Red Soil
Director: Farid Bentoumi Run Time: 86 min. Rating: NR Release Year: 2021
Starring: Céline Sallette, Olivier Gourmet, Sami Bouajila, Zita Hanrot
Country: France, Belgium
Language: French with English subtitles
Red Soil / Rouge is presented in the Film Center’s Virtual Screening Room as part of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, the celebrated annual festival presented by Film at Lincoln Center and UniFrance Films.
About the film:
In this Cannes Film Festival 2020 selection, Nour, a nurse, is put on probation after a fatal accident at her emergency room. She takes charge of the infirmary of the chemical factory where her father has worked for nearly 30 years. As she starts scheduling routine check-ups, Nour is struck by odd gaps in the records and a general skepticism from the workers. Her suspicions build when a reporter raises concerns about undisclosed toxic waste dumps.
With each harrowing revelation, Red Soil pulls apart a conspiracy at the damning intersection of pollution and globalist exploitation. Starring César-winners Zita Hanrot and Sami Bouajila.
Screening as part of A Taste of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, an opportunity for audiences across the U.S. to experience a curated selection of festival highlights, showcasing the best in contemporary French filmmaking. All films include virtual Q&As.
About the filmmaker:
Trained in improvisation, Farid Bentoumi has directed and co-written several plays and acted on stage. He was selected as a Talent Cannes Adami in 2003 and appeared in numerous short films and television series before turning his talents to writing and directing film. In 2005, he received the Grand Jury Prize from the Screenwriters’ Festival.
Well received at festivals, his short films include the dreamy, offbeat fiction Another Day On Earth and El Migri, a documentary about his Franco-Algerian family. In Burners, a young man films aboard a migrant boat in the Mediterranean. The short drama won a Special Jury Prize at Dubai International Film Festival 2011. His most recent short film, Un Métier Bien, is a social comedy set in an Islamic veil shop.
In 2016, Farid Bentoumi released his first feature film, Good Luck Algeria, a comedy inspired by his brother’s unlikely participation in the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin. Red Soil is his second feature film.
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