Zina and Shakira, like Thelma and Louise
The Spanish title is a tribute to Pedro Almodovar: Davide Sordella and Pablo Benedetti originally wrote Corazones de mujer (“Women’s Hearts”) for the Spanish director. However, as Almodovar was working on Volver [+see also:
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interview: Agustín Almodóvar
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film profile], they decided to shoot it themselves, under the name Kiff Kosoof.
The pseudonym (kosoof in Arabic means eclipse) initially came from the fear of a possible fatwa. “The film came about immediately after the murder of Van Gogh – fundamentalism scared us,” admit the directors, who take on delicate subjects in Islamic culture, such as homosexuality and women’s virginity.
The hearts in question belong to Zina (Waldi Ghizlane), a young woman of Turin’s Moroccan community who on the eve of her arranged marriage travels to Casablanca to undergo a hymenoplasty; and to transvestite Shakira (Aziz Ahmeri), who accompanies her on the trip, which will mark both their lives.
“We are like snakes, we shed our skin,” says Shakira, throwing his platinum blonde wig into the sea before disembarking in Morocco, where he must renounce his female identity. But he is not the only one to change skin.
Davide Sordella has also shed skins: after Fratelli di sangue, his debut shot entirely in interiors after much work with the actors comes a very improvised road movie starring non-professional actors, full of film lovers’ references (from The Graduate to Thelma and Louise), where fiction crosses into documentary, and the true into the verisimilar.
“We wanted to mix things ups,” say Benedetti and Sordella (who also lensed and edited the film, respectively). Just as heterogeneous rhythms and influences blend in Enrico Sabena’s soundtrack, in which Moroccan notes meets Maronite chants, Sephardic verses and even Occitan music.
Made for €5,000 and self-produced by 011films, Corazones de mujer has not yet been picked up for distribution in Italy. International sales are being handled by Adriana Chiesa Enterprises.
(Translated from Italian)
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