Feature Film

Looking for Oum Kulthum

Filmplakat mit rotem Vorhang und Frau mit dunklen Haaren, Sonnenbrille und rotem Lippenstift, die den Vorhang öffnet, Text mit dem Titel "Auf der Suche nach Oum Kulthum" und den Namen der Mitwirkenden sowie hochgestellte arabische Schrift rechts am Bildrand.

Mitra, an ambitious artist, mother and wife in her late 40s, embarks on her lifelong dream of making a film about her hero, the legendary singer of the Arab World, Oum Kulthum. Her film’s central aim is to explore the struggles, sacrifices and the price of Oum Kulthum’s success as a female artist living in a conservative male dominated society. Mitra herself achieved fame and success abroad, but her career choices made it impossible to return home, which separated her from her son and family.

Data

aka: Looking for Oum Kulthum
Category: Feature Film
Financing: Minority coproduction
Format: DCP, 90 Min
Release: 15.06.2018
Distribution: FILMLADEN Filmverleih GmbH
Admissions: 3.237
Funding Film Institute: 250.000 €
Share of Austrian production costs: 23 %
Share of total production costs: 7 %
Television investment: 240.000 €
Co-production: Razor Film (DE, 49%), Agora Films (MA, 11%), In Between Art Film (IT, 10%), Vivo Film (IT)
International funding: Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg, Regione Lazio
Funding program: ÖFI
first run on ORF2 Austrian Broadcasting Service: 28.02.2022
Viewers: 55.000
Film location: Morocco, Vienna
Shooting time: October - December 2016
Days of shooting: 29
Completion: Spring 2017
Funding institutions Austria: Filminstitut, Filmfonds Wien, Filmstandort Austria

Credits

Production: coop 99 filmproduktion G.m.b.H.
Director: Shirin Neshat
Script: Shirin Neshat, Shoja Azari
DOP: Martin Gschlacht
Editor: Nadia Ben Rachid
Sound engineer: Claus Benischke-Lang
Costume design: Mariano Tufano
Set design: Erwin Prib
Music: Amine Bouhafa
Cast: Neda Rahmanian (Mitra), Yasmin Raeis (Ghada), Mehdi Moinzadeh (Amir), Kais Nashif (Ahmed)
German Title: Auf der Suche nach Oum Kulthum
Television investment: ORF (Film/Fernseh-Abkommen), SNRT