ZOZO European Film Showcase

Director Josef Fares (JALLA JALLA, KOPS) is an innovative storyteller with an extraordinary sense of humor and visual flare. His new film ZOZO is more dramatic and emotionally charged, yet still steeped in Fares’ unique style.

Zozo is a young boy growing up in Beirut. In spite of the Lebanese civil war outside his door, he leads a normal life with family, friends and school. But one day tragedy strikes, and Zozo is left orphaned. He sets off to the only other place he knows-Sweden where his grandparents immigrated years before. Not entirely autobiographical, ZOZO is obviously a very personal film for Fares, as he was also born in Beirut and immigrated to Sweden as a child. The shooting of ZOZO marked his first return to Lebanon in 17 years, and many scenes were shot in his family’s former apartment, which is now abandoned.

The captivating young lead, lmad Creidi, gives a rich performance with layers of emotional range rarely seen in such a young man. ZOZO artfully combines the surreal, the comic, the poignant and the tragic, creating a potent film about war and growing up, brilliantly executed by Fares. ZOZO is Sweden’s official Oscar® submission.