Private Project

The Healer

On the outskirts of a mining town, a 16-year-old, ABDOU, is anxious to regain the gift of human dignity through learning how to read and write; his adoptive mother MBARKA, the neighbourhood’s healer, protects her privileged status with ways that the laws of obscurantism allow her. CHAAYBA, a thirty-year old guy, uncontrollable and ferociously cynical, is an eccentric pickpocket. Suffering from a skin disease, ABDOU convinces him to come see MBARKA in order to get treatment for it. That’s how the fate of these three will entangle, twirling on the carrousel of illusion…

  • Mohamed Zineddaine
    Director
  • Mohamed Zineddaine
    Writer
    Olivier Bombarda
  • Rachida Saadi
    Producer
  • Mario Chemello
    Producer
  • Mohamed Zineddaie
    Producer
  • Fatima Attif
    Key Cast
    "MBARKA"
  • El Mehdi El Aarroubi
    Key Cast
    "CH4AAYBA"
  • Ahmed El Moustafid
    Key Cast
    "ABDOU"
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 41 minutes 43 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 14, 2018
  • Production Budget:
    78,000,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Morocco
  • Country of Filming:
    Morocco
  • Language:
    Arabic
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2:35
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Festival International du Film de Marrakech
    Marrakech
    Morocco
    November 29, 2018
    The World premiere
    Official Selection
  • Napoli Film Festival
    Napoli
    Italy
    October 1, 2019
  • Malmö Arab Film Festival – MAFF
    Malmö
    Sweden
    October 7, 2019
    Scandinavian Premiere
  • Mostra de València - Cinema del Mediterrani
    València
    Spain
    Official Selection
Distribution Information
  • CINEATLAS
    Country: Morocco
    Rights: Theatrical
  • Apapaja
    Country: Italy
    Rights: Theatrical
  • MAD Solutions
    Country: Egypt
    Rights: Theatrical
Director Biography - Mohamed Zineddaine

Mohamed Zineddaine is born in the small village of OUED-ZEM which was called Le Petit Paris by French colons. Free but difficult child, a pupil mediocre, Mohamed Zineddaine once confesses to a journalist: “The most pleasant times at school, where when the keeper rang the bells announcing the end of the course or breaks time. For me he was the most respectful of all” Doomed to failure in his scientific studies, he was conducted to literary works by a secret hand, where he devotes himself to be a great reader. In 1983, Mohamed Zineddaine
left Morocco, his native country, to follow up courses in computer studies in the city of Nice in France in the university Of CHATEAU. Quickly he realized that he was not in his shoes in this type of study, and moved on to Italy where he took great experiences in life doing several jobs. After living several months in Florence, Naples, Perrugia and Rome, Mohamed Zineddaine settled definitively in Bologna in 1985 where he started his director training.
Reporter, photographer, screenwriter and producer, Mohamed Zineddaine directed short films, documentaries, and produced his first feature film Awakening in 2005.

FICTION - FEATURE FILMS

- THE HEALER
(Morocco,Italy, Qatar / 2018 - 100 min)

- ANGER
(Morocco / 2013-87 min, 35mm)

- DO YOU REMEBER ADIL?
(Maroc /2008 – 88 mn, 35 mm)
Co-produced by SOREAD 2M

- AWIKENING
(Maroc/2005 - 78mn, 35 mm)

SHORT AND MEDIUM – LENGTH

- Under august’s sky (Morocco/1999), 52mn, 16mm
- A freudian family (Italy/1998) - 17mn, Beta SP

DOCUMENTARIES

- My Hero (Morocco, Italy, French/2020)
- After silence (Italy/2005) – 48mn, Beta Digital Un documentary about the life and the art of the italian painter Bruno Pinto.
- Gorizia (Italy-Slovenia/2006), Beta Digital
Documentaty – in editing – about the fall of a wall, which since the end of the second world war, divides the town of Gorizia into two separate zones: A and B.

- Looking far away (Italy/2002) – 20mn, Beta SP
Documentary about italian immigrants in Argentina

- Khénifra-Livorne (Italy /1998) - 25mn, Beta SP
Documentary on the life of a Moroccan berber immigrant community in Italy, in Livorno and their families in Khenifra in Morocco .

- The old dancer (Italy /1996) - 46mn, 16mm
Documentaty about radio broadcasting : a free adaptation of the essay « Théorie de la radio » de BERTOLD BRECHT. Clermont-Ferrand ( Catalogue – 1996)

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Mohamed Zineddaine is born in the small village of OUED-ZEM which was called Le Petit Paris by French colons. Free but difficult child, a pupil mediocre, Mohamed Zineddaine once confesses to a journalist: “The most pleasant times at school, where when the keeper rang the bells announcing the end of the course or breaks time. For me he was the most respectful of all” Doomed to failure in his scientific studies, he was conducted to literary works by a secret hand, where he devotes himself to be a great reader. In 1983, Mohamed Zineddaine
left Morocco, his native country, to follow up courses in computer studies in the city of Nice in France in the university Of CHATEAU. Quickly he realized that he was not in his shoes in this type of study, and moved on to Italy where he took great experiences in life doing several jobs. After living several months in Florence, Naples, Perrugia and Rome, Mohamed Zineddaine settled definitively in Bologna in 1985 where he started his director training.
Reporter, photographer, screenwriter and producer, Mohamed Zineddaine directed short films, documentaries, and produced his first feature film Awakening in 2005.

FICTION - FEATURE FILMS

- THE HEALER
(Morocco,Italy, Qatar / 2018 - 100 min)

- ANGER
(Morocco / 2013-87 min, 35mm)

- DO YOU REMEBER ADIL?
(Maroc /2008 – 88 mn, 35 mm)
Co-produced by SOREAD 2M

- AWIKENING
(Maroc/2005 - 78mn, 35 mm)

SHORT AND MEDIUM – LENGTH

- Under august’s sky (Morocco/1999), 52mn, 16mm
- A freudian family (Italy/1998) - 17mn, Beta SP

DOCUMENTARIES

- My Hero (Morocco, Italy, French/2020)
- After silence (Italy/2005) – 48mn, Beta Digital Un documentary about the life and the art of the italian painter Bruno Pinto.
- Gorizia (Italy-Slovenia/2006), Beta Digital
Documentaty – in editing – about the fall of a wall, which since the end of the second world war, divides the town of Gorizia into two separate zones: A and B.

- Looking far away (Italy/2002) – 20mn, Beta SP
Documentary about italian immigrants in Argentina

- Khénifra-Livorne (Italy /1998) - 25mn, Beta SP
Documentary on the life of a Moroccan berber immigrant community in Italy, in Livorno and their families in Khenifra in Morocco .

- The old dancer (Italy /1996) - 46mn, 16mm
Documentaty about radio broadcasting : a free adaptation of the essay « Théorie de la radio » de BERTOLD BRECHT. Clermont-Ferrand ( Catalogue – 1996)