Dubai-based sales outfit MAD World has acquired worldwide sales rights to Nadim Tabet’s upcoming ghost story In This Darkness I See You ahead of the Cannes market
The Lebanese thriller will join the inaugural slate of MAD World, a new sales and distribution company for Arab-language feature films that was launched yesterday by MAD Solutions.
The supernatural story follows strange events that occur at a construction site in a Lebanese village, where tensions between Syrian workers and local villagers come to a head after one labourer becomes convinced that the site is haunted. The screenplay was co-written by Tabet, Antoine Waked and Jamal Belmahi.
Now in production, the cast includes Ziad Jallad, Marilyne Naaman, Maya Dagher, Moe Lattouf and Hasan Douba. A first look at the film can be seen above.
It is produced by Georges Schoucair, whose credits include Memory Box, which played in Competition at the Berlinale in 2021, and Costa Brava, Lebanon, which premiered at Venice and won the Netpac Award at Toronto in 2021. The film is also produced by Eli Souaiby with co-producers Antoine Waked and Arnaud Dommerc.
It is a co-production between Lebanon’s Abbout Productions and Clandestino Films alongside France’s Andolfi, with Egypt’s Film Clinic Indie Distribution handling the film’s Middle East and North Africa sales and release.
The production received financial backing from the Red Sea Film Fund, Doha Film Institute, and Lebanese Film Fund. It was also took part in the Frontières co-production market in Montreal.
It marks Tabet’s second feature after drama One Of These Days, which premiered at Rome Film Festival in 2017.
The filmmaker revealed how In This Darkness I See You will combine genre elements with a timely political subtext.
“Is it possible to continuously build upon the rubble of the past without being haunted by the ghosts of our history?” said Tabet. “The figure of the ghost seems to me to be an accurate metaphor to describe how, in Lebanon, the past haunts the present to the point of plunging it into eternal repetition.
“I have a feeling that if walls are being built between people everywhere in the world, it is because instead of facing their ‘history,’ several countries accuse the ‘other’ of being the cause of all their misfortunes. Despite the darkness of its subject, my film is above all a love story.”
“It’s always been our goal to foster and present films that shed new light on our often-misunderstood region,” added MAD World co-presidents Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab. “This film is a refreshing take on the Lebanese-Syrian conflicts with a supernatural twist that makes the film both unique and timeless.”
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