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Ali Zoua

Country: Morocco | Tunisia | France | Belgium | USA, Language: Arabic | French, 99 mins

Original Title

Ali Zaoua, prince de la rue
  • Director: Nabil Ayouch
  • Writer: Nabil Ayouch; Nathalie Saugeon
  • Producer: Nabil Ayouch; Etienne Comar

CGiii Comment

A story about street kids - and, the loyalty they have to a dead friend.

The young inexperienced cast are exquisite and excel...in this mash-up of Oliver Twist, Lord of the Flies, Los Olvidados, Pixote et al.

The direction does not focus on the poverty, it focuses on the friendship and dreams - yes, it is sentimental...yes, it will make you cry...and, yes, it is one of the best films made about child poverty.

Quite, quite beautiful...heart-breakingly so.


Trailer...

The(ir) Blurb...

Ali, Kwita, Omar and Boubker are street kids. The daily dose of glue sniffing represents their only escape from reality. Since they left Dib and his gang, they have been living on the portside of Casablanca. They live in constant fear of Dib's revenge. Ali wants to become a sailor - when he was living with his mother, a prostitute, he used to listen to a fairy tale about the sailor who discovered the miracle island with two suns. Instead of finding his island in the dream, Ali and his friends are confronted with Dib's gang. Matters are getting serious.

Cast & Characters

Mounim Kbab as Kwita;
Mustapha Hansali as Omar;
Hicham Moussoune as Boubker;
Abdelhak Zhayra as Ali Zaoua;
Said Taghmaoui as Dib;
Amal Ayouch as Ali Zaoua's mother;
Mohamed Majd as The fisherman;
Hicham Ibrahimi as The sailor;
Nadia Ould Hajjaj as Schoolgirl;
Abdelkader Lofti as Hardware store owner;
Khalil Essaadi as Khalid;
Abdessamad Tourab Seddam as Noureddine;
Ahmed Lahlil as Man in bar;
Karim Merzak as The marabout's son;
Halima Frizi as Old woman