Love Forbidden

Love Forbidden
(2003)
'Defense d'Aimer'
Italian

Running Time: 96 minutes

Distributor: Strand Releasing

Cast: Rodolphe Marconi (Bruce), Andrea Necci (Matteo), Echo Danon (Aston), Orietta Gianjorio (Orietta), Herve Brunon (Germain), Irene D'Agostino (Irene), Maria Teresa De Belis (Maria Teresa), Tornazo D'Ulisia (Tomaso)

Director: Rodolphe Marconi (2001's 'This is my Body')

Screenwriter: Rodolphe Marconi (cowriter of 'This is my Body')

After the death of his brother and the end of his relationship with his girlfriend, Bruce (Rodolphe Marconi) travels to Rome to spend the whole year at the Medici Villa, away from his world and from what he is accustomed. As the days pass, he learns how to feel comfortable in this new imposing décor, between a magnificent and austere palace and mesmerizing gardens.

He meets another resident, Matteo (Andrea Necci), a young Roman, who is an office intern at the Villa. Matteo grows increasingly involved in Bruce's life. He shows up at Bruce's house without being invited, and takes Bruce on a tour of Rome, showing him the churches, the paintings, and the fountains. Bruce, who feels both moved and disturbed by Matteo's similarities with his brother, falls under Matteo's influence and into an ambiguous relationship with him. Then a newcomer to the Villa, a writer, fascinated by serial killers disrupts their world. At this point, Bruce can no longer reverse what has happened and gets mired in his own confusion and insanity.

Reviews

"A grieving art student (French writer-director Rodolphe Marconi) leaves his girlfriend behind in Paris to live and study in Rome, where he falls under the mysterious charm of a romantic young man (Andrea Necci). Dreamy tale benefits from a spare, intimate visual style, but that hardly compensates for the overly elliptical narrative."
- New York Magazine (Nov. 2003)

" a model French psychological drama in which very little action occurs but feelings and intuitions are documented with precision and discretion."
- New York Times (Nov. 2003)


_LOVE FORBIDDEN is an intense psychological drama dealing with obsession and emotional imprisonment set against a lush and romantic Italian backdrop.

Bruce is a young French screenwriter who has won a scholarship enabling him to spend a year at Rome’s Villa Medici. The residency is an opportunity not only to learn his craft but also to escape from his troubled life – his brother, a famous writer, has died of Aids and his girlfriend has just left him. As the days pass, Bruce finds himself cut off from the outside world and his usual bearings as he becomes acquainted with the imposing setting of the magnificent, solemn palace and the other, rather detached, residents.

Shortly after his arrival he meets Matteo, a smolderingly handsome Italian assistant in the villa’s administrative department, who stirs sexual feelings in him that he has not felt before. Matteo gradually worms his way into Bruce’s life. He shows up at all hours of the day, drawing Bruce into a web of attraction and repulsion – a cruel initiation made up of great expectations and erotic games.

Before he knows it, Bruce is consumed by an overwhelming obsession, talking to Matteo when he is not there, calling him on the phone compulsively and stalking his every move. When Aston, a writer-in-residence fascinated by serial killers, turns up and becomes Matteo’s newest interest, it sends Bruce over the edge. Everything overwhelms him and he doesn’t know where to turn, swept away by his own madness, needs and desires.

Rodolphe Marconi
Born in 1974 in Angouleme, Rodolphe Marconi realizes with This is my body its first full-length film. This actor of formation, former pupil of the National School of the Art schools (studies since 1993), had before signed a short film, Stop (1999), for which it had been seen decreeing the Price of the jury of the short film of the Official Selection at the time of the Festival of Cannes 1999.

“Stop” (15mn) color - France - writing with Gilles Taurand.
With Olivier Saint-Days (Laurent), Florence Loiret (Julie),
Jean-Luc Charon and François Berléand.
Rodolphe Marconi evokes Louis Garrel
(In 1999 Rodolphe is then boarder of the Médicis Villa)“The first time that I saw it, it was in a garden of the Médicis Villa in Rome (where I remained one year). I thought that it had all the chances to be Italian. I did not know that it was the son of Philippe Garrel. One renewed contact in Paris. It came to pass the casting in the middle of 500 boys. It had a crack in the glance which does not have me escaped. At the same time, it has something of hard in its physique, its face is cut with the bill hook. This contrast gives an out of date side to the character of Antoine. And then, it is never the same one, I wanted that it plays with negligible things, very subtle. What was probably hard for him because it “was always prevented”. ”
“The Childhood of a chief” of Jean-Paul Sartre
“The idea of this scenario left the reading of “the Childhood of a chief” of Jean-Paul Sartre. It is not a question of in no case of an adaptation but of a source of inspiration. What does it occur when one was programmed since childhood to become a head of undertaking like his father?
(...) It is an intermediate space between two families, two universes, two ways of life which have interested me because it is used as amplifier with all the personal problems of Antoine: its undecided sexuality, its culpability, its Christian generosity confronted with the cruelty of a medium of which it is unaware of all. “

