Samir Guesmi

Screen

Guesmi's first role on the big screen was in 1987, when he appeared in Jaune revolver, directed by Olivier Langlois [fr].^[5] For his lead role as Malik in the 1996 comedy film Malik le maudit [fr], which centres on a young beur who dreams of leaving his suburbs for Canada,^[1] he won the Best Actor award at Amiens International Film Festival,^[4] as well as the Michel Simon Prize.^[5][1]

In 2001, he starred in L'Afrance [fr] (As a Man), directed by Alain Gomis, which won the Silver Leopard at 2002 Locarno Film Festival.^[2][6] In 2003 (often cited as 2005) he appeared in Mathieu Vadepied's short film Le Souffle.^[2][7][8][9]

His performances in mainstream movies include La Mentale /The Code (2002) by Manuel Boursinhac; Banlieue 13 (2004) by Pierre Morel; Ne le dis à personne / Tell No One (2006) by Guillaume Canet.^[5] His less commercial, auteur cinema films include Betty Fisher et autres histoires / Alias Betty (2001) by Claude Miller; and Selon Charlie / Charlie Says (2006) by Nicole Garcia.^[5] Also in 2006 he played Ahmed the receptionist in Philippe Pollet-Villard's short film Le Mozart des pickpockets, which won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.^{[10] [1]} and the César Award for Best Short Film in 2008.^[11]

For his performance in Alain Gomis' feature Andalucía, in his first major role,^[5] he was awarded the Best Actor Award at the 2007 Montecatini International Short Film Festival as well as the Golden Bayard for Best Actor at the 2007 Namur Film Festival.^[2][3]

Guesmi wrote and directed (for the first time) the short film C'est Dimanche! (2008), which won at least six prizes at various international film festivals,^[2][12] including the Be TV award at the Brussels Short Film Festival,^[13] and the Special Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, at the 38th Molodist International Film Festival in Kyiv in 2008,^[14] second place at the Chicago International Film Festival, and the 2008 Grand Prix Award at the Grenoble Outdoor Short Film Festival (Festival du film court en plein air de Grenoble [fr]^[15]).^[3]

Also in 2008, he appeared on television as feared drug dealer Farouk Larbi in three episodes of the long-running and internationally renowned police and legal drama series Spiral (Engrenages). He also had a major role as Thomas Mézache in the supernatural drama series The Returned / Les Revenants in from 2012 to 2015.^[3][5][1]

In 2012, his performance in Camille redouble (Camille Rewinds) by Noémie Lvovsky earned him a nomination for the César Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2013.^[5][3] In 2016, he played the role of José Géraud in the French-Portuguese film The Young One.^[3]

His directorial feature film debut was Ibrahim,^[1] which was screened at Cannes Film Festival in May 2020^[16] and won four awards at the 2020 Angoulême Francophone Film Festival, including Best Film and Best Direction.^[4]

In 2021, he played Fouad in the Moroccan film Life Suits Me Well (La vie me va bien), the directorial feature film of Al Hadi Ulad-Mohand.^[17] Guesmi was nominated for Best Actor in the Critics' Awards for Arab Films in 2022.^[3][18]

In 2022, he starred alongside Thomas Ngijol as his brother, Lucien, in Fratè, which was filmed in Corsica.^[19] In the same year, he starred in Nos frangins [fr] (Our Brothers), which was written, directed, and produced by Rachid Bouchareb.^[20] The film is about the death of two young men in France in the 1980s at the hands of police, referencing the killing of Malik Oussekine in 1986, and was selected as the official Algerian entry to the Oscars.^[21][16]

Other notable directors with whom Guesmi has worked include Julie Bertuccelli, Bruno Podalydès, Sólveig Anspach, Arnaud Desplechin, Claire Simon, Michel Leclerc, and Valérie Donzelli.^[5]

Stage

Guesmi acted on stage in several performances under the direction of Frédéric Bélier-Garcia [fr].^[5] He also performed in the title role in Éric Vigner's production of Othello at the Théâtre de l'Odéon in Paris in November–December 2008.^[22][23][24]

Actor

Filmmaker