Black Medusa

  • Black Medusa
Genre : Experimental
Type : Fiction
Original title :
Principal country concerned : Column : Cinema/tv
Year of production : 2021
Format : Feature
Running time : 96 (in minutes)

Nada is a young woman leading a double life. During the daytime she's quiet and reserved, but after dark she dives into the nightlife of Tunis and picks up men. First, she lets them tell their stories - as she doesn't speak, she acts as a kind of confidante - then beats the hell out of them. When a new colleague, Noura, arrives at her workplace and Nada finds a mythical knife at the home of one of her victims, events are unleashed over which Nada has less and less control.

BLACK MEDUSA is not only a portrait of an angry young woman in post-revolutionary Tunisia. The directors also sketch a portrait of Tunis: a city that combines cold, faceless office buildings with exuberant night life. Above all, they offer us a unique, innovative view of contemporary Tunisia. Using Nada's double life of monotony and violence as a metaphor, the film explores the more underlying concerns and sorrows of a generation.

During the nine nights in this story, the makers switch genres with ease: from a film noir featuring a mysterious femme fatale to an Italian giallo with a serial killer on the prowl, to even a sprinkling of fantasy. The striking Black Medusa consciously breaks with the stylistic elements usual in North African cinema in the same way as Nada breaks the rules of society in order to liberate herself.

starring
Nour Hajri, Rym Hayouni

a film by ismaël, Youssef CHEBBI

Tunisia, 2021, feature fiction, 1h36, experimental



CAST
Rym HAYOUNI
Aymen BEN HMIDA
Aymen MEJRI
Karim RMADI
Ala Eddine SLIM
Mehdi HAJRI
Callum Francis HUGH
Kadhem HARRAZI
Sarah Alina GROSZ
Sadry BEN MANSOUR
Slim HSAYNI
Belhassan HANDOUS

Producer
ISMAËL

Director
ISMAËL

Co-Director
YOUSSEF CHEBBI

Writer
ISMAËL

Co-Writer
YOUSSEF CHEBBI

Cinematographer:
Imed Aissaoui

Camera Operator
Youssef CHEBBI

Editor:
ismaël

Original music composer
Omar ALOULOU

Director of photography
IMED AISSAOUI

Sound recordist
AMAL ATTIA

Hair, make-up & effects
NIHEL BEN TANFOUS

Set decorator
BATAL TEMANI

Wardrobe
RYMA GTARI

First assistant director
DORRA MHAMDI

Second assistant director
FATMA DALDOUL

Camera assistant
AMIR LAHDHIRI

Production manager
ASHREF AMRI

Location manager
MOHAMED NEJI

Postproduction manager & colorist
FAKHREDDINE AMRI

Additional sound recordings, sound editing & mixing
YAZID CHABBI

Sound designer
TAREK LOUATI

Associate producers
OMAR BEN ALI (S.V.P.)
FREDERIC ZEIMET (SIX LETTERS)
& MOHAMED AZIZ BEN MUSTAPHA

Direction assistant preproduction
NASREDDINE BEN MAATI

Intern direction assistant
EYA HIDRI

Back-up direction assistant
YASSINE ELMEMMI ALOUINI

Knife design and creation
LASSAAD BEN SGHAIER

Pendant design and creation
EMNA BELGACEM (EKCCI)

Scrolling video design and creation
MYRIAM AROUS

Credits and graphic design
YACINE BLAIECH (MOGLI STUDIO)

Assistant editor
YASSINE TBESSI

Assistant sound editor
NOUR CHERIF

Foley recordist
AIDA BDIOUI

Back-up hair & make-up
CIRINE SAIDI

Truck
FATHI AYEB

Driver
FAOUZI NHILI

Catering
IBTICEM BEN TAYEB

Additional music
JAWHAR
NVMB STUPOR
THE ALEXANDER FURREUR COMMITTEE
TZARA
MILTZAH
YALLAH BYE

Stunts
FATMA BEN HMIDA
ATEF MAATALLAH
CHERIFA BARNAT
AISHA ZAIED
INTISSAR BELAID
MORITZ HAGEDORN
TAHER BEN ALI
CAMILLE LEVY
SAFWEN BAYA
ASHREF BEJAOUI
MEHDI MZEH
AZZOUZ REBBAI
NOUR BEN GHACHEM
WASSIM BEN JEMAA
ACHREF BEN CHAABANE

THANKS TO
Yosser Saidane
The Louati family
The Chebbi family
Chawki Knis & MadBox
Ali Hassouna & Exit Productions
Imed Marzouk & Propaganda Production
Moncef Taleb, Amine Messadi & Inside Production
Hatem & Slim Drissi & Museum Lab
Ismail Bahri & his family
Fares Ladjimi & Fatma Cherif
Raed Labassi
Nadya Zarrougi
Hamza Bennour
Omar Maaref, Yacine Zair & all the crew of the Wax
Majdi Chabbar & all the crew of the Marengo
Dali Samourai, Khaled Trabelsi & all the crew of the Rock n'rolla
All the crew of Sidi Bou Saïd Hotel
Pol Guillard
Sahbi Kraiem
Aroua Trudy
Mariem Esseghir
The Sousse Archaeological Museum & his direction
The Feradi Maius archaeological site & his direction
The El Menzah Olympic City & her direction
The Gym Box & his direction
Radhi Meddeb
Azza Chaabouni
Justin Pecheberty
Ikbel Zalila
Ahmed Blaiech & all the crew of BAAK studio
Helmi, Issam & all the crew of the Red Square
The Arabesques publishing company
Art Ensemble Studio
Nebil Mannai
Hassen Saies
Hela Soui
Chahrazede Krichene
Khalil Esseghir
Fakhri El Ghezal
Slim Dhib

PRODUCTION
Utopia Films (Tunisia)

Arab region sales agent: MAD Solutions


FESTIVALS / AWARDS
* World premiere: Tiger Competition /// International Film Festival Rotterdam - February, 5th, 2021
* CNCI Prize - Takmil /// Carthage Film Festival 2020
* Stadion Video Prize - Works In Progress /// Rome Med Film Festival 2020
* Works In Progress - Eastern Promises /// Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2020

Articles

1 files

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

With the support of