Ismael El Maoula El Iraki (born 1983 in Morocco) is a French-Moroccan filmmaker. He is a survivor of the November 2015 attacks on the

Bataclan Bataclan may refer to: *'' Ba-ta-clan'', a 1855 operetta by Jacques Offenbach * Bataclan (theatre), a theatre in Paris named after the operetta **Bataclan theatre massacre, November 2015 Paris attacks Music *''Bataclan 1989'', by Maxime Le Fores ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, which inspired his first feature film, '' Zanka Contact''.

Biography

El Iraki was born in Morocco in 1983. He moved to France in 2001, where he studied

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and

film theory Film theory is a set of scholarly approaches within the academic discipline of film or cinema studies that began in the 1920s by questioning the formal essential attributes of motion pictures; and that now provides conceptual frameworks for und ...

before entering the directing section of

La Fémis La Fémis (French: ''École Nationale Supérieure des Métiers de l'Image et du Son''; "National Superior School for the Professions of Image and Sound", formerly known as the ''Institut des hautes études cinématographiques'', IDHEC) is a Fren ...

in 2004. His short film Carcasse, a sci-fi movie about construction workers in the Sahara, won the Short Film Corner Award in Cannes. His second short film Harash, a dark comedy thriller set in Casablanca, won the Jury Award and the Attention Talent Directing Award at the

Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival The Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival (French: ''Festival international du court métrage de Clermont-Ferrand'') is an international film festival dedicated to short films held annually in Clermont-Ferrand, France. History I ...

. They were both edited on DVD by the

FNAC Fnac () is a large French retail chain selling cultural and electronic products, founded by André Essel and Max Théret in 1954. Its head office is in ''Le Flavia'' in Ivry-sur-Seine near Paris. It is an abbreviation of Fédération Nationale d ...

french cultural retail cha

El Iraki is a survivor of the November 2015 Paris attacks, November 2015 Paris attack at the Bataclan. His experience of PTSD was channeled into his feature film Zanka Contact (a.k.a Burning Casablanca ).

Zanka Contact

El Iraki kept many of the cast and crew from his shorts (including actors

Said Bey Said Bey is a Moroccan actor and humorist. Filmography * ''Jesus'' (1999) * ''The Man Who Sold the World'' (2009)' * ''Femmes en miroires'' (2011)' * '' Road To Kabul'' (2011) * Son of God (2014) * ''Urgent Urgent may refer to: * Urgent (A ...

and

Mourad Zaoui Mourad Zaoui (; born 23 April 1980) is a Moroccan actor. Biography Mourad Zaoui was born in the Aïn Sebaâ district of Casablanca, Morocco, on 23 April 1980. He is the oldest of two sons born to Mostapha and Khadija Zaoui. After earning his ...

) on his first feature Zanka Contact, also known under the French release title Burning Casablanca. The movie premiered in 2020 in the official selection of the

77th Venice International Film Festival The 77th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 2 to 12 September 2020, albeit in a "more restrained format" due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Australian actress Cate Blanchett was appointed as the President of the Jury. '' The Ties ...

. The lead actress Khansa Batma won the Lion for Best Actress Orizzonti section. Despite being premiered in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, the movie still obtained many selections in international festivals around the world :

Busan International film festival The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF, previously Pusan International Film Festival, PIFF), held annually in Haeundae-gu, Busan (''also'' Pusan), South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. The first festi ...

, São Paulo International Film Festival or Mostra,

Karlovy Vary International Film festival The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival ( cs, Mezinárodní filmový festival Karlovy Vary) is a film festival held annually in July in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. The Karlovy Vary Festival is one of the oldest in the world and has become ...

and many more. Described as a rock n' roll thriller-western set in

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

, compared to Wild At Heart or Head-On and shot on

35mm film 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film, a type of motion picture film stock * 35MM 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format ...

in a

CinemaScope CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its creation in 1953 by ...

Anamorphic Anamorphic format is the cinematography technique of shooting a widescreen picture on standard 35 mm film or other visual recording media with a non-widescreen native aspect ratio. It also refers to the projection format in which a distorted ...

, Zanka Contact went on the win several international awar

among which the Best Film Awa

at the

Luxor African Film Festival The Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF) is an annual film festival for African cinema in Luxor, Egypt. In October 2019 the Malmö Arab Film Festival Malmö Arab Film Festival (MAFF) is an Arab film festival based in Malmö, Sweden. MAFF is widel ...

. Zanka Contact was theatrically released in France on November 3, 2021, under the changed title Burning Casablanca. Director explained that the change was decided with the French distributor during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

to avoid sounding like the french phrase "cas contact", which refers to someone who had close contact with a Covid-19 case. The film beneficiated from a wave of support from film critics in Fran

and did well theatrically for a post-COVID release. The Moroccan release took place on December 1, 2021, to critic and commercial acclaim. 10 months later in September 2022, Zanka Contact participated in the Tangier National Film Festival and won Best Film and Best Actress in a Supporting Role for actress Fatima Attif.

Filmography

Feature films

* 2020: '' Zanka Contact'' A.K.A Burning Casablanca (French title)

Short films

* 2007: ''Carcasse'' * 2008: ''Harash''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Iraki, Ismael Moroccan film directors French film directors 1983 births Living people