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'Ibrahim' by Algerian Samir Guesmi Wins Big at Angoulême Francophone Film Festival

Algerian director Samir Guesmi and actress Isabelle Adjani while wearing a mask.
Algerian director Samir Guesmi and actress Isabelle Adjani while wearing a mask.
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'Ibrahim' by Algerian Samir Guesmi Wins Big at Angoulême Francophone Film Festival

Algerian director Samir Guesmi and actress Isabelle Adjani while wearing a mask.
Algerian director Samir Guesmi and actress Isabelle Adjani while wearing a mask.

"Ibrahim," a feature film by French-Algerian director Samir Guesmi has won four awards at the Angoulême Francophone Film Festival including the Best Film and Best Direction awards.

The movie's plot centers on Ibrahim, a young man who tries to regain his father's trust after he made some bad friendships which embarrassed his migrant conservative father.

The festival, which finished its shows on Wednesday at the city of Angoulême, was among the most awaited cinema events in France, especially after the cancelation of the Cannes Festival because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The event offered a great opportunity to bring together French cinema figures after months of separation and postponement. Reporters who covered the opening and closing ceremonies had to recognize the actors and actresses from behind face masks that hid their features, but the blue eyes of actress Isabelle Adjani were charming enough to reveal her identity.

She partook in the festival as the star of "Soeur" (sisters), a movie directed by Yamina Benguigui. In the film, Adjani's character almost depicts her own story. She plays the role of Zahra, an Algerian theater actress whose childhood struggles are provoked after she meets Riyad, her brother who went with their father to France 30 years ago after their parents' divorce.

The festival screened 60 movies from France and other French-speaking countries including Belgium, Morocco, and Algeria. The 13th edition of the event attracted 23,000 spectators despite the coronavirus fears.

Samir Guesmi started his career as an actor before working in direction and scriptwriting. He is one of many Moroccan migrants of the second generation who succeeded in France. Guesmi was raised in a family of eights brothers and sisters. His father was a construction worker and his mother was a servant in a nursery.

He wasn't a brilliant student at school, but his fondness of theater was his passport to a profession that exposed his artistic talents, which he enhanced by joining the Studio Pygmalion, and then Tanya Balashova's Theatre School. After many roles on stage, Guesmi found his way to the big screen, and won many prizes including the best actor award at the Amiens International Film Festival for his part in "Malik le maudit".

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‘Moana 2’ Rides Musical Wave of Pacific Culture and Creativity

US actress Auli'i Cravalho (L) and US actor Dwayne Johnson pose on the red carpet upon arrival for the UK Premier of "Moana 2", at the Cineworld, in Leicester Square, in central London, on November 24, 2024. (AFP)
US actress Auli'i Cravalho (L) and US actor Dwayne Johnson pose on the red carpet upon arrival for the UK Premier of "Moana 2", at the Cineworld, in Leicester Square, in central London, on November 24, 2024. (AFP)
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‘Moana 2’ Rides Musical Wave of Pacific Culture and Creativity

US actress Auli'i Cravalho (L) and US actor Dwayne Johnson pose on the red carpet upon arrival for the UK Premier of "Moana 2", at the Cineworld, in Leicester Square, in central London, on November 24, 2024. (AFP)
US actress Auli'i Cravalho (L) and US actor Dwayne Johnson pose on the red carpet upon arrival for the UK Premier of "Moana 2", at the Cineworld, in Leicester Square, in central London, on November 24, 2024. (AFP)

For Auli'i Cravalho, returning for the Walt Disney sequel film 'Moana 2" was a Hawaiian homecoming for both herself as an actor and for her character.

"Moana's journey will take her very far, but also that growth means coming back home and experiencing that with your community," the Hawaiian native told Reuters.

"Speaking of community, the connection of all of the people across the Pacific, this feels like a celebration of Pan Pacific, Pan Polynesian culture," she added.

For the cast and creators of "Moana 2," the project was not just professional, it was personal.

"It feels so incredible that my growth as a human seems to be juxtaposed with hers (Moana's)," Cravalho said.

"Moana 2," directed by David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, and Dana Ledoux Miller, opens on Wednesday.

The Stagwell Group's entertainment and technology arm, National Research Group, predicts "Moana 2" will bring in $145 million over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend.

The film follows wayfinder Moana, who receives a sudden call from her wayfinding ancestors to travel the seas and break the curse of god Nalo, which prevents the people of various islands from reconnecting.

She forms her own crew, which reunites her with demigod Maui, played by Dwayne Johnson.

The music for the first "Moana" was written by "Encanto" songwriter Lin Manuel Miranda, while the sequel introduces the songwriting duo Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear.

The duo, which rose to prominence on TikTok, won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album in 2022 for "The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical," attracting a lawsuit from Netflix. It also created an opportunity to take over the songs for the sequel.

While they wanted to "pay homage to the beautiful world" of the first "Moana" with the music, they also aimed to add their own "flair to it."

Part of the flair for the entire film was figuring out how to add even more Pacific Islander culture within all aspects of the sequel, which was key for the director trio.

"I think it's so special that we get to celebrate the Pacific in these films, and that we get to have a heroine who is just so compelling and empathetic and awesome and weird and goofy," said Ledoux Miller.

"I think we can see a little bit of ourselves in her," the Samoan director added, noting that many Pacific Islander communities have the same values of family and togetherness that Moana does.

For the directors, it was about going on a "new adventure with old friends" and striking a balance between familiarity and something brand new.

The film is highly anticipated after Disney's other 2024 animated sequel "Inside Out 2" crossed the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office in less than three weeks of release, reaching that level in the fastest time of any animated film in history.

The first "Moana" found box office success as well, topping 2016 box office numbers by earning $81.1 million over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday period and $55.5 million for the weekend.