Tawfeek Barhom to Star in 'Borderline,' a Donkey-and-Cocaine Border Tale From Les Valseurs

Tawfeek Barhom will headline Borderline, a French feature from Les Valseurs directed by first-time director Yves Piat, with the project being pitched to buyers at the Nordic Co-Production Market in Haugesund this week Variety.

Barhom is best known for playing the lead in Tarik Saleh's Cairo Conspiracy, which won the screenplay prize at Cannes in 2022. In 2025, he won the Palme d'Or for best short film with I'm Glad You're Dead Now, a two-brother story shot in Greece and rooted in memory and unresolved family wounds Variety; Ioncinema.

Borderline — French title Sur la ligne — is a very loose feature-length expansion of Piat's Oscar-nominated live-action short Nefta Football Club. Piat co-wrote the script with Alaa Eddine Aljem. The Arabic-language film stars Barhom as Hichem, a customs officer on the Algerian-Tunisian border trying to provide a decent life for his wife Leila and daughter Zineb. His integrity gets tested when he encounters a donkey named Tesla, wandering the desert wearing headphones and carrying bags full of cocaine Variety.

Samir Guesmi and Lyes Salem round out the cast. Les Valseurs — the Paris-based outfit co-founded by Justin Pechberty and Damien Megherbi — produces, with Megherbi re-teaming with Piat after the short. Spain's Sumendi co-produces Variety.

Piat said that during his research he had in mind the actor who played the lead in Matteo Garrone's Dogman, and that Barhom would be his "dogman" — a reference to a solitary character shaped by an improbable bond with an animal. The project is described as sitting between the cinematic worlds of Elia Suleiman and the Coen brothers, navigating realism and absurdity Variety.

Barhom speaks Palestinian Arabic, but producer Megherbi noted he is capable of honing the specific dialect the film requires. The Nordic Co-Production Market in Haugesund, held alongside the Norwegian International Film Festival, serves as an early platform for European co-productions seeking partners before production begins Variety.

For Barhom, the role adds another international credit to a career that has moved between Arab-language cinema and European festival circuits — from Cannes competition to the short-film Palme, and now to a feature that its producers are positioning where arthouse realism meets dark comedy.