To the Extreme

In extremis
(2000) France

Directed by: Etienne Faure
Writing credits: Etienne Faure

Cast
Sébastien Roch ....Thomas
Julie Depardieu ....Anne
Jérémy Sanguinetti ....Grégoire
Christine Boisson....Caroline
Aurélien Wiik....Vincent

The main character in the 2000 French indie film "In extremis" (To The Extreme) is Thomas, a self-absorbed 20-something bisexual part-time hustler (and full time "party boy") who is sexual relationships with a male and several women, including his own sister Anne, who works as a prostitute. One of his affairs is with an older neighbor single mother of a 13 year old son, and he is there to comfort the son when the mother passes away suddenly. The boy wants to live with Thomas, but he has neither the focus nor the maturity to care for him, a fact that is recognized by the authorities who send the boy to an orphanage.

The film is quite pretentious and faux "arty" with scenes of Thomas with his bohemian crowd, and of nightmare-like flashbacks of him wandering on a snowy mountain looking for his (and Anne's) dead parents. Unfortunately, the entire film seems sureal after a while, and one really doesn't connect with the characters, despite some decent acting from the young actor who plays 13 year old Gregorie, and the promise of Gerard Depardieu's daughter (Julie, who plays Anne) in the cast. Better direction could have made it a much better film.

In French with English or Spanish subtitles (which likely were a plus, since I doubt even someone who speaks fluent French would have caught every word of the mumbled dialogue), cinematography is a pleasant positive. Some male and female partial nudity, simulated sexual acts, but surprisingly not very erotic.

The French title of this film is IN EXTREMIS (though translated as TO THE EXTREME) and means 'in desperate circumstances, especially at the point of death'. Rethinking the story of this interesting but problematic movie in those terms after viewing gives the cinematic effort more poignancy. This is a tale of the impact of family, loss of parents, dissolution of the core unit has on us all: in this story we are asked to exam the 'in extremis' state of such trauma.

Thomas (Sebastien Roch) is a hedonist, a handsome young man whose parents died in an Alpine accident, and a man who sleeps with both sexes in a confused state of true identity. He lives with one of his female lovers who has a young teenage son Gregoire (Jeromy Sanguinetti) whom he loves as a son. When the mother accidentally dies, Gregoire wants Thomas to be his guardian. Thomas' lifestyle does not lend itself to fatherhood and though he deeply loves Gregoire, by law and by proclivity he cannot assume the role of foster parent. Even with the aid of his prostitute sister Anne (Julie Depardieu) he is unable to keep the disappointed Gregoire from being sent to a prison-like orphanage. Thomas finds solace from his lover Vincent (Aurelien Wiik) and from his excursions into the bohemian all night orgies where he attempts to forget his promise to be available at all times for Gregoire. Eventually Thomas' devotion to Gregoire overcomes his hedonistic addiction and results in his aiding the boy's escape from the orphanage to move with him to the home in Ibiza his deceased parents owned. The story has a bizarre but touching ending, which comes totally unexpectedly, and revealing it would ruin the impact and message of the film.

SEBASTIEN ROCH

Born on December 3, 1972 in Toulouse.

Sebastien has as a passion the music and all that relates to the spectacle.
He looked at already the groups which occurred in the discotheque of his/her parents.
Candidate actor, it had assembled a troop with friends.
At fifteen years the madness becomes terrible and it decides to leave Toulouse for Paris, several years of course of theatre, the appearances on scene, and on television.

