09/01/2025 - Hiam Abbass and Mohamat Amine Benrachid lead the cast of the director’s new movie, produced by Easy Riders Films

Actress Hiam Abbass and actor Mohamat Amine Benrachid

Selected twice for Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight (in 2004 via In the Battlefields [+see also:
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film profile] and in 2007 via A Lost Man [+see also:
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film profile]) and once in competition in Locarno (in 2011 with the TV film Beirut Hotel) before directing Parisienne [+see also:
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film profile] (unveiled in Toronto’s Contemporary World Cinema section in 2015) and Simple Passion [+see also:
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interview: Danielle Arbid
film profile] (awarded the Cannes label in 2020 and selected in competition in San Sebastián in 2020), the French-Lebanese filmmaker Danielle Arbid has now kicked off filming on her new movie Love Conquers All as of 6 January.

Eye-catching names leading the cast include Palestine’s Hiam Abbass (nominated for 2018’s Best Actress Lumière thanks to In Syria [+see also:
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interview: Philippe Van Leeuw
film profile] and in the same category at the 2008 European Film Award for Lemon Tree [+see also:
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film profile], recently well-received in the Succession series as well as in the documentary Bye Bye Tiberias [+see also:
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interview: Lina Soualem
film profile], and soon hitting French cinemas in Last Breath [+see also:
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interview: Costa-Gavras
film profile]) and Mohamat Amine Benrachid (well-received in Under the Rainbow).

Written by Danielle Arbid, the story sees sixty-something widow Suzanne make the acquaintance of Osmane one evening in Beirut… He’s young, black, Sudanese and an illegal migrant. She’s white, Lebanese of Palestinian origin and twice his age… They fall in love, but Lebanon is on the edge of the abyss. The TV and social media are continually pumping out terrifying news updates. But Osmane moves in with Suzanne, nonetheless. Their love triggers an outcry amidst the generalised chaos, but Suzanne and Osmane stand strong…

Love Conquers All is being produced by Omar El Kadi and Nadia Turincev on behalf of Parisian firm Easy Riders Films, in co-production with Georges Schoucair for Lebanese outfit Abbout Productions and Ziad Srouji for Rise Studios (United Arab Emirates). Pre-purchased by ART for the Middle East, the feature film also enjoys support from the Hubert Bals + Europe Fund, the Image de la Francophonie Fund and from the Red Sea Souk Development Award. The 21-day film shoot will take place in Montjoie Studios in the Parisian district of Saint Denis, with Céline Bozon (nominated for the 2018 Lumière in her specialism thanks to Félicité [+see also:
film review
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interview: Alain Gomis
film profile]) heading up photography. Distribution in France will be steered by JHR Films.

For the record, Easy Riders Films are currently developing Alicante, a first fiction feature film project by Lina Soualem (awarded the ArteKino International Prize last month at the Atlas Workshops – read our news).

(Translated from French)