Lubna Azabal stars in Moknèche’s Goodbye Morocco

by Fabien Lemercier

13/09/2011 - On October 4, shooting will start in Lyon on Nadir Mokneche’s fourth feature: French/Belgian co-production Goodbye Morocco. A regular at international festivals, the director of The Harem of Madame Osmane (2000) and Délice Paloma [trailer] (2007) has re-teamed with Lubna Azabal (pictured – Scorched [trailer]) who previously appeared under his direction in Viva Algeria (2004). The cast also includes Rasha Bukvic (Beloved [trailer, film focus]), Ralph Amoussou (With A Little Help From Myself [trailer] and currently filming Daniele Vicari’s Diaz) and Grégory Gadebois (Angèle and Tony [trailer]).

Scripted by the director, the film opens in Tangier. Moroccan woman Dounia (Azabal) and Franco-Serbian Dimitri (Bukvic) are lovers. They are working together on the construction of a luxury villa for a company based in Gibraltar.

The excavation work uncovers some third-century Christian tombs, decorated with frescos. For Dounia and Antonio, this discovery is a unique opportunity to change the course of their life together. But one of the building-site workers disappears...

Produced by Nathalie Mesuret and Bertrand Gore for Blue Monday Productions, Goodbye Morocco has received co-production support from France 2 Cinéma, Rhône-Alpes Cinéma and Belgium’s Need Productions, an advance on receipts from the National Film and Moving Image Centre (CNC), and backing from Sofica Cinémage and Belgian Tax Shelter Inver Invest.

Shooting is scheduled to last seven weeks, mainly in Lyon and Casablanca. Belgian distribution will be handled by O’Brother, while the French release in late 2012-early 2013 will be through Les Films du Losange, who are also managing international sales.

Blue Monday’s recent film credits also include Yves Caumon’s The Bird [trailer] (see news), which has just been unveiled at the Venice Mostra in the Horizons section (to be released in France on January 25, 2012); and Eve Deboise’s Paradis Perdu [trailer] (“Paradise Lost”, in post-production – see news).

(Translated from French)