Of Sheep and Men
Fall Grant 2015 - Production Stage
Karim Sayad / Feature Documentary / Algeria, Switzerland, Qatar / 2017 / 80 min / Original Language: Arabic / Interests: Politics, Youth, Creative Documentary
Synopsis
Bab el Oued, Algiers, 2016. Men and sheep. Sixteen-year-old Habib dreams of becoming a veterinarian. He has not yet been able to study for his hoped-for profession, but he has bought a sheep named El Bouq. His hope? Training the animal to become a fighting champion. Meanwhile, 42-year-old Samir no longer has any dreams, other than to make enough money by selling sheep that he can survive the hardships of daily life. With the Eid celebration coming closer, Samir has a unique opportunity to maximise his profits, as everyone in the country will be buying sheep for slaughter. But for Habib, it’s another story… Will El Bouq become a champion ? Or will he face a more tragic destiny?
Credits
- Director
- Karim Sayad
- Producer
- Joëlle Bertossa
- Production Company
- Close Up Films
About the Director
Karim Sayad was born in Lausanne in 1984 to an Algerian father and a Swiss mother. After completing an MA in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies of Geneva, he decided to become a documentary filmmaker. His first short, 'Babor Casanova', premiered in Locarno in 2015. It was then shown in festivals worldwide, and won awards at DocLisboa, Festival Dei Popoli and, among others, the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival. 'Of Sheep and Men' his first feature documentary was selected at TIFF Docs, São Paulo and Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal, and won the Special Mention at the MedFilm Festival.
Awards and Festival History
Festivals
TIFF 2017, DOCS (WP)
Contacts
-
Director
Karim Sayad
- Company:
- close up films
- Email:
- karim.sayad@graduateinstitute.ch
-
Main Contact
Joëlle Bertossa
- Company:
- Close Up Films
- Phone:
- +41 22 808 0846 / +41 78 665 0512
- Email:
- joelle@closeupfilms.ch