Sebastien decides it will be an actor, it likes also the music, leaves several individual and an album “SILENCE”, in 1992, after several concerts and a round, it will take again his trade of actor with short films, telefilms and also of the full-length films “In extremis " in 1998 and also of the theatre “the COFFEE OF the PINKS” of Carine Lacroix in 2003

The Adventures of Felix

The Adventures of Felix
(2001)
Genre: Comedy
Duration: 1 hr. 35 min.
Starring: Sami Bouajila, Pierre-Loup Rajot , Patachou
Director: Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau
Producer: Philippe Martin
Distributor: WinStar Cinema
Writer: Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau

When he is laid off from his job, Felix decides to leave his boyfriend and hometown of Dieppe and journey to Marseille to meet the father he has never known. But, rather than take the train, he prefers back roads and borrowed cars. At first determined to find his real father, as his travels continue he begins instead to construct a new ideal family, consisting of a "little brother", a "grandmother", a "cousin" and a "sister". Will his new family include his father?














Felix, a happy-go-lucky gay man, loses his job as a ferry worker (because of the Chunnel) in the north of France and decides to find his father, whom he has never met, in the south by hitchhiking through the countryside, agreeing to meet his lover, who will travel by train, at journey's end. Along the way he meets an assortment of interesting, unusual characters (one segment being called "My Younger Brother," another "My Grandmother") who reaffirm his journey.

Felix himself is gay in both senses, despite dealing with a host of pills for HIV. His humor and sunny disposition light up a lighthearted film.
"The Adventures of Felix" is a delightful new road comedy by the equally delightful directors/lovers Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau ("Jeanne and the Perfect Guy").



It's the wry tale of Felix (Sami Bouajila), an unemployed gay man who lives in Normandy with his schoolteacher beau Daniel (Pierre-Loup Rajot). One day, while cleaning up his dead mother's apartment, Felix comes across letters from the father he never knew. The return address on the aged envelopes lists an address in Marseilles. What if the old codger is still alive?




Felix does some checking and discovers his dad is indeed alive. He decides to hitchhike to Marseilles, say hi to his pop, then meet up with Daniel. It'll be a five-day adventure ending in a lovers' vacation. What could be better?

Now, there are a few things you should know about the hero here. He is HIV-positive, part Arab, and likes disco. Not everyone's favorite traits, especially if you're a neo-fascist Frenchman, of which there are some here.

After the set-up, Felix goes to his AIDS clinic (a truly mirthful sequence in which the clientele compares its varied cocktails of pills), kisses Daniel good-bye, buys a rainbow kite (unaware of the associations), and starts hitching.

From this point on, the film is divided into segments titled "My Little Brother," "My Grandmother," "My Sister," "My Cousin" and "My Father." In each, Felix meets a stranger who takes on a role of a family member. (He does have sex with his "cousin." I'm not sure if this is proper, even if they do use a condom.)

The best moments in this lively little film occur with the stand-in grandmother, Mathilde, played by French music-hall legend Patachou. This lonely, lively widow throws around her strong common sense like granite.

It's rare that a film deals with modern gay identity in such a tender, nonjudmental manner. It also manages to touch on bigotry, xenophobia and AIDS, and even has a murder in it, which seems a little forced. But "The Adventures of Felix" is mainly about being gay and loving life -- and loving yourself as you realize you can love life. And it does it all with a chuckle.
--Brandon Judell

Sami Boujila

Born in Grenoble in 1966, where his/her parents, of Tunisian origin, had settled some time before, Sami Bouajila discovers the cinema at the sides of his/her father, then, decided to become actor, carries out two years with the Regional Academy of its city before connecting on the Dramatic Center of Saint-Etienne.

After forgehaving forged a solid experiment on scene (the argument of Marivaux, the night of the kings, Romeo and Juliette and Othello de Shakespeare, Mangeclous d' Albert Cohen, Sallinger of B. - M. Koltès…), it arrives in 1991 to Paris or Philippe Galland proposes to him the principal role of Thune (1991) Récompensé for a mention at the Michel-Simon price for this soft-bitter incarnation of a démerdard of suburbs, Sami turns then the Stories of love finish badly… in general (1992) appears in Tunisian film Silences of the palate (Saimt el Qusur) (1994) and holds especially the high-speed motorboat of very pretty Bye-bye (1995) of Karim Dridi, in whom it played a young man unloaded in Marseilles, having to organize the departure of his/her young brother towards the village. Whereas it continues a consistent theatrical career (Romeo and Juliette, the ride on the lake of Constancy, etc),

Sami Bouajila also endeavours to develop with the cinema a character of young bor beyond the primary education stereotypes, and connects films as different as the fantastic daydream Anna OZ (1996) the film from time Artemisia (1997) the comedy the Removal (1996) even the thriller Hollywood Couvre-feu (The Siege) (1998) in which, promoted terrorist international, it has as partners Bruce Willis, Denzel Washington and Annette Bening. Pal in galère of Jean-Pierre Darroussin in Inséparables (1999) Moroccan student which falls in love with a Frenchwoman but runs up against the barriers of the administration in Our happy Lives (1999) HIV positive very positive in the bucolic ballade Drôle of Felix (1999) taken refuge Tunisian in the very rough Fault with Voltaire (2000) and generous transsexual in Change me my life, the actor also incarnates a spitz variegated in the Wasps' nest (2001) of Florent Emilio Siri.















