Screened as part of NZIFF 2010

A Screaming Man 2009

Un homme qui crie

Directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

A father’s world collapses when he loses his job as a pool attendant to his son, while his central African country is torn apart by civil war. Winner Jury Prize, Cannes Film Festival.

Belgium / Chad / France In Arabic and French with English subtitles
92 minutes CinemaScope / DigiBeta

Director, Screenplay

Producer

Florence Stern

Photography

Laurent Brunet

Editor

Marie-Hélène Dozo

Music

Wasis Diop

With

Youssouf Djaoro (Adam)
,
Diouc Koma (Abdel)
,
Emil Abossolo M'Bo (district chief)
,
Hadjé Fatimé Ngoua (Miriam)
,
Marius Yelolo (David)
,
Djénéba Kone (Djénéba)

Festivals

Cannes (In Competition) 2010

Awards

Jury Prize, Cannes Film Festival 2010

Elsewhere

Direct from Cannes, where it won the Jury Prize, comes the latest from francophone Chadian director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (Abouna, NZIFF03). The film follows Adam, a former swimming champion who takes great pride in his work as a pool attendant at a luxury hotel. He is devastated to learn that he has been replaced by his only son, but when local authorities begin to pressure him to enlist his son into the army to fight an insurgency, Adam is placed in a difficult and complex situation.

“What begins as a modest portrait of a happy family gives way to a story in which the encroaching civil war decimates not only the country, but also the soul of a man who believes the pool is his entire life.” — Manohla Dargis, NY Times

“Haroun’s tender but unsentimental regard for his characters allows his storytelling a natural gravitas thoroughly suited to the simultaneously unfolding private and national tragedies.” — Robert Koehler, Variety