Mickey Rourke, Sean Stone, and Eric Roberts Electrify Moroccan Director Aziz Tazi’s Festival-Winning, Gritty, Crime Drama about Clashing East & West Cultures
(PRUnderground) June 15th, 2021
As recently reported in the Moroccan press, Aziz Tazi’s feature film Night Walk is the first Moroccan film ever to gain Hollywood distribution. Following a special, red-carpet, LA screening over the weekend, the film is now available, starting today, on DVD and Video-on-Demand through Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play, and other digital platforms. The film will also appear in Russian movie theaters on over 250 screens.
Night Walk follows the journey of Frank (Sean Stone) a western journalist who falls in love with an Arab woman (Sarah Alami). After a scuffle with local Moroccan police, Sarah is killed and Frank is framed for the shooting by corrupt authorities, including a crooked American judge played by Oscar-nominated Eric Roberts. As Frank adjusts to prison life under the control of a neo-Nazi gang leader played by Mickey Rourke, he is befriended by a Muslim brotherhood and fights for justice from behind bars in an intense drama that shows stereotypes aren’t always what they seem.
More than 50% of Night Walk was shot in several cities in Morocco using a Moroccan film crew. The movie also features several Moroccan film industry stars, French multi-platinum rap legend La Fouine as well as US actors Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, Patrick Kilpatrick, and Sean Stone.
Director Aziz Tazi has earned a global reputation for championing the representation of Arabs and Muslims in Western films. Lionsgate and other distributors have picked up on the commercial sensibilities of his East-meets-West, Romeo & Juliet story, now giving Moroccan cinema critical exposure in entertainment markets as far-flung as Latin America and Scandinavia.
“Night Walk is going to let a wider global audience see that Arab-Muslim people are really no different than themselves,” says Night Walk director Aziz Tazi. “Hollywood has traditionally painted this population only as the three B’s: the bomber, the belly dancer, or the billionaire, and this is simply not an accurate portrayal.”
Night Walk made its debut at the Moscow International Film Festival in 2019. It won “Best Screenplay” award at the 2019 Prague Independent Film Festival with Mickey Rourke taking the “Best Supporting Actor” award on the same night.
Night Walk is being distributed in the USA by Lionsgate, will be available on DVD and streaming services on June 15, 2021. In addition, Russia and Latin America have announced a theatrical release for the film.
About Aziz Tazi – Night Walk
Moroccan-born Aziz Tazi was featured in the 2016 Forbes Africa ”30 Under 30” list of notable entrepreneurs, leaders, and industry figures. Prior to writing and directing Night Walk, his first feature film, he won the 2013 Arab Film Festival with his short work Imago. His documentary Arab Stories aired on PBS stations in 2014.
The post Night Walk, the First Ever Moroccan Film Feature to Land U.S. Distribution, Releases Today in the U.S. and Internationally first appeared on PRUnderground.
Original Press Release.