A role paradoxically lighter than those which it could hold before, often charged with one lived painful. Rebounding of role in role, it is also of the parade jet set of film of white Michel, Embrassez which you will want (2002) before incarnating the brother of Jalil Lespert in Vivre kills to me (2001)

Confusion of Genders

Confusion of Genders
(2003)

Cast and Credits
Starring:
Pascal Greggory, Vincent Martinez, Nathalie Richard,
Cyrille Thouvenin, Julie Gayet, Alain Bashung

Directed by: Ila Duran Cohen
Produced by: Didier Boujard, Ilan Duran Cohen
















A complex story of lawyers in love. Alain is an indecisive bisexual lawyer in his 40s, torn between a plethora of male lovers, including the ardent, mercurial Christophe, and his fiancee and legal colleague, Laurence. Alain's life is further complicated by a thorny relationship with Marc, whom he's defending in court, and who persuades Alain to be his emissary to girlfriend Babette.
Alain (Pascal Greggory) is involved with Laurence (Nathalie Richard), who is his boss at a law firm. They reluctantly agree to settle down as partners—especially after she discovers she is pregnant. However, the couple constantly snaps at each other, and their love is more like war.

One obvious barrier to the union is the yummy Christophe (Cyrille Thouvenin), who Alain seriously fancies and also happens to be the much younger brother of an ex-girlfriend. Although he acknowledges that their relationship has no future, Alain is frequently intimate with Christophe, who kisses him ardently whenever they are together.

Adding to this confusion is a subplot involving a criminal Alain is defending named Marc (Vincent Martinez). Depressed at the thought of possibly never seeing his girlfriend Babette (Julie Gayet) again, Marc asks Alain to bring her to him in jail. As compensation for this, Marc says he will fuck Alain, who is undeniably attracted to the sexy prisoner. Of course, Alain falls for Babette in the process, causing further complications.

Although each of the four couples in the film are in different stages of their relationships, the film depicts the power struggles that consumes their characters. While this makes for compelling viewing as Alain and Laurence fight, or Alain and Christophe fuck, Confusion of Genders is weakest when it depicts Alain’s courtship with Babette. The dynamic between these two characters is the most unbelievable—perhaps because it lacks real passion.

Wisely, writer-director Ilan Duran Cohen uses Babette to show how men fall under a woman’s spell, and a scene in which she visits the lovesick Marc in prison is particularly intense. As Marc’s desire for Babette is too fervid, Alain literally comes between them as the couple embrace, forming a bisexual trio. It is one of the more erotic moments in a film full of sexy scenes.

Nevertheless, Confusion of Genders is less about sex than it is about love. Alain’s inability to choose whom he should be with is more frustrating for the characters than it is for the viewer. Audiences will enjoy watching Alain jump into bed with everyone he meets. In fact, this concept of a revolving bed is best illustrated in the film’s opening segment, a back and forth conversation between Alain and his various male and female lovers.

Whereas Cohen may be satirizing a sexually compulsive man by presenting all of his foibles—“You’re married, you’re not. You’re gay, you’re not” one character says to Alain—at the same time, the film’s shrewd ending leaves the subject open to debate. In essence, Alain may be a man who can’t decide what he wants, but he is also one who refuses to let other people tell him.

In the lead role, the handsome Greggory gives a terrific performance, full of feeling, and he expresses his character’s emotions, ranging from pleasure to indecision, beautifully. Greggory’s performance energizes this past-paced film—things sag a bit during the few moments he is not on screen—and he has an excellent rapport with his various co-stars.

Confusion of Genders may be risqué and cynical, but it is also dead on accurate about relationships.

Pascal Greggory
Biography of Pascal Greggory
Was born in Paris on September 8, 1954, of a directing father of a company of road signs. As of the age of 7 or 8 years, of its own consent, it knows that he will be an actor and takes courses of theatre. Teenager, it occurs as soprano solo in the choruses of the Opera of Paris and, a little later, attends the courses Périmony and Florent, to integrate, like non-registered student, the National Academy of Dramatic art (classes of Marcel Bluwal and Antoine Vitez), where there remain two years.

