By MICHAEL GINGOLD
Modern concerns are overtaken by frightening Moroccan folklore.
Freestyle Digital Media will release THE CURSE (a.k.a. LA DAMNÉE) to North American digital HD internet, cable, DVD and satellite platforms on June 2. Directed by Abel Danan and scripted by Danan and Emma Lacoste, it stars Lina El Arabi, Ouidad Elma, Sairi Salma and Souad Labsy. The synopsis: “THE CURSE tells the story of Yara [El Arabi], a young Moroccan girl who moves to Paris to study. Agoraphobic since childhood, she lives a cloistered existence, trapped within the walls of her apartment and the grip of her nightmares. Bedeviled by terrifying events that blend fragments of her past with monstrous visions, Yara’s reality begins to fracture. When a mysterious apparition appears one evening, it turns her life upside down, pushing her to the very brink of madness.”
“With THE CURSE,” Danan says, “I wanted to film in Morocco, a land of origins and mystery surrounding ghosts and spirits, to tell a story rarely seen and explore it through the lens of folkloric horror. I approached it with passion to speak about heritage, but also to captivate and frighten audiences with the significance of Moroccan witches. The idea is to leave a mark through rarely seen visuals and a culture that is not widely known, yet deeply fascinating.”
