Best Friend Forever has acquired international rights to emerging director Dania Reymond-Boughenou’s debut feature “Silent Storms,” a supernatural film set in a fictional Arab city.
Currently in post production, the movie follows Nacer, a 45-year-old journalist who is observing the appearance of strange yellow sandstorms looming over Algiers and its surroundings. While covering the phenomenon for his newspaper, he starts witnessing more and more supernatural events, until his late wife Fajar returns to life. Faced with increasingly threatening storms, Samir has to face a dark past that haunts him.
“Silent Storms” stars Khaled Benaïssa (“Papicha”), singer-turned-director Camélia Jordana (“The Things We Say, the Things We Do”), Shirine Boutella (“Lupin”) and Mehdi Ramdani. The movie is scored by Dan Levy (“I Lost my Body”).
Reymond-Boughenou previously directed the short film “Constellation de la Rouguiere,” which was selected for FID Marseille and Clermont Ferrand film festivals.
The helmer said she wanted the film to depict the reappearing of a traumatic memory. “When I started writing, I heard echoes of my childhood in Algeria, during the Black Decade [the 1992-2002 civil war between the Algerian government and rebel groups],” she said. “I reconstructed a narrative imbued with this memory, necessarily altered by forgetting and exile. That’s how this fictional world and this ghostly character, Fajar, came about,” Reymond-Boughenou continued.
Martin Gondre and Charles Bin, Best Friend Forever co-founders, added, “’Silent Storms’ “manages to create a strong moving intimate story rooted in the collective history, mixing genre and clues for the audience.” The pair said the movie also boasts strong production values.
Produced by Jérémy Forni at Chevaldeuxtrois (“The Other Laurens”) and Camille Chandellier from La Petite Prod, “Silent Storms” is co-produced by Julie Esparbes (“Dalva”) for Helicotronc. The Jokers Films will release the film in France.
Best Friend Forever’s Berlin European Film Market line-up includes Berlinale competition entry “Shambhala” by Min Bahadur Bham, and Bruce LaBruce’s “The Visitor,” which is playing in the festival’s Panorama strand.