Projects in development
SAMIR, THE ACCIDENTAL SPY
Synopsis
Twelve-year-old Samir and his family flee overnight to Lebanon after the 1966 Syrian coup d’état. Having entrusted their entire fortune to a gold smuggler, their financial situation becomes dire when the smuggler doesn’t show up. In Beirut, Samir meets Christine, also 12, for whom he develops feelings. They communicate via walkie-talkie, unaware that Lebanese agents are listening in. Samir, a romantic, constantly questions the definition of love. He also suspects his father of being a spy, having witnessed his recurrent strange behavior. As he investigates with Christine, Samir soon discovers that his father is hiding a second family—and that the real spy is in fact Christine's father. After a difficult farewell with Christine, Samir finally reveals the family secret.
Partners attached
Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Ask Me About My Films
Director’s statement
Told from a child’s perspective, Samir, the Accidental Spy celebrates the Lebanese-Syrian culture of the 1960s, a time when Lebanon was considered the “Switzerland of the Middle East.” The tone of the film oscillates between facetious humor, and the serious undertones that stem from family drama and the political context. Shy but determined, Samir, an avid fan of James Bond films, is convinced his father is a spy. The lines between reality and fantasy blur, as the child's imagination protects him from the harsher realities of the world while the tension of the coming Six-Day War simmers in the background.
It is a film about betrayal: the loss of our once idyllic view of our parents, and the struggle a family faces when their home country forces them to leave. What can we do when our nation can no longer protect us, and we are forced to rebuild our lives elsewhere?
Biographies
Charlotte Rabate is a French-Syrian filmmaker. She co-created The Colony, a television series whose pilot was bought by HBO Max. Her short film Lucille in the Sky received a Special Mention at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Stray Dolls, a feature film she co-wrote and produced, had its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival and received the Tribeca All Access Grant, a Jerome Foundation Grant, and the IWC Schaffhausen Filmmaker Award.
Coralie Dias founded the Nouvelle-Aquitaine-based French production company Inter Spinas Films in 2021. She produced Dania Bdeir’s French-Lebanese short film Warsha (2022), which won the Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction at the Sundance Film Festival, was shortlisted for the Academy Awards, and was purchased by Arte, Netflix and the Criterion Channel. Dias is currently developing short and feature films in co-production with European countries and the MENA region. She is a 2023 Rotterdam Lab Fellow and took part in the 2024 New Producers Room at the Festival de Cannes
