PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Abdelhamid Bouchnak, director of the film Dachra.
Director Abdelhamid Bouchnak’s feature Dachra premiered as the closing film of the 75th Venice Film Festival’s International Critics Week strand. In this interview he talks about working within the genre movie, or as he calls it, “elevated genre”, the true stories that inspired Dachra and the style of the movie, especially the use of handheld camera. In addition, Bouchnak also mentions his Tunisian identity as a distinctive feature of his filmmaking.
Dachra: Yasmin, a Tunisian journalism student, and her two male friends set out on a university assignment to solve the cold case of Mongia, a woman found mutilated 25 years ago, now imprisoned in an asylum and suspected of witchcraft. As they pursue their investigation, the three friends stumble into the archaic and ominous world of Dachra, an isolated countryside compound filled with goats, silent women, mysterious drying meat and steaming pots. They are welcomed to stay overnight by the jovial yet menacing cult leader, but when Yasmin discovers Dachra’s secrets, she must escape before she is consumed.
The Lovers Film Festival celebrates 40 years with 70 films from 26 countries, international guests and tributes to LGBTQI+ cinema icons. Directed by Vladimir Luxuria, from 10 to 17 April at the Cinema Massimo in Turin.