‘Hollywood thinks you don’t want to see this kind of film’: At Deauville festival, this drama with Omar Sy excites the public

This year, there are 14 films at the Grand Prix of the Deauville American Film Festival. And among them is The Strangers’ Case, a poignant drama whose synopsis is here:

Tragedy strikes a Syrian family in Aleppo, triggering a chain reaction of events in four different countries involving related people, including a doctor and his daughter, a soldier, a smuggler, a poet and a coast guard captain.

American filmmaker Brandt Andersen’s film, which he adapted from his own short film The Refugee. The activist was inspired by the men and women she met on humanitarian trips to Syria, Turkey, Greece and Jordan.

After months of writing and rewriting the script, he finally has a script that satisfies him. Arranged in chapters, The Foreigner’s Case tells the story of a doctor and his daughter (Yasmin Al Masri, pictured in Quantico), a soldier who questions his loyalty to the Syrian state (Yahya Mahain), and an illegal smuggler (Yasmin Al Masri). Omar Sy) or even of his father trying to reach Europe.

A movie that turns your stomach

The Strangers’ Case is one of those horror movies that turns your stomach. He confronts us with the violence of war and humanity, without any compromise, sometimes he shows us, often he offers us. We look away to avoid seeing what is inevitable: the death of a child and the distress of a parent.

The tears of the audience present in the room testify to the accuracy and strength of the words and writing, as well as to the acting of the actors. And while the director was able to cast Omar Sy – who portrays the most despicable character – we were blown away by Canadian-Syrian Yahya Mahain’s performance.

The latter also accompanied the director to Deauville, where they were able to interact with the public and explain the importance of such a film: “It all goes on over time. But we can do something. The problem with these types of films is that they are difficult to make. Hollywood thinks you don’t want to see a movie about refugees. In addition, we do not have distributors. As long as they are necessary. “.

A case of strangers, a film by Brandt Andersen. With Yasmin Al Masri, Yahya Mahain, Omar Sy.