Atlas Close-Ups
MERCURY
Synopsis
Hamza is a boy who lives in a small village in southern Morocco. Mocked by the other children in the village because of his hyperdontia, one day he comes across a magazine cover featuring Freddie Mercury. Fascinated, Hamza immediately identifies with the singer. With his best friend Noor, Hamza does whatever he must to find out who this new idol is—despite the restrictions brought by the drought that is raging in his village.
Versus Production (Belgium)
Jacques-Henri Bronckart
jhb@versusproduction.be
info@versusproduction.be
Lions Production & Service (Morocco)
Frantz Richard
frantz@lionsprod.ma
Director’s statement
For us, the essence of a fairy tale is making the impossible possible. This is what we want to do by telling the story of Hamza—how a small child, suffering from a handicap, living in extreme poverty and having no access to education or culture—can make his dreams come true through courage, self-sacrifice and a boundless passion for music—Freddy Mercury’s in particular. Hamza reminds us of a flower: there is something moving about seeing a flower grow in the desert; a kind of admiration comes from imagining this living plant drawing all its determination from every drop of water that might come its way.
Biographies
The children of a mother from the city of Settat and a father from the village of Illigh in Morocco, Ish and Monir Aït-Hamou are brothers who grew up in Vilvoorde, Belgium. Monir discovered cinema when he played a role in Nabil Ben Yadir’s Les Barons. He found his way into screenwriting and directing, including the series Champion, which was broadcast by RTBF. Ish began his artistic career as a dancer and choreographer before becoming a novelist. He has written five successful books, which have sold more than 200,000 copies.
In 1999, Jacques-Henri Bronckart founded Versus Production, which has become one of the major players in Belgian cinema and a solid partner for international co-productions. For more than twenty years, he has been promoting talented filmmakers who embody the cinema of today and tomorrow. Versus primarily produces feature-length fiction films and since its inception has helped more than twenty Belgian feature films come to fruition, and boasts some of the leading films of contemporary Belgian cinema in its filmography.
€2 925 000
€894 500
Creative Europe Program – Media of the European Union
January 2024, Morocco
April 2025
International sales agents, broadcasters, co-producers
