Monday, January 06, 2014
Sunday, May 15, 2011
RÉSUMÉ
De Paris à Marseille, d'Amsterdam au Maroc, ce Chemin de l'Amour raconte le voyage intérieur de Karim, un jeune beur qui se dit hétéro. Etudiant en sociologie, il cherche des jeunes gays d'origine maghrébine prêts à témoigner devant sa caméra. Un jour il rencontre Farid, un steward, et tombe sous son charme... Une bluette qui aborde avec justesse les thèmes de l’homosexualité et de l’Islam.
PRIX
"Honorable Mention" NEW YORK NewFest 2003 :
"We feel it is important to give Honorable Mention to Path to Love for its wonderful story and for the larger significance a film with this subject matter has today."
"FREEDOM AWARD" LOS ANGELES OUTFEST 2003 :
"For its sensitive portrayal of a young man's emerging sexuality and the
arising conflict with his Muslim faith, we proudly present this year's
FREEDOM AWARD to Rémi Lange's TARIK EL HOB."
"JURY AWARD FOR BEST FEATURE FILM" SEATTLE GLFF 2003
FESTIVALS
Festivals Gays et Lesbiens de Tours, Lille, Paris (2001); Grenoble, Marseille, Turin, Lyon, Mexico, Sao Paulo, Amsterdam (2002); Bruxelles, Toronto, New York, San Francisco, Philadelphie, Los Angeles, Tampa, Washington, Seattle, Hamburg, Tel Aviv, Madrid, Minneapolis, München, Frankfurt, Köln, Berlin, Seoul (2003), Modena, Melbourne, Sidney, London, Zagreb, Freibourg, Michigan Reel Pride Film Festival, Evergreen State College, Miami, Al-Faitha Foundation NMAC Washington DC, Pioneer Theater New York, The Provincetown International Film Festival (2004), Palm Film Festival Wellington, New Zealand (Sept. 2004), Copenhagen(Oct. 2004), Bombay, Prague (Nov.2004), Ljubljina- Slovenie (Déc. 2004),Vancouver...
PRESS REVIEWS
"Présenté d’emblée comme "bluette romantico-kitsch", ce film ne l’est peut-être pas tant que ça. Certes, on sera ému par le chemin qu’emprunte un peu malgré lui Karim, étudiant en DEUG de sociologie, qui décide d’interviewer des beurs gays pour traiter de "l’homosexualité au Maghreb" et qui, petit à petit, comprend combien le choix de ce sujet ne participe pas que d’une curiosité intellectuelle mais bien aussi d’une regard sur lui-même. Mais ce chemin n’est pas sans marquer la relation à son amie, sans non plus interroger la question des références identitaires et culturelles dans lesquelles s’enracinent nos désirs, nos doutes, nos interdits, nos inhibitions. Les interviews que mènent Karim brossent rapidement un tableau polychromique du vécu de la sexualité, du mal-être de ces garçons issus d’un pays où l’homosexualité, notamment dans son érotisme passif, est clandestine, vilipendée, lieu d’humiliation, mais aussi de l’ambiguité patente de ces pays tout à la fois sensuels et violents. Le désir que l’on reconnaît en soi ne nous mène pas forcément là où on a envie ; cependant, tout chemin de traverse soit-il, il participe de notre construction personnelle, prend sens dans notre histoire." (Site http://www.davidetjonathan.com)
"Bilan du Festival du Film Gay et Lesbien de Paris 2001 : 7ème édition. Une belle programmation cette année dont la variété est le maître mot (...) Pour clore les bonnes surprises longs-métrages du festival, il paraîtrait assez logique de finir sur le futur dernier-né de Rémi Lange (réalisateur d'Omelette et de Les yeux brouillés), Tarik el Hob, qui a été présenté sans mixage ni étalonnage au pays de la sexualité maghrébine et qui est actuellement en cours de post-production, histoire de participer un tant soit peu à l'accouchement imminent. Fait avec des bouts de ficelles, comme à son habitude car il n'aime pas travailler avec une équipe technique, ce qui lui évite toute la lourdeur d'un tournage professionnel et parvient ainsi à une réelle spontanéité dans le récit. Rémi Lange a abandonné le super 8 pour passer à la vidéo numérique et se met à construire une fiction plus classique avec des