June Screenings

THE MAN WHO SOLD HIS SKIN

• Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
• TUNISIA, FRANCE, GERMANY, BELGIUM, SWEDEN / 2021 / DCP / Colour / 102’ / Arabic, English, French; Turkish s.t.

• Screenplay: Kaouther Ben Hania
• Director of Photography: Christopher Aoun
• Editing: Marie-Hélène Dozo
• Music: Amine Bouhafa
• Cast: Yahya Mahayni, Dea Liane, Monica Bellucci, Koen de Bouw, Darina Al Joundi, Christian Vadim
• Producer: Nadim Cheikhrouha, Habib Attia, Thanassis Kharathanos, Annabella Nezri
• Production Co.: Tanit Films, Cinetelefilms, Twenty Twenty Vision, Kwassa Films, Laika Film & Television, Metafora Media Production, Sunnyland Film, Film i Vast, Voo & Be TV, Istiqlal Films
• World Sales: BAC Films
• Turkish Rights: Bir Film

This film is screened within the Galas section.

Theme Sponsor

2020 Venice Best Actor–Horizons (Y. Mahayni)
2020 Stockholm Best Screenplay

A refugee, a lover, a human being, who is at the same time a piece of art... Sam Ali’s fiancée is forced to marry a richer man and move to Brussels. A Syrian refugee in Lebanon, Sam Ali accepts to have his back tattooed as a Schengen visa by one of by the world’s most sulfurous contemporary artist, to be able to travel to Europe and meet his fiancée. The first Tunisian film to be nominated for an Oscar in the International Film category, The Man Who Sold His Skin was inspired by the real life story of Tim, a man who has been being “exhibited” since 2006, as the work of the Belgian artist Wim Delvoye. A film about art, exploitation, enslavement, freedom, visibility, “value and price” of a person, and a love story, The Man Who Sold His Skin is, according to Ben Hania, “an allegory about one’s personal freedom in an inegalitarian system tackling broader meaning about our real-world issues.”

This film was a Meetings on the Bridge participant.