Balls (Farsan)
Arab Film Competition - Doha Tribecca Film Festival 2010
Josef Fares / Feature Narrative / Sweden / 2010 / 98 min / Color / 35 mm / In Swedish / English, Arabic subtitles / Middle East Premiere
Rated: General Audiences. Suitable for ages 4 and up.
Synopsis
Lebanese-Swedish director Josef Fares gives his real-life father a star-making turn in this charming tale with light comedic overtones about family life among Middle Eastern immigrants living in Scandinavia. The gregarious Aziz, portrayed by the expressive Jan Fares, is a widower looking for love with the help of his co-workers at a rinky-dink bike shop, while his son and daughter-in-law promise to make him a grandfather. He doesn't realize that they can't conceive naturally, however, so they're faking the pregnancy and planning to adopt. Members of the supporting cast - particularly Aziz's colleague Jorgen, played by Torkel Petersson - contribute some wickedly silly moments, but the film really belongs to the two Fares fellows, director and dad, whose off-screen bond makes the on-screen sentimentality shine that much brighter.
About the Director
Josef Fares
Born in Lebanon in 1977, Fares and his family moved to Sweden when he was ten years old. At 15, he began to make his own movies and later studied at the National Film School. His feature film debut , "Jalla! Jalla!" and his second film "Kopps" both became hits, while his third feature, "Zozo," received the Nordic Council Film Prize for best Nordic film.
Credits
- Director
- Josef Fares
- Screenwriter
- Josef Fares, Torkel Petersson
- Producer
- Anna Anthony
- Editor
- Michal Leszczylowski SFK, John Hellberg
- Associate Producer
- Lars Jonsson
- Director of Photography
- Linus Eklund, DFF
- Composer
- Per Egland
- Cast
- Torkel Petersson, Jan Fares, Hamadi Khemiri, Juan Rodriguez, Anita Wall, Nina Zanjani, Jessica Forsberg