When Pigs Have Wings (2011)

Director:

Sylvain Estibal

Writer:

Sylvain Estibal (screenplay)

Release Date:

21 September 2011 (France)

Plot:

After a tempest, fishermen do not find only fish in their nets. That is what happens to Jafaar, a poor fisherman who lives poorly in Gaza...

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Sasson Gabai	...	Jafaar - the fisherman (as Sasson Gabay)
Baya Belal	...	Fatima
Myriam Tekaïa	...	Yelena
Gassan Abbas	...	Slim - the barber
Khalifa Natour	...	Hussein
Lotfi Abdelli	...	Young policeman
Ulrich Tukur	...	UN official
Khaled Riani	...	Shop owner
Uri Gabay	...	Netsah
Ido Shaked	...	Terrace soldier 1
Thierry Lopez	...	Terrace soldier 2
Zohar Wexler	...	Colony soldier
Maurad Saad	...	Jihad cameraman
Khereddine Ennasri	...	Jihadist 3
David Leguesse	...	Jihadist 2
Nicholas Galea	...	Litle boy with foot ball
Bashir Wakil	...	Walid
Michael Sciortino	...	Rabbi
Manuel Cauchi	...	Abo-Zouhair - the predicator
Manuel Mutaz	...	Jihadist on boat
Mark Mifsud	...	Young Palestinian 1
Salama Jarboua	...	Young Palestinian 2
Mahmoud Moghrabi	...	Jihadist
Edward Mercieca	...	Israeli officer
Chris Micallef	...	Israeli soldier 2
Harry Borg	...	Fisherman 1
Andrew Galea	...	Check-point soldier
Anthony Ellul	...	Fisherman 2
Philip Mizzi	...	Fisherman 3
Mikhail Basmadjian	...	Police officer
Nizer Al Gadi	...	Check-point Palestinian
Tiziana Azzopardi	...	Woman with boy
Miki Shoval	...	Israeli Colonist
Rania Zouari	...	Pharmacist
Mikhail Léon Farrugia	...	Little boy in pharmacy
Daniel Slim	...	The boss
Mark Giantar	...	The boss' son
Frank Tanti	...	The customer
Marcelle Theuma	...	The neighbor (as Marcelle Teuma)
Sanâa Astibal	...	Young girl colony
Adam Gabay	...	Child in colony
Jonathan Grima	...	Ice-Cream Man (as Jimmy Grima)
Imran Estibal	...	Child in colony
Luay Merai	...	Boy who gets slapped
Jean Hourth Sok	...	Hip-hop dancer 1
Luca 'Lazylegs' Patuelli	...	Hip-hop dancer 2
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Babe	...	Jafaar's pig
Charlotte	...	Jafaar's pig
Malcolm Ellul	...	Palestinian on Motorbike (uncredited)

Directed by
Sylvain Estibal

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Sylvain Estibal		screenplay

Produced by
Jean-Philippe Blime	....	producer
Jeremy Burdek	....	co-producer
Franck Chorot	....	producer
Maya Hariri	....	co-producer (as Maya Zouai-Hariri)
Joffrey Hutin	....	co-producer
Nadia Khamlichi	....	co-producer
Benito Mueller	....	producer
Wolfgang Müller	....	producer
Jean-Jacques Neira	....	producer
Marc Olla	....	line producer
Adrian Politowski	....	co-producer
Hubert Toint	....	producer
Gilles Waterkeyn	....	co-producer

Original Music by
Aqualactica
Boogie Balagan

Cinematography by
Romain Winding

Film Editing by
Damien Keyeux

Casting by
Nicolas Ronchi
Edward Said
Ula Tabari

Production Design by
Albrecht Konrad

Art Direction by
Ino Bonello
Irene Piel
Frances Soeder		(as Kiko Francis Soeder)

Set Decoration by
Felicity Good

Costume Design by
Marie-Joséphine Gracia

Makeup Department
Emma Beard	....	assistant hair stylist
Marcelle Genovese	....	hair & makeup designer

Production Management
Nicolas Bassetto	....	post-production supervisor
Ravi Dube	....	unit manager
Simon Sansone	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Olivier Falkowski	....	second assistant director
Alain Olivieri	....	first assistant director
Daniel Thornton	....	third assistant director