Categorized “young first romantic”, it begins its professional career into 1974 at the sides from Annie Girardot, at the same time with the theatre (Mrs Marguerite) and the cinema (Doctor Francoise Gailland (1975), and finds finally its first role important thanks to Andre Techine who imposes it, counters the opinion of the producers, in the character of Barnwell on the Brontë sisters. In 1983, it is the revelation with Rohmer, which offers to him the principal role of Pauline to the beach (1982) that of Pierre, beautiful young man in marine shirt who teaches the board with veil with Pauline and fall in love with pulpy Marion. Scene worship when Pascal Greggory is made push back by Arielle Dombasle during the festival of the village.

A revelation, certainly, nevertheless the young actor sees himself thereafter catalogued “actor intello” and pains to find a second breath. Several films of author for public restricts take along it to meeting again with Rohmer (and Arielle) in 1992 in the Tree, the mayor and the media library (1992) Entre-temps, Pascal Greggory will have made a crucial meeting in the person of the Patrice Chéreau, who directs it on scene in particular in Hamlet (1990) of Shakespeare, and In the loneliness of the cotton fields (1996) of Bernard-Marie Koltès, part which will involve them for a round in the whole world. It is besides under the aegis of Chéreau that Greggory carries out its great cinematographic re-entry. Initially by incarnating the duke of Anjou in the Queen Margot (1993) then by holding the central role of Those which like to me will take to the train (1998) the actor has veilli, matured, its features grew hollow and it raises from now on a quasi-shaven cranium.

Sign times, from now on, the roles are connected without respite: Carnivorous saint Wolf and rebel in the found Time (1998) of Raoul Ruiz, muscular prisoner and violent one in Zonzon (1998) (nomination in César 99 in the category Better actor) duke of Alençon in Jeanne d' Arc (The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Ark) (1999) editor impassioned by a photographer in Fidelity (1999) one also finds it into large undecided in love in Confusion with the Kinds (2000) where, for the first time, it approaches a comic register. More recently, one been able to see it at the sides of Elsa Zylberstein in an Angel (2001) in film of action Wasps' nest (2001) and in the Life promised (2002) with Isabelle Huppert.

Philadelphia

Philadelphia

(1993)
Drama
Running Time:
1 hr. 59 min.
Cast and Credits
Starring:
Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Antonio Banderas
Roberta Maxwell, Buzz Kilman, Karen Finley (II)

Directed by:
Alex Cox, Jonathan Demme, Kristi Zea

Produced by:
Gary Goetzman, Kenneth Utt, Ron Bozman

Review.........

Andrew Beckett is a young up-and-coming lawyer who has just been fired by his prestigious law firm.

His former colleagues claim he's just not good enough; Andrew says he's been fired because he has AIDS. Determined to defend his professional reputation; Andrew hires fierce personal-injury attorney Joe Miller to represent him as he sues his former firm for wrongful termination. Separated from Andrew by a deep social and cultural chasm, Joe is initially reluctant to take the case. For Andrew the battle is clear cut--he's fighting for his reputation, his life and for justice. Joe, however, faces a different kind of struggle as he confronts his own fears and prejudices about homosexuals.



Philadelphia is a truly amazing movie and a touching story. Tom Hanks plays a lawyer who has been stricken with a horrible disease. He plays a convincing role as Andrew Beckett, a man who knows the meaning of justice and knows what exactly his rights are.













What Mr. Hanks also accomplishes with this role is he breaks free from the stereotypes society has dictated on the average gay man. Andrew Beckett is not feminine in any way, he does not have a flair for shoe shopping or hold his arms limp-wristed or talk with a lisp.


For these reasons, it has been said that Tom Hanks was not believable as a gay man. I strongly disagree. Andrew Beckett is a normal man who enjoys smoking cigars and takes joy in the law. Who would think he was gay? This is precisely the point the movie is trying to make.

A gay man may be walking among you, every day you may see him at school, may play raquetball with him at the gym, may work late hours with him at the office... but yet you'd never suspect he is gay because he does not wear loafers decorated with tassels and he has a low-pitched voice.





Men are men, whether gay or not, and should be treated as such -- gays do not deserve special treatment but they deserve equal treatment. Because in most areas, gay men are just like straight men. I commend Tom Hanks for showing the world that gay men can be just as manly as any other. His Oscar was well-deserved and the movie was amazingly ground-breaking.

