Written & Directed by Ali Benchekroune
A mysterious figure embarks on a silent odyssey across an endless desert. It is draped in a heavy, symbol-covered fabric and carries a basket of coal. Guided by a cryptic map drawn from a glass bottle, a relic of a long-lost maritime life, it encounters ancient, extinguished campfires in the middle of nowhere. An enigmatic quest until the unexpected happens.
With this third short film, I wanted to mark a radical shift in my filmography. Accustomed to maximalism, I felt a vital need to challenge myself by embracing a purely poetic and visceral cinema, sculpted solely by space, silence, and imagery. I wanted to prove my ability to tell a complete story without a single line of dialogue, relying on the essence of minimalism and the power of symbols: one character, a desert, a map, and a heavy basket of coal. The film deconstructs the burden of the creative quest to ultimately reveal the purity of life. My ambition was to direct a fundamentally timeless and universal piece, capable of being told anytime, to anyone, anywhere, and in any mood.
This film marks my first experience as a co-producer, a crucial step in my career. It was a real test to see if I could carry and structure a timeless story with my own company, alongside my lifelong friend and partner Anas El Hatimi, and in synergy with my great friends and producers Hicham El Ghorfi and Frantz Richard. The main challenge of this co-production was to bring to life a work relying entirely on the expressiveness of hostile natural environments, bridging the absolute barrenness of the Agafay desert with the vastness of Essaouira's beach. Managing the logistics of these two extreme locations with a very small technical crew demanded relentless rigor. We proved that an ambitious cinematic production can be built on the economy of means and the poetic power of minimalism.
LIONS PRODUCTION & SERVICE
& MAGHREBIAN ART COMPANY
Moroccan Based Production
Production: 2020
Current Status: Released
Ali Benchekroune
Mohamed Bakrim
Hamza Gounin
Jallal Achour
Hamza El Gorda
Tam Slimani
Morad Belmouden
Mehdi Lachhab
Abdelmounaim Enokra
Monsef Andalib
Anis Berjamy
Ilyass Ziani
Enzo Tibi
Laurence Leenaert
Mohamed El Barj
Ali Benchekroune
Samir Gougas
Meissoune Benchekroune
Hamza • Tam • Hicham • Mimi • Mehdi • Frantz • Niz • Moun • Bakrim • Ornella