The Dam
Fall Grants 2021 - Post-Production Stage
Ali Cherri / Feature Narrative / France, Sudan, Lebanon, Germany, Serbia, Qatar / 2022 / 80 min / Colour / Original Language: Arabic
Synopsis
World-renowned visual artist Ali Cherri’s feature debut, ‘The Dam’, is an allegorical tale set in the shadows of the imposing Merowe Dam in Northern Sudan. We follow the life of Sudanese brick-maker Maher as he toils in the sun all day—secretly escaping to the desert to work on his own personal project of similar magnitude. As he constructs his mysterious mud tower, revolution is in the air around him, with broadcasts and talk of protests erupting against the dictatorship of Omar Al-Bashir. While the Sudanese people rise to claim their freedom, his creation slowly starts to take on a life of its own…
While a standalone film, ‘The Dam’ is the third part of a trilogy of works from the director, which he has entitled as a “geography of violence”. The other two being his critically-acclaimed shorts ‘The Disquiet’, which explored Lebanon’s history of earthquakes, and ‘The Digger’, which followed the custodian of a neolithic necropolis in the UAE. Moving away from the documentary aesthetic of his earlier films, Cherri embraces a more poetic realism style as a compelling way to tell a very personal story of imagination set against the broader backdrop of politics and the Sudanese revolution.
Credits
- Director
- Ali Cherri
- Screenwriter
- Ali Cherri, Geoffroy Grison, in collaboration with Bertrand Bonello
- Producer
- Janja Kralj
About the Director
Ali Cherri, born in Beirut and based in Paris, is a multidisciplinary visual artist and filmmaker. His works, often blending video, film, sculpture, and installation, explore the construction of historical narratives. Ali won the Silver Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2022 for his installation ‘Of Men and Gods and Mud’. His films, including ‘The Digger’ (2015) and ‘The Dam’ (2022), have screened at prestigious festivals, including Cannes Directors' Fortnight. ‘The Watchman’ (2024) continues his exploration of socio-political themes through an experimental, visually arresting lens.
Awards and Festival History
Festivals
World premiere – Directors Fortnight, Cannes 2022
Contacts
-
Main Contact
Janja Kralj
- Company:
- KinoElektron
- Phone:
- +33 1 48 24 51 34
- Email:
- info@kinoelektron.com
-
Main Contact
KinoElektron
- Phone:
- 1 48 24 51 34
- Email:
- barbara@kinoelektron.com