Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2021: #61. Leyla Bouzid’s Une histoire d’amour et de désir

Une histoire d’amour et de désir

It’s now been six years since French-Tunisian director Leyla Bouzid (daughter of director Nouri Bouzid) premiered her 2015 debut As I Open My Eyes. She should be all set with sophomore title Une histoire d’amour et de désir (A Story of Love and Desire) in 2021, produced by Sandra da Fonseca. Sami Outalbali (who recently starred in Laurent Micheli’s Lola, 2019) and Zbeida Belhajamor topline this bill. As I Open My Eyes premiered in Venice Days at the 2015 Venice Film Festival, winning the audience award and Label Europa Cinemas award. CNC backed the project. She returns to work with DP Sebastian Goepfert, who also recently lensed Amjad Abu Alala’s You Will Die at 20 (2019).

Gist: Bouzid’s sophomore film details the sexual awakening of Ahmed, a young French man of Algerian origins. His encounters with Farah, recently arrived from Tunis, paired with Arab erotic literature, forces him to reexamine his understanding of himself.

Release Date/Prediction: Shot in the fall of 2019, we had pegged Bouzid as a potential contender in Venice 2020. However, with a premiere delayed to 2021, Bouzid will likely pop up at Berlin or Cannes.