Atlas Film Showcase
Life Suits Me Well
Synopsis
It is the mid-1990s. In a small town in the north of Morocco, Fouad is the only employee of the local post office. When he is stricken with a neurological disease that changes his life, a new story begins for Fouad, his wife and their children. Their home will be filled with love, sorrow and memories. While Fouad is dying, the family members rediscover themselves. As time goes by, the wounds begin to show – but the desire to live is inextinguishable.
David Quesemand
Patricia Rommel, Magdalena Winhart
Niki Reiser
Samir Guesmi, Lubna Azabal, Sayed El Alami, Jalal Quarrioua, Ayoub Layoussifi, Ahmed Yarziz
Kasbah Films (Morocco)
Karim Debbagh
contact@kasbah-films.com
Sogni Vera (France)
Gaelle Rufier
MPM PREMIUM (France)
Quentin Worthington
quentin@mpmpremium.com
Director’s statement
Life Suits Me Well is the story of a family that is at once ordinary and extraordinary. A modest family, living a simple life, typical of small Moroccan villages in the 1990s. But at the same time a unique family, because they are open-minded. Like an earthquake, a neurological disease disrupts their daily life and tests their love. Fouad’s experience of disease is freely inspired by the years of struggle my own father went through. I tell this story through the three members of the family, who take things over one by one. First Fouad gradually becomes a mere spectator of the world; then Rita, whose suffering will leave Ismaïl to take on the responsibility of ensuring the continuity of this family’s spirit. I want to portray my hometown of Assilah, with its blue-and-white medina, with a sense of gentleness – long and wide shots that will allow time to dilate.
Biographies
Al Hadi Ulad Mohand became interested in filmmaking very early at the cinema. He attended a course in directing documentaries at the Ateliers Varan in Paris and graduated from the International Film & Television School Paris after studies in film directing. He went on to work on several Moroccan and foreign productions as an assistant director. He was also the assistant editor on a number of short films. His short film Le Café des pêcheurs (2007) was selected for numerous festivals, among them the Locarno Festival.
Karim Debbagh was first introduced to the film industry through his late friend, the American writer Paul Bowles (The Sheltering Sky, 1949). He studied American Literature, then went on to graduate as a producer from the renowned Filmakademie Baden Württemberg in Ludwigsburg, Germany. In 2005, he founded Kasbah Films, which nowadays is one of the most successful production services companies in Morocco. While executing movies for foreign producers, Karim has in parallel produced numerous films that have been screened around the world. In 2013, Sean Gullette’s Traitors had its premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
€908 380
€540 000
CCM, OIF, Cinegouna Springboard
October and November 2019, Assilah, Morocco
May 2021
Advanced stage of editing
Financing to finish the post-production
