My English Cousin
Fall Grants 2017
Karim Sayad / Feature Documentary / Algeria, Switzerland, France, Qatar / 2019 / 90 min / Original Language: Arabic, English / Interests: Social Issues, Immigration, Identity, Creative Documentary
Synopsis
2001, Fahed reaches the UK his head filled with dreams. 2018, in the thrall of a mid-life crisis, he must now make a decision. Will he keep his head low and continue working 50-hours weeks between the kebab shop and the factory, or will he return to Algeria, a country he fled in the hope of making a better life for himself?
Credits
- Director
- Karim Sayad
- Screenwriter
- Karim Sayad
- Producer
- Joëlle Bertossa
- Production Company
- Close Up Films
About the Director
Karim Sayad was born in Lausanne in 1984 to an Algerian father and a Swiss mother. After completing an MA in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies of Geneva, he decided to become a documentary filmmaker. His first short, 'Babor Casanova', premiered in Locarno in 2015. It was then shown in festivals worldwide, and won awards at DocLisboa, Festival Dei Popoli and, among others, the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival. 'Of Sheep and Men' his first feature documentary was selected at TIFF Docs, São Paulo and Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal, and won the Special Mention at the MedFilm Festival.
Awards and Festival History
Festivals
"TIFF 2019, Docs (WP)
DOK Leipzig 2019
Festival Dei Popoli 2019
Thessaloniki Documentary Festival 2020
Rencontre d’Aflam 2020
Arab FF ALFILM 2020
Festivals Cinémas du Sud 2020
Full Frame Documentary FF 2020
Gabes FF 2020 (online edition)"
Soleure Prize, Journées de Soleure 2020
Contacts
-
Main Contact
Joëlle Bertossa
- Company:
- Close Up Films
- Phone:
- +41 22 808 0846 / +41 78 665 0512
- Email:
- joelle@closeupfilms.ch