FAOUZI BENSAÏDI
Director, screenwriter, actor

Faouzi Bensaïdi was born in 1967 in Meknes, Morocco. He studied at the Institute of Dramatic Art in Rabat and went on to direct numerous plays for the theater. He then studied acting at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art in Paris. In 1998, he directed his first short film, The Cliff. It screened at numerous festivals and received a total of 23 awards! His next film, The Rain Line (2000), received special mention at the Venice Film Festival and was selected at Cannes. The Wall, his third short film, was equally well received and screened at the Directors’ Fortnight. The screenplay of his first feature film, A Thousand Months, won the Screenplay Reading Award at Premiers Plan, Angers in 2002. The following year the film was presented in the Un Certain Regard selection at Cannes and won the Prix Premier Regard, as well as the Prix de la Jeunesse. His second feature film, WWW: What a Wonderful Life, screened at “Venice Days” at the Venice Film Festival and the International Francophone Film Festival at Namur. It was released in France in January 2007.