USA: FRENCH-ALGERIAN DIRECTOR KARIM DRIDI SPEAKS ABOUT HIS NEW FILM 'BYE BYE'

Record ID: 574245

  • Title: USA: FRENCH-ALGERIAN DIRECTOR KARIM DRIDI SPEAKS ABOUT HIS NEW FILM 'BYE BYE'
  • Date: 25th September 1995
  • Summary: (RTV) DRIDI SAYING HE WANTED TO SHOW WESTERN AUDIENCES SOMETHING INTIMATE ABOUT ARABIC FAMILY AND THAT HE TRIED TO BE POSITIVE
  • Embargoed: 10th October 1995 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES AND FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA5QIIJ35M5OWRR6PJ93JGJJRZV
  • Story Text: Marginalised Arab culture in France has found its very own Spike Lee in the French director, Karim Dridi and his new offering "Bye-Bye".

    "Bye Bye", Dridi's second film, is a hard-hitting mix of music, drama, slang and racial tensions set in the volatile suburbs of Marseilles, France.

    In a recent interview with Reuters, Dridi said his film was not a documentary or a television film but fantasy.

    In "Bye Bye", Sami Bouajila plays Ismael, a handsome 25-year old French-Tunisian with a chip on his shoulders.

    Ismael is wracked with guilt over the death of one of his brothers. He embarks on a visit to family in Marseilles with his teenage brother, Mouloud (Ouassini Embarek), en route to native Tunisia.

    The two find themselves in the midst of an eventful family scene and are caught up in the tensions that lurk in the city streets.

    Having found work in the docks, Ismael makes friends with local French men and falls for a beautiful Arab girl who happens to be living with one of his co-workers.

    Meanwhile, taking advantage of his brother's preoccupations, Mouloud begins to hang out with his thuggish cousin and enters the world of a psychotic Arab drug baron.

    As the brothers' world is rocked by racism, crime and the constant threat of violence, the family becomes a safe haven and the movie hurtles towards its climax.

    "Bye-Bye" is a fast-moving film, racing through suburban streets to beaches to dock-yards. Music also plays an intrinsic part and the drama unfolds to the tune of Italian Bel Canto and Arab/Andalusian flamenco.

    Dridi first drew attention with his 1994 film "Pigalle." "Bye Bye" opens in the United States on September 17.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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