ACCREDITATION FOR THE 7TH EDITION IS NOW OPEN 

BIRDLAND

( 2023 )
Feature Narrative Competition |
 
Morocco
,
France
 |
 Arabic, French, Spanish |
 127 min

About the film

Far from relegating its dreamtime visions to a nostalgic prelapsarian past, Birdland fuses its depiction of nature with the new means of communication and creation engendered by the internet. The silent Lina, who writes keywords and questions all over her body, emerges as a teenage warrior for our troubled times...

Director

Leila Kilani

Leila Kilani is a film director, a producer and a screenwriter. She studied Economics, and Mediterranean History and Civilisation at L’École des Hautes études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. She worked as a freelance journalist before making the switch to filmmaking. She made a documentary on the lives of immigrants in the harbour town of Tangier, The Burning Dream (2003), on the great Musician Zad Moultaka Zad Moultaka/Passage (2003) and on the repressive regime of the Moroccan King Hassan II, Our Forbidden Places (2009). Kilani has scooped up many awards for her first narrative film, On the Plank (2011) that premiered in Cannes. Birdland (2023) premiered in Rotterdam. She divides her time between Paris and Tangiers.

Producer

Emmanuel Barrault, Leila Kilani

Production Company

Leila Kilani

Screenplay

Leila Kilani, Eric Devin

Cinematography

Eric Devin

Editing

Tina Baz

Sound

Laurent Malan

Cast

Ifham Mathet, Ikram Layachi, Bahia Boutia El Oumani, Mustafa Shimdat, Jaafar Brigui

Contacts

International Sales: DKB Productions, eb@dkbproductions.com; Middle East Distributor: Film Clinic Indie Distribution FZ LLC, jessica.khoury@fcidistribution.com

Producer

Emmanuel Barrault, Leila Kilani

Production Company

Leila Kilani

Screenplay

Leila Kilani, Eric Devin

Cinematography

Eric Devin

Editing

Tina Baz

Sound

Laurent Malan

Cast

Ifham Mathet, Ikram Layachi, Bahia Boutia El Oumani, Mustafa Shimdat, Jaafar Brigui

Contacts

International Sales: DKB Productions, eb@dkbproductions.com; Middle East Distributor: Film Clinic Indie Distribution FZ LLC, jessica.khoury@fcidistribution.com

More About 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

Producer

Emmanuel Barrault, Leila Kilani

Production Company

Leila Kilani

Screenplay

Leila Kilani, Eric Devin

Cinematography

Eric Devin

Editing

Tina Baz

Sound

Laurent Malan

Cast

Ifham Mathet, Ikram Layachi, Bahia Boutia El Oumani, Mustafa Shimdat, Jaafar Brigui

Contact

International Sales: DKB Productions, eb@dkbproductions.com; Middle East Distributor: Film Clinic Indie Distribution FZ LLC, jessica.khoury@fcidistribution.com

More About 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