded a concert recording company in Paris, shot photos for music bands and a video installation for the 2014 Venice Mostra. “Zanka Contact”, his first feature, premiered at the 2020 Mostra in Venice and won the Orizzonti Best Actress Award. Despite the pandemic, it has since been selected in many high-profile festivals and won many awards.
The Screening is followed by a discussion with the director, Ismaël El Iraki