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My Name Is Not Ali

58% | Nov 07, 2011 | Documentary

Travelling between Germany, France and Tunisia, Viola Shafik reconstructs and deconstructs the unknown life story of El Hedi Ben Salem through interviews with his companions and family members as well as archive material. With openness and slight naivety the interviewees explain how “Ali” became an oriental object of projection for the Fassbinder group, while El Hedi Ben Salem, the human being, was overlooked in order to establish the foreigner as “other.” A no-frills examination of a piece of German and Munich film history.

Featured Crew

Viola Shafik
Director
Viola Shafik
Writer

Cast

actor1
El Hedi ben Salem
Self (archive footage)
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Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Self (archive footage)
actor1
Abd El-Kader Jarrary
Self (Ben Salem's Son)
actor1
Hafsia Mellaim
Self (Ben Salem's former wife)
actor1
Viola Shafik
Self (voice)

Images