About the Film
A gripping family drama set in contemporary Morocco, on the hills covered by woods above Tangiers. Lina lives with her father Anis in the old family home, La Mansouria. Both are lovers of nature and passionate about birds, a passion that caused Lina’s mother’s death and her father’s long coma for which she felt responsible.
Lina made the vow not to speak until her father was cured but when it happened words had deserted her and her thoughts have since taken shape exclusively in her head or on her skin, as well as on social media, where she has garnered many followers with live broadcasts of her and her father birdwatching.
When the grandmother, Amina, organises a marriage at La Mansouria, with the aim of gathering together all the family and convincing them to sell the property, putting at risk the surrounding environment and its inhabitants, Anis refuses to sell his share. Young Lina, starts her battle in favor of the storks and against the matriarch using her smartphone as a powerful weapon. At her side, besides her father, the only other person she manages to connect with, Chinwiya, the maid of the estate, who is also somehow involved in the the fire that all of a sudden started to destroy the surrounding forest.
The bourgeois drama of a family, whose interpersonal relationships are poisoned by Amina's selfish and sick love, is intertwined with social passion and respect for the environment, creating a complex tapestry on which stand out the powerful portraits of three different but equally indomitable women, masterfully played by Ifham Mathet (Lina), Bahia Bootia (Amina) and Ikram Layachi (Chinwiya). The forest, birds and storks become compelling co-protagonists thanks to Eric Devin's sumptuous cinematography.
Teresa Cavina