dialogues, mais essentiellement basés sur l'improvisation. Le synopsis a servi de scénario... On se sent parfois à la frontière du documentaire. Le résultat est original dans sa forme et passionnant dans son propos. Un jeune maghrébin qui se dit hétéro décide de réaliser un documentaire sur l'homosexualité de ses pairs. Une relation de séduction ambiguë s'opère entre lui et l'un de ses témoins... L'inversion des rôles est une très bonne idée : c'est l'interviewé qui va révéler l'interviewer à lui-même. Pas de distributeur en vue à l'heure actuelle... MK2, ouvre-toi !" (JR LELOUP, site ADVENTICE. COM)
"Joué essentiellement en impro, mi-fiction, mi-doc, ce film est accompagné d’une mise en scène intelligente et soignée. L’ensemble nous donne une impression de spontanéité ; une sorte de caméra-vérité, apparentée au cinéma de Cassavetes et au " dogma " de Lars Von Trier." (Festival du Film Gay et lesbien de Bruxelles 2003)
"De Paris à Marseille, d'Amsterdam
au Maroc, en passant par la tombe de Jean Genet à Larache,
ce «chemin de l'amour» raconte le voyage intérieur
de Karim qui, au cours d'un reportage sociologique sur l'homosexualité
au Maghreb, tombe sous le charme d'un jeune steward nommé
Farid.
Tourné
avec peu de moyens (une caméra DV), Tarik el Hob met
en scène, pour la première fois, des personnages
gay beur sous un autre angle que d'objet sexuel ou de la frapppe
de banlieue. Dans ce film, imparfait mais très attachant,
Rémi Lange suit le parcours affectif et amoureux de
Farid et Karim. de Paris à Marseille, entre fiction
et réalité. Au départ, ce film devait
s'intituler Les noces beur beur. Joué essentiellement en impro, mi-fiction, mi-doc, il aborde avec justesse les thèmes de l’homosexualité et de l’Islam. De la difficulté à s'accepter et à aimer.
Les deux interprètes ont été découvert aux soirées BBB, et ont bravé le tabou de leur homosexualité en donnant chair à l'écran à un amour d'autant plus touchant que cela n'a jamais été abordé au cinéma." (http://www.kelma.org/lesnews/news/film_gay_beur.htm)
"Un pur chef-d'oeuvre, a masterpiece" (E-MALE MAGAZINE, N°70, 14-27 MAI 2004)
"VIVE LA VÉRITÉ, LIBRE. AN EPIC JOURNEY TO LOVE. TARIK EL HOB IS AN ENGAGING FRENCH FEATURE (…), a pained but tender coming out tale of a young Algerian student in Paris falling in love while making a documentary about gay Arabs (…). Directed by 34-year-old Rémi Lange, this low-budget indie flick is a bizarre conglomeration of elements : a drama about a documentary incorporating actual interviews and information from non-fiction books and other sources. Even the dramatic segments have a cinema-verité feel because of shooting at close quarters with a digital camera (…). The interview segments provide an intriguing cross-section (…). Some of the archival information presented is fascinating (…). There is lovely chemistry among the players(…). Lange feels Tarik el hob is an outgrowth of his earlier flicks, 'Omelette' and 'Les yeux brouillés', what he calls ‘diary films’ : ‘I like making films exploding the frontiers between fiction and reality and between cultures and people in general’(…). France has the largest Arab population in Europe, yet, according to Lange, Arabs are not represented in movies or on tv. Lange and co-writer Antoine Parlebas – who are both white – wanted to reflect that ambivalence, the double marginalization.‘We wanted, without judging, to focus on this problem which has not been pointed out before in the cinema, to watch how it is still difficult for most Muslim homosexual boys in the world, to live their own desires’ (…). By the end of the film, what you remember is the courage and joie de vivre of all the film’s actors. Or, as Lange puts it, he and the cast shared the same passion : ‘to make things change’." (GORDON BOWNESS, XTRA, CANADA’S GAY NATIONAL NEWSPAPER, MAY 15 2003.)
