Launched at Cannes 2024 as the worldwide gross sales arm of pan-Arab leisure powerhouse MAD Options, MAD World has swooped on worldwide gross sales rights to extremely regarded Tunisian filmmaker Mehdi Hmili’s revenge drama “Exile” forward of its world premiere at August’s Locarno Movie Pageant. 

MAD World has additionally shared in exclusivity with Selection a primary look of the five-way co-production between Tunisia, Luxembourg, France, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia – this backing an indication of Mehdi’s constructing ambition and rising standing within the Arab cinema world.  

Lead produced by Tunisia’s Yol Movie Home, arrange by Mehdi and producer Moufida Fedhila, “Exile” weighs in at Locarno as a social-issue revenge thriller set in an industrial world notably scarred by tragedy. It activates Mohamed, a employee on the nation’s largest metal manufacturing facility, a state concern on the point of chapter which is about to be privatised. 

Mohamed survives a devastating explosion that kills his pal Adel and leaves a chunk of steel lodged in his head that begins to rust slowly. Demoted to the job of safety guard, marginalized by the system and deeply affected by Adel’s demise, all whereas his bodily situation deteriorates, Mohamed embarks on a harrowing journey of revenge that unravels a deeper conspiracy whose attain extends far past the manufacturing facility partitions. 

“Exile” stars Ghanem Zrelli, Maram Ben Aziza, Slim Baccar, Younes Ferhi, Mohamed Kolsi and Mourad Gharsalli.

“With its well timed themes and placing visible type, “Exile” marks one other daring entry in Hmili’s rising physique of socially charged cinema,” MAD World noticed in an announcement Monday. 

Properly reviewed off its world premiere in Locarno’s 2021 Filmmakers of the Current strand, “Streams” already yoked frenetic motion and social level as a mom searches for her lacking son in a oppressive nightlife demimonde. It went on to win director at Malmö, actor at Cairo, and a Kolkata Jury Prize at Kolkata, amongst different awards.

Whereas “Streams” performed Locarno’s Filmmakers of the Current, “Exile” now bows out of competitors on the Swiss Pageant, a step-up for Hmili. 

“‘Exile’ is a visceral, pressing movie that speaks to the human price of business exploitation and systemic neglect,” stated MAD Options co-founders Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab. “Mehdi Hmili has crafted a strong narrative that blends emotional depth with political resonance – precisely the type of daring, auteur-driven storytelling we champion at MAD World.”

“Exile” can also be produced by Donato Rotunno for Luxembourg’s Tarantula, which co-produced “Streams,” and Michel Balagué for France’s Volte Movie. It obtained post-production assist from Qatar’s Doha Movie Institute (DFI) in its fall 2024 spherical of funding. 

Farouk Laaridh, a cinematographer on fellow Tunisian Kaouther Ben Hania’s Oscar-nominated “4 Daughters,” serves as DP on “Exile” whereas Rawchen Mizouri (“Mektoub My Love”) oversaw modifying. It has an unique rating by Amélie Legrand (“Tug of Battle”).

Past DFI, the venture obtained assist from the Movie Fund Luxembourg, CNC France, CNCI Tunisia, Crimson Sea Fund, AFAC Fund, the Francophonie Picture Fund, France TV and Cannes’ La Fabrique Cinéma the place “Exile” was introduced as a venture in 2019.