Middle-aged single mother Fatima (Soria Zeroual) lives with her two teenage daughters and works cleaning jobs to pay their way through school. Inspired by a true story and the poetry of the North African writer Fatima Elayoubi, who immigrated knowing very little French and slowly taught herself the language, Faucon’s eighth feature—winner of the prestigious Louis Delluc Prize for Best French Film—is a patient, reflective study of a woman pressured by her children and her neighbors alike to assimilate into a culture of which she’s wary. Despite the display of everyday racism, both veiled and overt; internal domestic disputes; and external gestures of inhospitality, Fatima offers an uplifting experience and one of recent French cinema’s most trenchant and moving portraits of immigrant experience. A Kino Lorber release.
Philippe Faucon, France, 2015, DCP, 79m
French and Arabic with English subtitles
Special Film Society Discount—tickets just $12! To redeem: Select the affiliate option from the ticket menu when purchasing online or mention "New York in French at the box office. More info: http://www.filmlinc.org/films/fatima/
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