Ahead of its Italian release, audiences in Rome will have the opportunity to watch Un prophète in its entirety on the big screen. The series is directed by Enrico Maria Artale, with cinematography by Ferran Paredes Rubio CCS.
Cinema Troisi in Rome will screen the series’ eight episodes over two evenings:
- Wednesday 23 September at 7.30 p.m.: Episodes 1–4, with director Enrico Maria Artale in attendance;
- Wednesday 30 September at 7.30 p.m.: Episodes 5–8.
The screenings will be in the original language with subtitles.
Presented out of competition at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival and subsequently launched in France as a CANAL+ Création Originale, the series offers a new interpretation of A Prophet, Jacques Audiard’s 2009 film, which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Created and written by Abdel Raouf Dafri and Nicolas Peufaillit, both of whom were involved in the original film, with Artale also contributing to the screenplay, the series relocates the story to contemporary Marseille.
Malik El Djebenna, a young man of Comorian origin, is found among the rubble of a collapsed building. The police discover that he is carrying drugs, and he is immediately sent to Les Baumettes prison. Alone and vulnerable, Malik is forced to learn quickly the rules of a world dominated by violence and power struggles. To survive, he must find allies, learn to navigate between opposing factions and gradually turn his vulnerability into strength.
The atmosphere of this criminal coming-of-age story, poised between realism and visionary interludes, is shaped by the cinematography of Ferran Paredes Rubio CCS, whose camera closely follows the protagonists’ bodies and faces, conveying both the tension of the prison environment and the complexity of Marseille’s urban landscape. Dario Di Mella CCS also worked on the series as a camera operator.
The cast includes Mamadou Sidibé as Malik, alongside Sami Bouajila, Ouassini Embarek, Salim Kechiouche, Matthieu Lucci, Naïlia Harzoune, Faued Nabba, Hugo Dillon, Rachid Guellaz, Guilaine Londez and Moussa Maaskri.
The series, comprising eight episodes of approximately 55 minutes each, was filmed in Marseille and Puglia, where the prison interiors were recreated. The two screenings at Cinema Troisi therefore offer a special preview ahead of its forthcoming Italian release and a rare opportunity to see the complete series on the big screen.
Cinema Troisi – Rome
23 September at 7.30 p.m.: Episodes 1–4, introduced by Enrico Maria Artale.
30 September at 7.30 p.m.: Episodes 5–8 Original-language version with subtitles.