Road to Love

The Road to Love
2003
France-Algerian
Cast & Crew:
Karim Tarek, Riyad Echahi, Mustapha khaddar
Directed by Rem Lange

REVIEW SUMMARY
The story of an Arab student in Paris who discovers his homosexuality while working on a video project for his sociology class, Rémi Lange's "Road to Love" doesn t add much to the coming-out genre, as it has been established in countless Sundance competition films and made for television movies. It's crystal clear where "The Road to Love" is headed after its first few minutes, and the feature, crudely shot with what seems to be an amateur video camera, has little to offer in the way of stylistic compensation. But some interesting reporting enters around the edges of the familiar storyline, as Karim uncovers the complicated and often contradictory attitudes toward homosexuality in Islam. — Dave Kehr, The New York Times


A Review By Bassam K
Tarik el Hob or The Road to Love (France, 2002, 70 min) is a film by the French director Rémi Lange. I watched Tarik el Hob in October 2004 at the 8th Annual Arab Film Festival in San Francisco. The story is a smart, romantic tale of self-discovery, and it offers a historical take on homosexuality in North Africa.

Karim (Karim Tarek) is a French-Algerian sociology student in Paris. While he was sitting with his girlfriend Sihem (Sihem Benamoune), he heard on television about the historical marriage rituals between men at Siwa in Egypt, which triggered him to work on a research topic about male homosexuality in North Africa. While he was filming his documentary, Karim interviewed several openly gay Maghrebian men in Paris. The handsome French-Algerian steward Farid (Farid Tali) was one of them. Farid was convinced that Karim’s interest in researching the subject of homosexuality is not just intellectual curiosity. Farid played the role of the catalyst that made Karim question his own sexuality.

The filmmaker took his camera from Paris to Morocco, and shot few scenes in Marseilles and Amsterdam. In Morocco, Karim and Farid had visited Jean Genet's grave in Larache by the ocean before they went to Tangiers to bring the film to an end. Their trip to North Africa (following Genet’s path as if it were a “Road to Love”) was a sweet twist to the coming out narrative.

The end of the story was short. The director could have added more scenes to make the end less confusing to some viewers. I have enjoyed the conclusion of the film but some viewers did not get it because it was rushed.

Sihem’s role represents many women in the Muslim, Arab, or even Western cultures. Those women fall in love and sometimes marry gay men who either are in denial or are closeted. Sihem had been a victim in this film until she decided to take matters in her own hands. One cannot but sympathize with Sihem, and at the same time feel sorry for Karim who grew up in a society that did not give him the option to look deep into his soul to find out whether he was attracted to women or men.

The viewers noticed that Karim is fascinated with the movies of the Syrian Druze singer Farid el-Atrash. Karim loved the belly dancing in those 1950’s-1960’s films, and he practiced in front of a mirror to improve the moves of his hips and hands (these were very funny scenes). The walls in Karim’s room were covered by posters of the original Farid el-Atrash’s films. The poster of the film Tarik el Hob (see picture) is based on a poster of a film of Farid el-Atrash. Someone in the audience in San Francisco was offended of using the picture of his favorite singer, the late Farid el-Atrash who passed away in 1974. Whether the director Rémi Lange has meant to hint anything about el-Atrash’s sexual orientation was not the point of the film. But anyone who had seen el-Atrash’s films would not be shocked by such claim, whether it was true or false. (Read “My Mother’s Song” on Bint el Nas, a magazine for queer Arab women.) However, it is the right of a male character to be fascinated by a male singer. No one in an Arab audience would be offended if the character were a female who was dreaming to marry a male singer. That is why, the negative reaction to the poster was just plain homophobic.

The filmmaker used a handheld video camera. The scenes were filmed as a long shot in one camera. This made the movie look less professional, which is too bad because the story and actors in this feature film were good. On the other hand, this technique of using one handheld video camera seemed to me suitable because the story was about Karim who was shooting a documentary with his handheld camera. In other words, Rémi Lange was filming Karim who, in his turn, was filming young Maghrebian gay men.

Homosexuality is still a taboo in Arab and Muslim societies. However, Tarik el Hob was not shy about discussing the historic precedents of same-sex marriages, and the contemporary ideas of what it means to be gay and Arab.

Tarik el Hob is the winner of Best Feature Film Award at the 2003 Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. It is available for sale through the Arab Film Distribution website. The film is in French and Arabic, with English subtitles.