Bahia Allouache

Up bright and early with their pet in tow, Zohra Bouderbala and her five children are heading to the beach. This is not a drill! In Algiers, the coveted front row spot waits for no one, but it’s not this family’s first time having to beat the summer seaside crowds. The unmotivated and out-of-luck masses who arrive too late will be left to a viewless laze in the sun, the alleged horizon blocked by a fortress of parasols and flowing canopies.

Algiers, 2019. As the Hirak is in full swing and the hope of profound political change sweeps across Algeria, Merouane, a former corrupt minister, and Khadidja, his exuberant wife, have only one thing in mind: to sell off their many ill-gotten assets and leave the country with their daughter Sarah before justice catches up with them. But amid the urgency and panic of this forced departure, each member of the family begins to assert themselves, and tensions multiply. Will the strong bonds holding the family together endure?

Young Algerian journalist Nedjma is investigating Islamic accounts of paradise. She is particularly interested in the descriptions used by Salafi preachers to recruit young Algerian men as jihadists. She and her colleague Mustapha find a number of disturbing, richly embellished video sermons and decide to explore the phenomenon in more detail.

Mostaganem, 2019. In a few weeks, five teenage girls are found dead on the beach. The bodies all bear the same marks of violence. How to explain these serial murders? Mobilizing her informers and a cop friend, Houria, a seasoned journalist, leads the investigation. And despite the pressure to give up, the young woman is pugnacious. But the decision to continue her investigation at all costs will not be without consequences.