Short Films

{{item.headline}}

> DETAIL INFO

No More Flowers

SOFIA

• Director: Meryem Benm’Barek
• FRANCE, QATAR / 2018 / DCP / Colour / 80’ / French, Arabic; Turkish, English s.t.

• Screenplay: Meryem Benm’Barek
• Director of Photography: Son Doan
• Editing: Céline Perreard
• Cast: Maha Alemi, Lubna Azabal, Sarah Perles, Faouzi Bensaidi, Hamza Khafif, Nadia Niazi, Rawia
• Producer: Olivier Delbosc
• Production Co.: Curiosa Films, Versus Production
• World Sales: Be for Films

- 2018 THESSALONIKI -- FIPRESCI Prize
- 2018 CARTHAGE -- Special Mention, Best First Work
- 2018 BRATISLAVA -- Best Director
- 2018 CANNES -- Un Certain Regard-Best Screenplay

Sofia, who is in denial of her pregnancy, gets labor pains during a family meal with guests. Thanks to her med student cousin Lena’s vigilance, they go to a hospital without alerting anyone and she delivers her baby. However, her family aside, bureaucracy and laws get involved as well: if she won’t reveal the identity of the father, the hospital will need to inform the authorities. In her feature-length debut, Meryem Benm’barek delivers a thorough and striking analysis of class differences, gender inequality, matriarchal traditions, and taboos that form the fabric of Moroccan society starting off from article 490 of the country’s penal code which sanctions prison sentences for sexual relations out of wedlock.

This film was a Meetings on the Bridge participant.