Synopsis
Djibril, a 14-year-old member of the Grasshoppers gang, leads a dangerous existence in a Marseille slum with his pregnant girlfriend Camilla, a member of the rival Locust gang. When Djibril is manipulated into killing Mahad, a young Locust, war breaks out.
Awards
The Cannes Film Festival has added Jean-Bernard Marlin’s Marseille second feature Salem to its Un Certain Regard line-up devoted to new cinematic voices.
The Marseille gangland-set fantasy follows a former gang member who believes his daughter is the only one who can save his community from an apocalyptic curse uttered by a rival gang member in his dying breath.
Salem is Marlin’s second feature after the gritty romance Shéhérazade which debuted in Cannes Critics’ Week in 2018.