Black [réal: Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah]

  • Black [réal: Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah]
Genre : Action
Type : Fiction
Original title :
Principal country concerned : Column : Cinema/tv
Year of production : 2015
Format : Feature
Running time : 95 (in minutes)
http://www.facebook.com/blackmoviebycaviar

A 15-year-old Congolese girl in a black gang in Brussels must choose between loyalty and love when she falls for a Moroccan boy from a rival gang.

Directed by Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah

Belgium | 2015, Feature drama, 95 minutes |

Tags : Arab Experience, Female Experience, Crime, Urban Life, Black + African Diaspora, Coming of Age

NOTE OF THE PROGRAMMER (Toronto 2015)
The city of Brussels, plagued by high rates of youth unemployment, is home to nearly forty street gangs, and the number of young people drawn into the city's gang culture increases each year. It's in this criminal milieu that directing duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah set Black, a pulse-pounding contemporary take on a Shakespearean tragedy.

Worlds collide when Mavela (Martha Canga Antonio), a teenage girl with ties to Brussels' Black Bronx gang, meets Marwan (Aboubakr Bensaihi), a member of a rival Moroccan gang, at a police station. Keenly aware of the consequences of getting involved with someone from another gang, they at first resist their attraction to one another, but they can only resist for so long. Just when they've started to imagine a different life for themselves, a terrifying incident reminds Mavela where she belongs - and, more precisely, to whom. In order to break free, Mavela and Marwan will have to betray the very loyalties on which their gangs are founded. And they know what lies ahead for them if they don't.

El Arbi and Fallah's film moves forward at an electrifying pace, with furious energy and a gritty realism reminiscent of epic gangster films like City of God and Goodfellas. Ricocheting from moments of extreme tenderness to scenes of extreme violence, and enhanced by the raw performances of its young leads, Black is a full-on, no-holds-barred experience that will resonate long after you've left the cinema.

Kerri Craddock (TIFF 2015, Toronto)

Director
Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah

Countries of Production
Belgium

Year of presentation
2015

Languages
French, Arabic, Lingala, Dutch

Runtime
95 minutes

Rating
18A

Title of Original Work
Black/​Black

Author of Original Work
Dirk Bracke

Production Company
Caviar/​Climax Films

Executive Producer
Hendrik Verthe, Kobe Van Steenberghe

Producer
Frank Van Passel, Ivy Vanhaecke, Bert Hamelinck

Screenplay
Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah, Nele Meirhaeghe, Hans Herbots

Cinematographer
Robrecht Heyvaert

Editor
Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah

Production Designer
Stijn Verhoeven

Sound
Joeri Verspecht

Music
Hannes De Maeyer

Principal Cast
Martha Canga Antonio, Aboubakr Bensaihi, Emmanuel Tahon, Axel Massudi, Marine Scandiuzzi, Simon Frey

Primary Publicist
ClutchPR

International Sales Agent
Be for Films

Connect
Facebook / Website / Twitter

2015 | 40ème Festival de Toronto | 10-20 Sept 2015, Canada
* Sélection - Discovery
* Première Mondiale
* Screening: Fri Sep 11, 9:00 PM, The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, SUBTITLED
* Screening: Sun Sep 13, 10:00 PM, Scotiabank Theatre Scotiabank 2, SUBTITLED
* Screening: Sat Sep 19, 3:15 PM, Scotiabank Theatre Scotiabank 3,
SUBTITLED
http://tiff.net/festivals/festival15/discovery/black

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Partners

  • Arterial network
  • Media, Sports and Entertainment Group (MSE)
  • Gens de la Caraïbe
  • Groupe 30 Afrique
  • Alliance Française VANUATU
  • PACIFIC ARTS ALLIANCE
  • FURTHER ARTS
  • Zimbabwe : Culture Fund Of Zimbabwe Trust
  • RDC : Groupe TACCEMS
  • Rwanda : Positive Production
  • Togo : Kadam Kadam
  • Niger : ONG Culture Art Humanité
  • Collectif 2004 Images
  • Africultures Burkina-Faso
  • Bénincultures / Editions Plurielles
  • Africiné
  • Afrilivres

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