ICE ICE BYE BYE Film Interview, Yassine Azzouz and Sébastien Abdelhamid at Cannes Film Festival 2026
- May 14
- 6 min read
Updated: May 15
Inside The Creative Vision Behind the Short Film ICE ICE BYE BYE
As the Cannes Film Festival 2026 gets underway, Yassine Azzouz and Sébastien Abdelhamid took time out of their busy schedules to discuss ICE ICE BYE BYE, a short film arriving with strong momentum and growing buzz.
The short film, directed by Sébastien Abdelhamid and starring Yassine Azzouz, explores identity, perception, and emotional tension through a focused and immersive lens. In this conversation, both artists reflect on their creative process, the film’s growing impact, and how their international careers continue to evolve.
Yassine Azzouz on Story, Identity, and Global Reach
1. ICE ICE BYE BYE film has already seen impressive success on the festival circuit. What drew you to Sébastien Abdelhamid’s vision, and what makes this project stand out today?
What I liked about Sébastien’s vision is that it felt honest and instinctive. Nothing felt fake or manufactured. There’s a nervous energy in the project that reflects the generation we live in today. A lot of people are lost between identity, pressure, image, survival, ego… and the film captures that without trying too hard to explain itself. I also really admire Sébastien’s ability to constantly evolve his style and adapt his vision. Right after finishing ICE ICE BYE BYE, he went to Tokyo to shoot his second short film. That kind of creative momentum is inspiring to me. I genuinely discovered a very promising director through this collaboration, and I’m looking forward to building something with him on a bigger scale in the future.
2. With over 20 festival selections, what themes do you think connect most strongly with audiences?
I think people connect with vulnerability. Even if they don’t live the exact same life as the characters, they recognize the emotional struggle behind them. We live in a world where everyone is performing confidence, success, happiness… but internally many people feel disconnected. I think the film touches that contradiction.
3. As both actor and producer, how did you balance those responsibilities?
Honestly, it’s exhausting sometimes because your brain never really switches off. As an actor, you need sensitivity and instinct. As a producer, you constantly think about solutions, rhythm, timing, pressure, logistics. But producing also changed my relationship to storytelling. It made me realize how difficult it is to maintain creative vision and quality in today’s industry. That’s probably why I’m becoming more selective. I’d rather focus on fewer projects, but projects that feel deeply personal and meaningful to me.
4. You’re nominated for Best Showrunner at the iSuccess Awards for GURU. What does this recognition mean to you?
It’s always great when out-of-the-box profiles like mine end up being recognized for building something unconventional independently. GURU was a very unique project, and the fact that it became a successful independent TV special gathering millions of views across multiple platforms like Tubi, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV+ is encouraging. When you create outside traditional systems, people often doubt the vision at first. So moments like this during Cannes remind independent creators that alternative paths are possible.
5. How has innovation influenced your approach to future projects?
I’m interested in innovation when it supports emotion and storytelling, not when it becomes the center itself. Technology evolves constantly, but what people remember at the end is still human emotion. For me, the future is probably about finding smarter and more global ways to connect stories, audiences, cinema, fashion, music and digital culture together while keeping authenticity at the center.
6. You’ll attend several major events during Cannes. How do these platforms shape your career?
Being multicultural and global is part of my DNA. Even physically, people sometimes can’t immediately place where I’m from, and I think that ambiguity naturally helped me navigate different cultures and industries. I’m also naturally a connector. Building international bridges feels very organic to me because of where I come from originally. My family comes from the desert region of Oued Souf in Algeria, from a Bedouin traveler culture known for producing some of the most talented low-key traders and negotiators in the world. So connecting people, cultures and opportunities internationally almost feels inherited. That’s why Cannes feels very natural to me. It’s one of the rare places where the entire world of cinema gathers in one space.
7. Being considered for recognition at the Global Traveller Awards highlights your cross-market career. How do you maintain your artistic identity across industries?
I think being between cultures actually became my identity. I never fully belonged to one box, one market, one social class, one language. And honestly, that’s what shaped my artistic vision. Whether I work in Europe or the US, I’m always attracted to stories about displacement, ambition, loneliness, identity and human contradictions. Those themes follow me naturally.
8. As a returning ambassador for Gatsby, what does this partnership represent for you?
I’m honestly very grateful for almost a decade of collaboration and sponsorship with Gatsby. They’ve been supporting me consistently through festivals and important moments of my journey, and they genuinely helped make certain experiences possible and viable financially. What I appreciate most is their tailor-made approach and loyalty. Their level of service and attention to detail is honestly unmatched. Beyond fashion, it feels like a long-term relationship built on trust and mutual respect.
ICE ICE BYE BYE Film: Sébastien Abdelhamid on Direction and Immersion
1. ICE ICE BYE BYE film has already seen impressive success on the festival circuit.
What drew you to Sébastien Abdelhamid’s vision, and what makes this project stand out today?
ICE ICE BYE BYE came from a very simple desire: to tell something deeply human through a true cinematic experience. I didn’t want to make a film that explains or lectures. I wanted the audience to feel the fear, the tension, the paranoia, and the fragility of a man whose life suddenly collapses within seconds. The film deals with perception, dehumanization, and survival, but always through the perspective of the character himself. What may set the project apart today is this desire to approach a contemporary subject through a very cinematic and sensory language. I love films that use direction, sound, rhythm, and tension to make the audience experience something, i think its the best way to share a message. There was also a strong desire to portray a different side of Los Angeles. A city that can look beautiful and almost unreal, but here becomes the setting of a silent nightmare.
2. What themes do you think connect most strongly with audiences?
I think what connects most with audiences is the sense of urgency and identification. Even though the context of the film is very specific, many viewers relate to the fear of suddenly losing control over their own lives. The film explores how society looks at certain individuals, the moment someone stops being seen as a human being and becomes a profile, a suspicion, or a case number. But I also think people respond strongly to the humanity of the main character. It was very important to me that the film remained intimate despite the constant tension. And then there’s the immersive aspect. I wanted the audience to stay physically close to him at all times in his breathing, his silence, his escape. When people tell me after screenings that they felt like they were living the situation themselves, I feel we achieved exactly what we set out to do.
3. As both actor and producer, how did you balance those responsibilities?
Absolutely. When you write, direct, and produce an independent film, you become involved in every single detail. It can be exhausting, but it’s also incredibly formative. Every decision directly impacts the final result, so you naturally develop a much broader understanding of filmmaking. What this experience taught me most is the importance of precision. In a short film, every shot, every sound, every silence matters. You have to be concise while still maintaining a strong visual and emotional identity. It also reinforced something I deeply believe in: cinema is not only about resources or scale. It’s about perspective, intention, and sincerity. When an entire team genuinely shares the same vision, you can create something powerful even within major limitations.
Why This Film Matters at Cannes
ICE ICE BYE BYE focuses on human experience and precise storytelling which makes it stand out in a crowded landscape. The film offers a clear example of how independent cinema can remain intimate while reaching global conversations. Both can be follow on IMDB for the lastest on their upcoming projects: Yassine Azzouz's IMDB. Sebastien's Abdelhamid IMDB.