EXCLUSIVE: The Morocco-set family drama stars Roschdy Zem and Marina Fois and is based on real-life events

Leila el la Nuit

Source: © Damned Films - Migdal Filmes - Lions Production - Caroline Champetier

‘Leila Et La Nuit’

EXCLUSIVE: Paris-based sales house Lucky Number has boarded Brazilian filmmaker Fellipe Barbosa’s Leila Et La Nuit (working title) and will launch sales for the Morocco-set family drama at next week’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in Paris.

The French-language film stars veteran French actors Roschdy Zem, Marina Fois and Francoise Lebrun alongside rising talents Sayyid El Alami and Oulaya Amamra and Brazil’s João Pedro Zappa and Felipe Frazão. It is about a family getting ready for a holiday in their Marrakech home, who find out their daughter has been seriously injured on an assignment and are determined to bring her home.

It is based on actual events in the life of photographer Leila Alaoui, who was caught up in a terrorist attack while on an Amnesty International mission investigating the rights of African women. It is based on the book Off To Ouaga written by her father Aziz Alaoui.

The film is produced by France’s Damned Films, Brazil’s Migdal Filmes and Morocco’s Lions Production. CinemaScópio, the Brazilian outfit of Kleber Mendonça Filho and Emilie Lesclaux, is on board as a co-producer.  

The film was shot in Morocco at the end of last year and is now in post-production. Condor Films is handling distribution in France.

Barbosa and Alaoui met at film school in New York. “She quickly became my best friend,” said Barbosa. “We witnessed the September 11 attacks from our dorm, and years later she was once again confronted with the violence of the world.

“When Leila’s father, Aziz, sent me the manuscript, he told me it would have been Leila’s wish for me to make this film. I embraced it as a mission. The film portrays Aziz’s stand against religious obscurantism, while Leila’s mother and grandmother gradually move closer to Islam.”

Barbosa’s Gabriel And The Mountain premiered in Cannes’ Critics’ Week in 2017 and Domingo at Giornate degli Autori in 2018.

Lucky Number is also launching sales at the Rendez-Vous for Che Guevara: The Last Companions, which blends animation, archival footage and interviews with Guevara’s last surviving allies. Its slate also includes David Roux’s Mrs starring Melanie Thierry and Annemarie Jacir’s Palestine 36.

Topics