An initiative of the EU MEDIA Programme with the support of the Italian Government Since 1992 MEDIA Salles has been promoting the European cinema and its circulation at theatrical level
EURO KIDS - SCREENINGS 2004/2005

 
 
 
 
 
 

OUR FATHER

Original Title

Abouna

Director

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

Genre

Drama

Country of origin

France/Chad/Netherlands

Language spoken

French/Arabic

Year of production

2002 

Production

Commission Européenne
Duo Films
Goi-Goi Productions
Hubert Bals Fund
Ministry of Promotion and Development
Tele-Chad
Arte France Cinéma

Domestic distribution/World Sales

Filmmuseum Distributie (Netherlands)
Kairos Filmverleih (Germany)
Leisure Time Features (USA) 
MK2 Diffusion (France)

Domestic release

19 March 2003 (France)

Official website

www.mk2.com/abouna/abouna

Awards

Hong Kong International Film Festival 2003 (Firebird Award Special Mention - Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)

Kerala International Film Festival 2003 (FIPRESCI Prize and Golden Crow Pheasant - Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)

Ouagadougou Panafrican Film and Television Festival 2003 (Baobab Seed Award, Best Cinematography)

INALCO Award (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)

UNICEF Award for Childhood (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)

Suggested by

Alessandra Speciale – Artistic Director of the African Film Festival (Italy)

 

List of Distributors

Release date

Country

Distributor

22 November 2002

United Kingdom

 

18 September 2003

Netherlands

Filmmuseum Distributie

29 April 2004

Germany

Kairos Filmverleih

 

SYNOPSIS

Life in a small community in the African nation of Chad is vividly evoked in the year’s most widely acclaimed African film. The story of two brothers, aged 15 and eight, whose lives are changed when their father leaves without saying a word, Haroun’s film is both touching and almost perversely optimistic. When their father fails to appear for their amateur soccer match, the two boys are devastated. Alarmed that they are out of control, their mother sends them to a Koranic school where the strict mullahs make daunting substitutes for their absent father. Beautiful and quietly observant, the film celebrates their insouciant pleasure in a less than kind world.