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Film Based on Paris Murder of Ilan Halimi to Premier in US

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24 Days is based on the 2006 controversial case that shook Paris, this powerful French thriller is taut and suspenseful even for those who know the outcome of the story.

Menemsha Films is proud to present the US Theatrical release of 24 DAYS, a film directed and produced by Alexandre Arcady. Winner of the Lia Award at the 2014 Jerusalem Film Festival and winner of the Audience Award at the 2014 Boston Jewish Film Festival, 24 DAYS will open at the Quad Cinema in New York and at the Laemmle Music Hall in Los Angeles, as well as other cities on April 24th. The film will also be available through iTunes on the same day.

Based on a memoir written by the victim’s mother, the film chronicles the agonizing 24 days during which Ilan Halimi, a young Jewish cell-phone salesman, was held captive in Paris by a group of African and North African immigrants later known as the “Gang of Barbarians,” while his desperate family was subjected to blackmail. The events of Ilan Halimi’s kidnapping and murder sent shock waves through France and brought into focus the dangerous wave of anti-Semitism that is sweeping through France, a country that is home to Europe’s largest Jewish community.

Friday January 20, 2006, 23-year old Ilan Halimi, targeted solely because he was Jewish, was kidnapped and taken to an apartment in the Bagneux neighborhood of Paris. There, he was held captive and tortured for three weeks before being dumped in a woodlot by his captors. Found motionless and naked by the railroad tracks at Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, he wouldn’t survive his ordeal.

In this film, Ruth Halimi, Ilan’s mother, revisits those 24 nightmarish days. 24 days in which she and her ex-husband Didier received nearly 700 calls, ransom demands that never ceased to change, insults, threats, photos of their tortured son… 24 days of anguish for a family waiting in silence and fear, hoping the Police could save their son.

But Police Headquarters didn’t know who was responsible for his kidnapping. No one recognized in time the anti-Semitic hatred of his abductors, or that Ilan would lose his life…

Synopsis

In January of 2006 a beautiful young woman walks into a Parisian cellphone shop, looks around, and asks for the sales attendant’s number. Later, she calls asking to meet. Who could have known Ilan, the 23 year old man, was flirting with death? The next time his family hears from him is through a cryptic online message from kidnappers demanding ransom.

French director Alexandre Arcady delivers one of the most “wrenching and politically astute” films to come out of France (Screen Daily). Based on a book co-written by Ilan’s mother, Ruth Halimi, Arcady’s cinematic adaptation offers a searing insight into his vicious ordeal, the violent world of the gang of Barbarians, and the harrowing experience of his family waiting and hoping the Police would save their son. For 24 days the Police, insistent upon handling the case as a normal for-ransom kidnapping, fail to recognize the anti-Semitic hatred of his abductors. Many opportunities to save Ilan are missed or squandered as his family receive nearly 700 phone calls, insults, threats, photographs and sound recordings of their tortured son.

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