Mohamed Hefzy, the Egyptian producer whose Banner Film Clinic presents three films at the Venice Film Festival, teams up with the banner of French producer Valerie Garcia Gabman on a series of dramats from adulthood in the world of Parisian fashion.
The eight-part series is created by Amina Abdelwahab and Hend Radwan (“paranormal”), and is co-written by Abdelwahab, Claire Saint-Pierre (“Aspergirl”) and Georges Hazim (“son of a dancer”). Christophe Saber, an Egyptian Helmer-Siss who led the shorts acclaimed by criticism “discipline” and “sacrilege”, is on board to direct “Nadine”.
The project was selected to participate in the Quamra mentoring program of the Doha Film Institute and received a subsidy. As such, “Nadine” is supported by the Doha Film Institute and the French National Film Board (CNC).
The story revolves around Nadine, an 18 -year -old aware of a strict Lebanese family living in the suburbs of Paris, whose life is upset after being spotted by a model and is launched in a more size modeling career. But while she exchanges her job by working in the family’s shawarma store for modeling, she finds herself juggling the expectations of her conservative parents while sailing in the chaotic world of Parisian fashion, leading to many cultural clashes.
The show was written in collaboration with Dina Hamzeh and Omar Layza (“Anxious in Beirut”). Abdelwahab said that the idea of the show was inspired by the true story of the way an Egyptian friend studied engineering and worked in a convenience store in Melbourne, Australia, when he was spotted by Tyra Banks. “He just moved careers and now it’s a Calvin Klein model,” she said.
But it is not the only source of inspiration. Abdelwahab shares that “Nadine’s journey is deeply personal for (her). Like her, I had trouble with my weight and my feeling of identity, “she said, adding that this” series is my way of recovering this story and exploring what is happening when the world label and defines you before you had the chance to define yourself. “
Talk to Variety Before Venice, Hefzy said: “When I heard the concept for” Nadine “for the first time, I remembered how programs like” Ramy “and” Mo “crossed cultural thresholds by bringing American Arab stories to the public worldwide.”
Hefzy added that it had been struck that “we had rarely seen such a rupture representing the Arab diaspora or the Arabs living in Europe”. He felt like “Nadine” “could do the same for the French Arab community”, featuring “characters in a way that is touching and humorous and at the same time, very modern and relevant”.
Garcia, who produces the series in Gabman with Manon Cominassi, described the series as a “fresh, inclusive story and without an excuse of a relatable unsuitable, which transcends generations, cultures and borders”.
Now in development, the project puts Radwan and Hezfy, who collaborated for the last time as executive producers in the successful series “Paranormal”, for the last time.
Garcia and Hefzy both have good history. Garcia, who previously co-directed one of the main distribution shifts in France, Mars Films (“Two is a family”, “Coda”), launched Gabman in 2022 and currently finances “A Beautiful Journey”, a film in English with Shailene Woodley, with an anonymous federation.
Hefzy, who played a big role in the defense of emerging talents in the Mena region, is in Venice with “Hijra”, the second feature film by Saudi filmmaker Shahad Ameen, Suzannah Mirghani “Cotton Queen” and the Horror film by Yanis Koussim “Roqia”.
