Brotherhood | Oscar Nominated Short Film by Meryam Joobeur

One of the most acclaimed shorts of recent memory—a 2020 Oscar nominee, and a Shorts Award Winner. Mohamed is a shepherd in rural Tunisia with his wife and two young sons. Their world is shaken when the oldest son returns after a long journey with a mysterious woman he says is his wife.

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BROTHERHOOD (Ikhwène)
Written and Directed by Meryam Joobeur
Midi La Nuit, Cinetelefilms, Travelling Distribution
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"I do not fault the detractors and skeptics who proclaim that "Brotherhood" should be dismissed as merely representing this year’s archetypal festival drama—a pejorative term to some that indicates the kind of serious short film that confuses dourness with profundity, and is best understood as some young director’s try-hard bid to get their government film board to pony up for their feature debut. Let’s review the case: set in a locale exotic to the majority of elite fest-going cinephiles? Check. Tense and explosive family dynamics? Check. Gorgeous, yet restrained, cinematography? Check. Oh, and a sometimes languorous 25min runtime? Double-check! As a defense however to those critics and haters—watch the film. You’re wrong. Watch the film again.

While "Brotherhood" exhibits the trappings of a type of film that we often deride as “festivally”, it is really hard in my mind to contest its exquisiteness. It is highly specific in its character and world-building, buoyed by the authenticity of its writer/director, Meryam Joobeur, whom is of Tunisian descent, and by the capable performances of its first-time actors (their casting, central to conception of the film, is recounted here). As pure drama, the film delivers, inculcating mystery early on, then building to a devastatingly emotional climax. Finally, in theme, it pulls off the nice trick of being both topical and timeless: confronting complex contemporary issues, like religious extremism, with the tried and true spirit of a Greek tragedy.

Filmmakers have made hay for generations in porting the classics to film, from works as different as Laurence Olivier’s seminal Shakespeare adaptations to Clueless. Brotherhood is not an adaptation, but it is working with the same raw materials as Sophocles and Seneca—the defiance of one’s father, questions of honor, the inability to communicate with loved ones through the haze of anger, and, ultimately, betrayal...

... Continue reading the entire review here: https://www.shortoftheweek.com/2019/1... "
-S/W Curator Jason Sondhi

CREDITS:

CAST
Salha: Salha Nasraoui
Mohamed: Mohammed Houcine Grayaa
Malek: Malek Mechergui
Chaker: Chaker Mechergui
Rayene: Rayene Mechergui
Reem: Jasmin Yazid

CREW
Written and Directed by Meryam Joobeur
Production: Habib Attia (Tunisia/Cinetelefilms), Sarra Ben-Hassen, Maria Gracia Turgeon, Annick Blanc (Canada/Midi la Nuit), Meryam Joobeur,
Co-Production: Andréas Rocksen (Sweden/Laika Films & TV), Doha Institute (Qatar)
Director: Meryam Joobeur
Screenplay: Meryam Joobeur
DoP: Vincent Gonneville
Art Director: Valérie-Jeanne Mathieu
Editor: Anouk Deschênes
Sound: Théo Porcet, Jean-David Perron, Aymen Laabidi, Cult Nation
Music: Peter Venne

Reproduced on this channel with the permission of the filmmakers.