Art Department
Cesco Bonello	....	graphic designer
Cesco Bonello	....	graphics
Chris Bonello	....	assistant art director
Doris Botwen	....	helping hand construction
Charles M. Cavarra	....	painter
Lino Chetcuti	....	scenic artist/hod painter
Marlene Foltyn	....	sculptor: sets & props
Charlie Galea	....	picture vehicle coordinator
Martina Guillaumier	....	art department assistant
Carsten Lippstock	....	property master
Joachim Monninger	....	set construction
Matthew Pace	....	standby propman
Achim Reimann	....	scenic artist/prop painter
Marillo Ricken	....	assistant props
Stephan Saliba	....	assistant set decorator
Ingo von Heland	....	standby propman
Gabriele Winzen	....	painter

Sound Department
Dirk Bombey	....	sound
Mathieu Cox	....	sound re-recording mixer
Gert Janssen	....	supervising sound editor
Alexis Oscari	....	foley recordist
Alexis Oscari	....	post-synchronisation recordist
Ingrid Simon	....	dialogue editor
Olivier Thys	....	foley artist
Seppe van Groeningen	....	boom operator

Special Effects by
Kenneth Cassar	....	special effects supervisor
Roderick Pulis	....	special effects foreman
Holger Veh	....	weapon supervisor

Visual Effects by
Benjamin Ageorges	....	visual effects supervisor
Stephane Bidault	....	visual effects supervisor
Estelle Chesneau	....	digital compositor
Jean-Antoine Lacolle	....	digital compositor
Marian Landrieve	....	digital compositor
Paul Moriaux	....	digital artist
Bruno Nicolas	....	visual effects artist
Arnaud Ortmann	....	digital artist
Amélie Rey	....	visual effects

Stunts
Andrew Hillsden	....	stunt double
Anton Pisani	....	safety supervisor
Wolfgang Raach	....	stunt performer
Wolfgang Raach	....	stunts
Novica Todorovic	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Malik Brahimi	....	first assistant camera
Mark Dingli	....	assistant camera
Chris Freilich	....	camera operator: "b" camera
Chris Freilich	....	gaffer
Rossi Handsley	....	key grip
Daniel Lapira	....	video assist
Sascha Ossendorf	....	grip: Germany
John Preca Trapani	....	second assistant camera
Stephan Rother	....	gaffer
Malcolm Smith	....	grip

Casting Department
Mavis Formosa	....	casting coordinator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Ane Bremer	....	dresser

Editorial Department
Chrystèle Barbarat	....	digital intermediate producer
Peter Bernaers	....	colorist
Arnout Deurinck	....	digital intermediate coordinator
Thomas Vanthuyne	....	assistant editor

Transportation Department
Joseph Silvio	....	production driver

Other crew
Melody Benistant	....	press attache
Eric Benz	....	studio facilities
Sammi Davis	....	production coordinator: Malta
Anne Degremont	....	production administrator
Guy Demazure	....	animal wrangler
Malcolm Ellul	....	production assistant
Charlie Galea	....	marine coordinator
Bastian Griese	....	studio facilities
François Guerrar	....	press attache
Pierre Philippe Hendrickx	....	legal advisor: Belgium
Vanessa Labarthe	....	production assistant
Martin Metz	....	production executive
Mark Sansone	....	location manager
Karima Saïdi	....	script supervisor
Thomas Schembri	....	assistant location manager
Iwona Sellers	....	production executive
Bastien Sirodot	....	production executive
Holger Veh	....	weapons department coordinator

Production Companies

• Marilyn Productions (co-production)
• Studio Canal (co-production)
• Barry Films (co-production)
• Saga Film (I) (co-production)
• Rhamsa Productions (co-production)
• Canal+ (participation)
• Orange Cinéma Séries (participation)
• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) (participation)
• uFilm (co-production)
• uFund (in association with)
• Saga Films (co-production)

Distributors

• Studio Canal (2011) (France) (theatrical)
• StudioCanal (2011) (France) (all media)
• uDream (2011) (Belgium) (all media)

