Grapefruit for Breakfast

TRAILER

27 year old Samir, a Moroccan orphan, was raised in the berber mountains by a Christian missionary from Germany. He not only speaks fluent German; he dreams in German. Samir wants to leave Morocco to embrace the modern life waiting for him in Germany. Without a proper visa an impossible task.
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"The walls are plain white and undecorated. The only sign of life is an offscreen chit chat dialogue. Covered in a blanket, Samir is watching a tablet screen. In the superficial German telenovela “Berlin Tag & Nacht’, two people sitting on a bed flirting. This is today’s brand new episode of the German telenovela."

The film ‘Grapefruit for Breakfast’ portrays the story of 27 year old Samir. Being a Moroccan orphan, he was raised in the berber mountains by a Christian missionary from Germany. He speaks fluent German, is Christian and apparently knows everything about the Germans. To the current day, he has never left Morocco and apart from his German mother figure, his knowledge about Germany is completely attained from books, television and the internet. While he is physically stuck in Morocco but mentally made for Germany, he can only atone his existence with the help of fantasy, belief and the romanticizing of western neo-liberal consumer culture. He does not identify with the Moroccans around him and finds salvation in writing and performing German poetry. Poems that all turn out to be symbolical reflections of his own situation. This film follows Samir’s attempt to gain autonomy in a place that fails to provide to him a necessary sense of self. The plans for his future are more than uncertain. And more than that, if his aspirations should come true and he makes it to Germany, what happens when reality ultimately intrudes in his fantasy or even worse collides with it?

In this film, we get to know a young man in the midst of high-speed progressing Morocco, searching for an identity between restricting culture and superficial modernization.

Director Biography - Younes Laaguidi

Recently graduated from the Willem de Kooning Academy Rotterdam with a Bachelor in Audiovisual Design, with a focus on documentary and critical studies. Now living a mix of camera teacher and independent documentary maker.