All posts tagged: Soumsoum

‘Soumsoum’ Wins Fipresci Honor, ‘Moscas’ Wows Ecumenical Jury

‘Soumsoum’ Wins Fipresci Honor, ‘Moscas’ Wows Ecumenical Jury

Berlin competition titles Soumsoum, the Night of the Stars, and Moscas won over the independent juries at this year’s Berlinale, with Soumsoum, from Franco-Chadian auteur Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, taking top prize for best film from the Fipresci jury of international film critics, and Moscas from Mexican Director Fernando Eimbcke, winning the top honor of this year’s Ecumenical jury. Soumsoum follows a 17-year-old girl haunted by visions and supernatural powers she cannot understand. In our review, The Hollywood Reporter critic Jordan Mintzer called the film “a modern-day fable of adolescence and resilience that plays, at times, like a classic teen horror flick — minus the jump scares but with similar twists and motifs.” Films Boutique is handling worldwide sales. The black-and-white drama Moscas plays on a sweeter register, following a young boy who, while waiting for news of his hospitalized mother, slowly breaks down the resistance of a lonely woman who has forgotten the value of human connection. In his review, THR chief critic David Rooney gave Moscas a rave, saying it was precisely the kind of …

‘Soumsoum, the Night of the Stars’ Review: Chadian Arthouse Horror

‘Soumsoum, the Night of the Stars’ Review: Chadian Arthouse Horror

Director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun is known for hard-hitting, evocative dramas set in his native Chad, a country that was embroiled in sectarian conflict for decades. Movies like Dry Season, A Screaming Man (which won Cannes’ Jury Prize in 2011) and Grigris followed men in various states of turmoil, beset by violence and other hardships in the Sub-Saharan desert. Along with his unflinching documentary on the humanitarian crimes committed by Chadian dictator Hissen Habre, Haroun’s films form an uncompromising body of work that’s definitely bleak, but can also be rather luminous. His previous feature, Lingui, The Sacred Bonds, marked a change of direction for the auteur, who focused on female characters for the first time and offered a more hopeful vibe than before. He continues this streak with Soumsoum, the Night of the Stars (Soumsoum, la nuit des astres), a modern-day fable of adolescence and resilience that plays, at times, like a classic teen horror flick — minus the jump scares but with similar twists and motifs. Soumsoum, the Night of the Stars The Bottom Line Languid, …