Other Companies

• Agent Double  French dubbing: post-synchronized version
• Deutsche Filmförderfonds (DFFF)  funding
• Eurimages  funding
• Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen  funding
• Groupe TSF  camera equipment provided by
• Le Vestiaire  costumes supplied by
• MMC Independent  studio services
• Pôle Image de Liège  funding
• TSF.be-ATHALYS  camera equipment provided by
• TSF.be-ATHALYS  grip and lighting equipment
• uFund  funding

Also Known As:

"Le cochon de Gaza" - France (imdb display title)
"Cuando los Chanchos Vuelen" - Argentina (literal title)

Runtime:

France:98 min

Country:

France | Germany | Belgium

Language:

English | Arabic | Hebrew

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Hong Kong:IIA

Filming Locations:

Cologne, North Rhine - Westphalia, Germany

Company:

Marilyn Productions

Trivia:

French visa # 125254.

Quotes:

Slim, the barber:You are armed, not the pig!

Pigs Fly!

In this quite entertaining as well as very thought-provoking first feature film, Sylvain Estibal asks a question similar to the one the great French writer Montesquieu asked in his 1721 "Persian Letters": "How can one be Persian?". This time, being Persian is not the issue anymore. Estibal's more contemporaneous (but no less relevant) question is actually: "How can one be Palestinian... and survive?"

"Le cochon de Gaza" ("When Pigs Fly", in its English-speaking version) indeed revolves around a Palestinian, a local everyman named Jafaar, neither heroic nor radical, who lives hand-to-mouth as a fisherman. One day, he does a most unexpected catch : it is a pig he captures in his nets! So, what to do with such an animal insofar as it is considered unholy both by his Muslim co-religionists and by the Jewish occupier? Kill it? But it is easier said than done for someone like Jafaar who knows no violence! Sell it to someone of the U.N. forces ? But who the hell buys a living pig? Sell it to his Palestinian brothers? He cannot even think about that! Sell it to the Israeli? Not as easy as pie! Eventually, as Sylvain Estibal (who wrote and directed) votes for optimism rather than tragedy, everything comes right, but not without many tribulations involved by hiding the pig from all, including Jafaar's no-nonsense wife, Israeli military and police forces and (to no avail) from Palestinian fundamentalists...

In between, the imaginative Estibal will have managed to develop many a funny episode (the fledgling rapprochement between Jafaar's wife and the Israeli soldier made possible by the soap opera they both watch on TV; Jafaar as an unwilling martyr, ...) and found a few irresistible gags (the pornographic photos of scantily clad she-pigs meant to arouse Jafaar's pig sexually; the pig disguised as a sheep,... ) while documenting at the same time what everyday life in Palestine is like and delivering a sensible message of tolerance to the feuding brothers.

A serious film that does not take itself seriously, "Le cochon de Gaza" is a breath of fresh air in the polluted atmosphere of the never- ending Israeli-Palestinian confrontation. Much of the impact of this pleasing philosophical tale lies on the shoulders of the marvelous Sasson Gabai (already admirable in "The Band's Visit"), a consummate actor who , like a Middle East Charlie Chaplin, gives the character of Jafaar all his lightweight humanity. Thanks to Gabai, Jafaar is at once himself, a poor creature all the others are against but who never despairs and always tries to get by, and a funny and dignified representative of all those who suffer on this planet and struggle for survival.

Sylvain Estibal, on his part, proves a good filmmaker, and he manages to reproduce the atmosphere prevailing in Gaza with faithful fidelity, a fidelity all the more remarkable as the film was , for obvious reasons, not shot on the spot. This is Malta, not Gaza, but you would never realize it if you were not told in advance (sorry for letting the cat out of the bag!). The comic episodes follow at a good pace except at the very end, as where the momentum (along with the pleasure of the viewer) diminishes a little. Too bad the writer-director did not find as brilliant a conclusion to this excellent cruel tale as its introduction and development.

But this is only a slight disappointment. All in all, "Le cochon de Gaza" is a superior comedy with an edge. Don't overlook this good example of intelligent entertainment. And to the question: "How can one be Palestinian... and survive?", Sylvain Estibal's answer is invigorating: "Yes, one can". For, where there is life there is hope. Everywhere and in the worst conditions.