"The road to love is an ambitious film about a too-often unseen subject that shouldn't be missed." (METRO WEELKY, WASHINGTON DC'S GAY AND LESBIAN MAGAZINE)
"A compelling and sensual tale" (MELBOURNE QUEER FILM)
"As a director and editor, Lange is hard-wired to his characters' souls, celebrating with stunning precision each tender nuance of blossoming love." (MIAMI GAY AND LESBIAN FILM FESTIVAL)
"70 minutes long and masquerading as faux documentary until our identification with the characters allows fiction, is Rémi Lange’s Tarik El Hob. This follows the evolving sexuality of a french algerian as he researches a thesis about men marrying men in part of the Maghreb. The scenes shot in Paris and Marrakech have been built from improvisation around the events of the story, resulting in very natural yet intense performances." (G. Lock, www.fiba.dircon.co.uk)"Interesting reporting enters on the edges of the familiar story line (...). Well-worn dramatics." (THE NEW YORK TIMES, Dave Kehr, June 30th, 2004)
"Best gay picture from France." (TORONTO - INSIDEOUT 2003)
"After previewing a sampler of works coming down the pike in Toronto’s Inside Out festival of gay and lesbian films and videos, I’m ready to nominate films for awards in several categories (…). Coalition of the Willies Award for Best Gay Picture from France. My fave goes to TARIK EL HOB. Like living Metropolis, this low-budget item is a romantic triangle movie, in which Farid meets Karim and Karim’s grilfriend. Karim does a Matt and flips for Farid – but not quickly, and certainly not before director Rémi Lange teaches the audience some pretty interesting lessons about love between men in traditional North African culture. This is a well-acted little drama (...)." ( JOHN BENTLEY MAYS, THE GLOBE AND MAIL, CANADA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER, MAY 15, 2003)
"With agonizing slowness, Karim, a straight French-Algerian sociology student, is seduced by Farid, an interview subject in his documentary on homosexuality in the Parisian Muslim community. The documentary conceit is a clever excuse for the use of cheap, grainy video, which has never before looked so rawly, achingingly romantic. The chemistry between the two actors is overwhelming, as is the suspense. Will Karim leave his girfriend ? Can those eyelashes possibly be real ? When are they going to finally hook up ? Swoon." (NNNN – TOP TEN OF THE YEAR » WENDY BANKS, NOW, TORONTO, MAY 15 21, 2003)
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Sunday, December 31, 2006
REMI LANGE. INTERVIEW. GERMAN GAY MAGAZINE. 2004.
You are European. How did you become interested in Maghreb gays?
I fell in love with a twenty-year old boy from Algerian origins in France a few years ago, Khader, and I discovered it was quite difficult for him o live his own homosexuality because of the his family pressure. When he explained to me why, I discovered a world I did not know at all : the Islamic world, and how difficult it is for a Muslim boy to live his own desires in the suburbs of Paris for example...
Do you have gay Arabian friends? And what did you know about their problems before you made the movie? And how did you find out so many things about Maghreb gay society?
After discovering the real difficulties a Muslim gay boy had to face, I decided to make a sort of militant film about Islam & homosexuality, because nothing had been done before on this subject, and because I think it could try to make things change (prejudices, aggressiveness against gay Muslim boys, etc.). But I did not want to make a didactic movie, I wanted to make a romantic love-story which could at the same time tell my message... I read a lot of books on sexuality & Islam and began writing the story of this sociology student making a documentary on Islam and homosexuality. In this way, he could make mistakes which are in fact the mistakes I actually made because I am not a journalist and I have my own personal point of view which could not be an average journalistic opinion...
The movie is filmed with Mini-DV - so the spectator has the impression that it is a documentary. Are some parts of it taken from real life? Or is it all fiction?The interviews are real. The interviewed boys are telling what they actually think about Islam & homosexuality (except the exhibitionist boy at the beginning of the movie). All what is said about Islam and homosexuality is also true –the texts read by Karim and Farid in the movie-, it is a combination of all what I read about Islam and homosexuality... The rest if pure fiction...
How did you find Farid and Karim? And did they ever act in front of the camera before?
Karim was introduced to me by a friend of mine. After we went to a gay Tea Dance in Paris and I could see him dancing in a very sensual way, that’s the reason why I asked him if he would like to play a gay dancer in a film about homosexuality and Islam, and he accepted... Farid was a friend of mine, I had met him at the French Paris Gay Pride in 1998. Farid had played on stage (theatre plays) before, but had never played in front of a camera. Karim had never played before, that’s his first role, but although everybody tells him that he’s very natural, i.e. a good actor, he does not want to become a professional actor... That’s his first and last role I think. For him it was a good experience, that’s all.
