Atlas Close-Ups
Road to Limbo
Synopsis
The road and its treasures are said to be guarded by an old spirit named Moulay Fettah, known by the sound of his rusty chains, which spread like a spider's web in the woods. If you wish him to give you a treasure, you must offer the blood of a Zouhri child.
While fleeing the police and leaving behind his native village, Rahal, a young thug in his thirties, crosses paths with and saves Taher, a Zouhri child who is about to be sacrificed. The two share a long journey during which they must go back and forth between the real and the strange; a journey that requires that they remain out of the reach of the treasure hunters who track them, as well as the authorities. But above all, they will learn to heal their past pain and wounds, to become strong in the face of their burdens, and to know that the world is much larger than it seems in their imaginations.
Director’s statement
Urban myth or reality, questions surrounding zouhris (children who bring luck) have been asked for ages in Morocco. To the best of my knowledge, no cinematic work has been made examining this issue, although the subject has always intrigued and several stories have been born from it. So I asked myself: What if it were treated as an adventure?
The story of Road to Limbo arose from the confluence of several desires—first, to shed light on the purely social issue of these children and their tragedy, and above all to offer a story that would bear the codes of the appropriate film genres. Between the road-movie and the fantasy film, I believe here I have a film that will touch the general public, while maintain its auteur-film qualities, which provide the main thrust of the plot.
Biographies
Born in 1989 in Casablanca, Ayoub Lahnoud obtained his professional licence after completing higher education in Image and Directing at the University of Visual Arts in Marrakech (ESAVM). Since 2011, Lahnoud has worked as a film and television director, notably on several episodes of the series Saâ'a fi Ljahim, Fhem Tsetta, the television movie Dépannage, and three short films: Fish, which was selected for FESTIMAJ in 2011; BAD, which won the Prix Cinécole at the Marrakech International Film Festival in 2013; and El Bayda, which was screened in the Regards d'Afrique section of the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in 2017 and at the Festival International du Film Francophone Namur and Trophées Francophones du Cinéma in 2018.
After training in Theatrical Interpretation, Fatima Boubakdy began working as an assistant in 1998. The following year, she signed The Door of Hope, her first television movie, followed in 2001 by the mini-series Tighalline, with which she decided to specialise in historical fantasy and heritage cinema, which she particularly likes given her love of history. Today, she counts among her achievements and executive productions various works in the genre, a dozen series, and the film Annatto, which she produced through the production company she launched in 2017.
€1 153 393,51
October, November 2022, Morocco
April 2023
Coaches and script doctors, potential co-producers, assistance in setting up a more developed strategy for distribution and international marketing (especially via streaming)
