Another View 2016 / Mimosas / Spain, Morocco, France, Qatar 2016
The Moroccan-based Spanish director calls his film a religious Western, a hypnotic odyssey undertaken by a curiously incongruous group of pilgrims transporting the body of a deceased sheikh across the Atlas Mountains to the place where he was born. Winner of the main prize from Cannes’ Critics’ Week, the mysterious story asserts that one can believe in many a thing besides God.
French-born Spanish director Oliver Laxe has lived in Morocco for years, thus his unsurprising sensitivity and respect towards the spirit of the place, which emanates from every take of his second film. Set in the south, in a part of the country untouched by tourism, the picture describes a hypnotic odyssey undertaken by a curiously incongruous group of pilgrims transporting the body of a deceased sheikh to his native region. Awarded the Critics’ Week Grand Prize at Cannes, the piece is remotely reminiscent of a Western, yet its mysterious attraction lies in its deep-rooted connection with Sufism, a mystical dimension of Islam. “It’s exciting to be able to have motifs in your film that can’t be explained rationally,” says Laxe, who describes Mimosas as a “film-prayer,” a substantial part of which shouldn’t be perceived by applying logic. The filmmaker works masterfully with non-professional actors, whose fresh faces and unpredictable expressions and gestures heighten the effect on his rapt audience.
Karel Och
93 min / Color, DCP
Director Oliver Laxe
/ Screenplay Oliver Laxe, Santiago Fillol
/ Dir. of Photography Mauro Herce
/ Editor Cristóbal Fernández
/ Producer Felipe Lage Coro
/ Production Zeitun Films
/ Coproduction La Prod, Rouge International
/ Cast Ahmed Hammoud, Shakib Ben Omar, Saïd Aagli, Ikram Anzouli, Ahmed El Othemani, Hamid Fardjad
/ Sales LUXBOX
Oliver Laxe (1982, Paris) French-born Spanish director, screenwriter and actor, lives and works in Morocco. His feature film debut You Are All Captains (Todos vós sodes Capitáns, 2010) was selected for Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight, where it was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize. The world premiere of Mimosas was held in another parallel section at this year’s Cannes festival, Critics’ Week.
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