Did something like this happen to Karim in real life?
I don’t know his real life and that’s his life, I am not supposed to talk about him at his own place...
Did you get reactions from the gay maghreb community?
No, because the movie was shown only 4 times in French theatres, in gay Festivals, was not theatrically released, and the people who bought the French dvd were only gay people I think.... The only thing I can say about this is the following thing... Just after finishing the movie, I was interviewed by a French Radio dedicated to people from Maghreb origins, and the sub-director of this radio discovered that the French journalist interviewed a boy about Islam and homosexuality, so he went in the room and said to the journalist that the big chief would not be pleased at all... So I have the feeling that the French Maghrebian people does not really like talking about this.... Everybody knows it does happen, but nobody wants to talk about it, just like in Maghreb countries... And if you’re Arab and say you’re gay in the suburbs of any city of France, you are rejected by your own family, so most gay Arab boys go to Paris and leave their suburbian family environment to find some freedom...
Do you think that white gay men have prejudices against Arabian gays? Or are they “objects of desire”?
The average white gay man or woman in France has prejudices against Arabian people in general (remember Le Pen was the third man in the French last Presidential elections...). So most average straight French men and women have double prejudices against Arab gay boys... Because the average French man is also homophobic... And Arab gay boys are viwed as “objects of desire” for the average French gay boy, who has post-colonialist attitudes towards them...
Do you know if there are lesbians from the maghreb area?
As many in any area in the world I guess ! I don’t know, I am a film-maker, not a specialist about Maghreb and homosexuality...
Do you know if openly gay muslim men in France are religious?
No, I don’t...
In the film, one of the protagonists says that Arabic society accepts the “active guy”, but hates the one who gets fucked. Calls him “attai”. Do you think that gay Arabs in Paris have the same attitude? No, not at all. All gay arab boys are as “open” as the average gay French boy. But actually, a lot of them say they are active, that’s what I could notice in by talking to them on the internet meeting web sites... So maybe there are traces on this division between passive & active men on their behaviour...
Did the oasis Siwa mentioned in the film really exist? And how did you find out about it?
Yes it does... A friend of mine, Alain Burosse, who used to be the director of Canal + short programs, had talked of this to me, and made a documentary movie about it : “SIWA”, shown on Arte... Go to http://www.gayegypt.com/gayguidtosiw.html for more information about Siwa and Alain Burosse’s movie. But I never went to Siwa...
On your webpage I saw that your other film “Mes Parents” is something like a Gore-Movie. Are you a fan of that genre?
Yes I am. I should say : “I used to be”. But I still like watching good horror movies –which can also tell messages about life in general- but they’re more and more are...
What are your future plans?
To make new movies (I shot a new movie last summer, called “the Sex of Madam H”, “Madame H” being a real famous “drag-queen” in Paris I am kidnapping – I am playing my own role -to discover her actual sex and film her... see her web-site www.madameh.com ), to dvd publish works of film-makers I like and we can not find in France. That’s the reason why I created my own company : “LES FILMS DE L’ANGE”...
Paris, march 2004.
You are European. How did you become interested in Maghreb gays?
I fell in love with a twenty-year old boy from Algerian origins in France a few years ago, Khader, and I discovered it was quite difficult for him o live his own homosexuality because of the his family pressure. When he explained to me why, I discovered a world I did not know at all : the Islamic world, and how difficult it is for a Muslim boy to live his own desires in the suburbs of Paris for example...
Do you have gay Arabian friends? And what did you know about their problems before you made the movie? And how did you find out so many things about Maghreb gay society?
After discovering the real difficulties a Muslim gay boy had to face, I decided to make a sort of militant film about Islam & homosexuality, because nothing had been done before on this subject, and because I think it could try to make things change (prejudices, aggressiveness against gay Muslim boys, etc.). But I did not want to make a didactic movie, I wanted to make a romantic love-story which could at the same time tell my message... I read a lot of books on sexuality & Islam and began writing the story of this sociology student making a documentary on Islam and homosexuality. In this way, he could make mistakes which are in fact the mistakes I actually made because I am not a journalist and I have my own personal point of view which could not be an average journalistic opinion...
