Movie

My Name Is Not Ali

★ 6.3/10 · 6 votes 2011 1h 38m Released

Documentary

Travelling between Germany, France, and Tunisia, 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 archival 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.

Cast

El Hedi ben Salem Self (archive footage) Rainer Werner Fassbinder Self (archive footage) A Abd El-Kader Jarrary Self (Ben Salem's Son) H Hafsia Mellaim Self (Ben Salem's former w V Viola Shafik Self (voice) Renate Leiffer Self