Country: Italy
Year: 2009
Duration: 108\'
THE FOREIGNER
Naghib is middle-aged architect who lives in Torino. One day, almost by chance, he meets the prostitute Amina and the two feel an immediate attraction. But Naghib, who is still closely tied to the culture of his homeland, is unable to throw himself completely into the relationship. Amina, who has run away from a violent husband, decides to disappear from the architect’s life. Only a member of the police force, Giada, who must oversee the girl’s expulsion, is able to bring the two back together.
“It’s the story of two immigrants, but it’s also something more; it’s the passionate love story of a woman and a man who are forced to meet and live by the rules, the prejudices and the conventions of a world that is smaller than the humanity it contains. It’s a fairy tale of Porta Palazzo, in Torino, where the store signs are in Arabic, the butcher shops sell meat that has been slaughtered according to sharia and the attics where the immigrants from southern Italy used to live are now crowded with young Moroccans, Tunisians and Egyptians. Thus, the colors of the fairy tale are imbued with documentary truth.”
Biography
film director
Marco Turco
(Rome, Italy, 1960) after graduating in history and philosophy, collaborated with the daily newspaper “l'Unità” and the journal “Movie.” He worked as an assistant director for Franco Giraldi, Damiano Damiani, and Gianni Amelio on the sets of Porte Aperte (1988), Il ladro di bambini (1990), and Lamerica (1994). His first short films, La sveglia and Coincidenze, were selected for the Venice Film Festival. In 1998, he made his first feature film, Vite in sospeso, which won Golden Goblets at Saint Vincent for Best New Director and Best Screenplay. He has made many documentaries, including Jazzitudine, ’A famiglia, Lo sguardo sull’uomo. Incontro con Gillo Pontecorvo, and In un altro paese, which won prizes at the Festival dei popoli in Florence and at the TaorminaFilmFest. In 2007, he shot the TV movie Rino Gaetano - Ma il cielo è sempre più blu and in 2009, La straniera, presented at the Torino Film Festival. In 2020, he made Questo è un uomo, a docufiction for Raiuno about Primo Levi.
FILMOGRAFIA
La sveglia (cm, 1994), Coincidenze (cm, 1995), Vite sospese (mm, doc., 1996), Jazzitudine (mm, doc., 1997), Vite in sospeso (1998), ’A famiglia (mm, doc., 1999), Lo sguardo sull’uomo. Incontro con Gillo Pontecorvo (mm, doc., 2000), In un altro paese (doc., 2004), Il colpo di pistola (mm, 2005), Rino Gaetano - Ma il cielo è sempre più blu (TV, 2007), C’era una volta la città dei matti (TV, 2009), La straniera (2009), Altri tempi (TV, 2013), L’Oriana (TV, 2015), Questo è un uomo (TV, doc., 2020), La generazione perduta (doc., 2022).
Cast
& Credits
regia/director
Marco Turco
soggetto/story
dall’omonimo romanzo di/from the novel of the same title by Younis Tawfik
sceneggiatura/screenplay
Marco Turco, Monica Zapelli
fotografia/cinematography
Paolo Carnera, Alessandro Pesci
montaggio/film editing
Massimo Quaglia
scenografia/production design
Alessandro Marrazzo
costumi/costume design
Silvia Nebiolo
musica/music
Natasha Atlas, Tim Whelan, Hamilton Lee
suono/sound
Filippo Porcari
interpreti/cast
Kaltoum Boufangacha, Ahmed Hafiene, Sonia Bergamasco, Claudio Gioè, Beauty Obasuvi, Jamil Hammoudi
produttori/producers
Monica Iezzi, Melania Iezzi
produzione/production
La Beffa Produzioni srl
Marco Turco
soggetto/story
dall’omonimo romanzo di/from the novel of the same title by Younis Tawfik
sceneggiatura/screenplay
Marco Turco, Monica Zapelli
fotografia/cinematography
Paolo Carnera, Alessandro Pesci
montaggio/film editing
Massimo Quaglia
scenografia/production design
Alessandro Marrazzo
costumi/costume design
Silvia Nebiolo
musica/music
Natasha Atlas, Tim Whelan, Hamilton Lee
suono/sound
Filippo Porcari
interpreti/cast
Kaltoum Boufangacha, Ahmed Hafiene, Sonia Bergamasco, Claudio Gioè, Beauty Obasuvi, Jamil Hammoudi
produttori/producers
Monica Iezzi, Melania Iezzi
produzione/production
La Beffa Produzioni srl
