PRODUCTION / FUNDING France / Algeria / Belgium / Switzerland

EXCLUSIVE: Hiam Abbass and Dali Benssalah are filming Meursault contre-enquête

02/10/2023 - Nabil Asli, Amina Ben Ismaïl, Raphaël Thiéry and Grégoire Monsaingeon also star in Malek Bensmaïl’s first fiction film, steered by Tita B Productions and Hikayet Films

Actress Hiam Abbass (© AgencesArtistiques.com) and actor Dali Benssalah (© Arno Lam)

Since 19 September, Malek Bensmaïl, who’s well-known for his documentaries (including La Chine est encore loin, Checks and Balances and Aliénations), has been shooting his first fiction feature film Meursault contre-enquête, a project previously halted in May 2022 due to the passing of Ahmed Benaïssa.

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Written by Malek Bensmaïl and Jacques Fieschi (awarded 2021’s Best Adaptation César for Lost Illusions [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Xavier Giannoli
film profile] and nominated a further four times) based on Kamel Daoud’s novel of the same name, the story is set in Oran in 1996, when elderly, retired bachelor Haroun tells a young journalist an incredible story dating back to the summer of 1942: he claims to be the brother of the "Nameless Arab" killed in Albert Camus’ famous novel…

Meursault contre-enquête is produced by Fred Prémel on behalf of Tita B Productions and by Hachemi Zertal for Algerian firm Hikayet Films, in co-production with Belgium’s Need Productions and Switzerland’s Imagofilm. Notably backed by the CNC (via an advance on receipts and the Fonds Images de la Diversité fund), the Ile-de-France region and Procirep, the movie will be shot over a four-week period in Oran, Algiers and Hadjout, wrapping on 13 October with Gilles Porte heading up photography. The film’s release in French cinemas will fall to Dulac Distribution.

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(Translated from French)