The movie is filmed with Mini-DV - so the spectator has the impression that it is a documentary. Are some parts of it taken from real life? Or is it all fiction?The interviews are real. The interviewed boys are telling what they actually think about Islam & homosexuality (except the exhibitionist boy at the beginning of the movie). All what is said about Islam and homosexuality is also true –the texts read by Karim and Farid in the movie-, it is a combination of all what I read about Islam and homosexuality... The rest if pure fiction...
How did you find Farid and Karim? And did they ever act in front of the camera before?
Karim was introduced to me by a friend of mine. After we went to a gay Tea Dance in Paris and I could see him dancing in a very sensual way, that’s the reason why I asked him if he would like to play a gay dancer in a film about homosexuality and Islam, and he accepted... Farid was a friend of mine, I had met him at the French Paris Gay Pride in 1998. Farid had played on stage (theatre plays) before, but had never played in front of a camera. Karim had never played before, that’s his first role, but although everybody tells him that he’s very natural, i.e. a good actor, he does not want to become a professional actor... That’s his first and last role I think. For him it was a good experience, that’s all.
Did something like this happen to Karim in real life?
I don’t know his real life and that’s his life, I am not supposed to talk about him at his own place...
Did you get reactions from the gay maghreb community?
No, because the movie was shown only 4 times in French theatres, in gay Festivals, was not theatrically released, and the people who bought the French dvd were only gay people I think.... The only thing I can say about this is the following thing... Just after finishing the movie, I was interviewed by a French Radio dedicated to people from Maghreb origins, and the sub-director of this radio discovered that the French journalist interviewed a boy about Islam and homosexuality, so he went in the room and said to the journalist that the big chief would not be pleased at all... So I have the feeling that the French Maghrebian people does not really like talking about this.... Everybody knows it does happen, but nobody wants to talk about it, just like in Maghreb countries... And if you’re Arab and say you’re gay in the suburbs of any city of France, you are rejected by your own family, so most gay Arab boys go to Paris and leave their suburbian family environment to find some freedom...
Do you think that white gay men have prejudices against Arabian gays? Or are they “objects of desire”?
The average white gay man or woman in France has prejudices against Arabian people in general (remember Le Pen was the third man in the French last Presidential elections...). So most average straight French men and women have double prejudices against Arab gay boys... Because the average French man is also homophobic... And Arab gay boys are viwed as “objects of desire” for the average French gay boy, who has post-colonialist attitudes towards them...
Do you know if there are lesbians from the maghreb area?
As many in any area in the world I guess ! I don’t know, I am a film-maker, not a specialist about Maghreb and homosexuality...
Do you know if openly gay muslim men in France are religious?
No, I don’t...
In the film, one of the protagonists says that Arabic society accepts the “active guy”, but hates the one who gets fucked. Calls him “attai”. Do you think that gay Arabs in Paris have the same attitude? No, not at all. All gay arab boys are as “open” as the average gay French boy. But actually, a lot of them say they are active, that’s what I could notice in by talking to them on the internet meeting web sites... So maybe there are traces on this division between passive & active men on their behaviour...
Did the oasis Siwa mentioned in the film really exist? And how did you find out about it?
Yes it does... A friend of mine, Alain Burosse, who used to be the director of Canal + short programs, had talked of this to me, and made a documentary movie about it : “SIWA”, shown on Arte... Go to http://www.gayegypt.com/gayguidtosiw.html for more information about Siwa and Alain Burosse’s movie. But I never went to Siwa...
On your webpage I saw that your other film “Mes Parents” is something like a Gore-Movie. Are you a fan of that genre?
Yes I am. I should say : “I used to be”. But I still like watching good horror movies –which can also tell messages about life in general- but they’re more and more are...
What are your future plans?
To make new movies (I shot a new movie last summer, called “the Sex of Madam H”, “Madame H” being a real famous “drag-queen” in Paris I am kidnapping – I am playing my own role -to discover her actual sex and film her... see her web-site www.madameh.com ), to dvd publish works of film-makers I like and we can not find in France. That’s the reason why I created my own company : “LES FILMS DE L’ANGE”...
Paris, march 2004.
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