My Name Is Not Ali

My Name Is Not Ali

98 mins | Documentary | Nov. 7, 2011

Travelling between Germany, France and Morocco, 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.

My Name Is Not Ali

98 mins | Documentary | Nov. 7, 2011

My Name Is Not Ali
Travelling between Germany, France and Morocco, 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.
Producers Mec Film
Original title Jannat 'Ali
Directors Viola Shafik
Writers Viola Shafik

Cast

El Hedi ben Salem

as Self (archive footage)

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

as Self (archive footage)

Abd El-Kader Jarrary

as Self (Ben Salem's Son)

Hafsia Mellaim

as Self (Ben Salem's former wife)

Viola Shafik

as Self (voice)

Renate Leiffer

as Self

Irm Hermann

as Self

Karl Scheydt

as Self

Hamdan Jarrary

as Self (Ben Salem's son)

Zeina Jarrary

as Self (Ben Salem's sister)

Ahmed Lecomte

as Self (Ben Salem's nephew)

Reqaya Zkoura

as Self (Ben Salem's niece)

Chadhlia Zkoura

as Self (Ben Salem's niece)

Najat Ghribi

as Self (Ben Salem's daughter-in-law)

Kurt Raab

as Self (archive footage)

Thea Eymèsz

as Self

Nikolaus Notter

as Self

Marie Notter

as Self