The Wedding Song
by Karin Albou
WITH : Lizzie Brocheré, Olympe Borval, Simon Abkarian, Najib Oudghiri
Production : 2008 – 100’ – In coproduction with France 3 Cinéma
French distribution et international sales : Pyramide
FestivalS
Jury Grand Prize at the Ottawa Film Festival 2009
Audience Award and double Best Actress Award at the Saint Jean de Luz Young Directors’ Festival
Press Award at the Fameck Arab Film Festival
Prix Eclair and Special Jury Commendation at the Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival
Synopsis
Tunis, 1942. Nour and Myriam, both sixteen years old, have been friends since childhood. They share the same house in a humble neighbourhood where Jews and Muslims live in harmony. Each secretly desires the other’s life: while Nour regrets not going to school like her friend, Myriam dreams of love. She is jealous of Nour’s engagement to her cousin Khaled, who is, to her eyes, a kind of Prince Charming. Unfortunately, Khaled can’t find work. The engagement lasts longer than planned and the perspective of intimacy becomes more remote.
In November 1942, the German army enters Tunis. Following the French Vichy government’s policy, the Nazis subject the Jewish population to harsh penalties. Tita, Myriam’s mother, no longer has the right to work. Laden with debts, she decides to marry her daughter off to a rich doctor.
Myriam suddenly sees her dreams of love vanish.