Hanaa Mansour

After the death of his father, Mohamed discovers the living of a step-brother and a step-sister. Together, they must manage the suspicious bar they inherited of linked to criminality, drug traffic and prostitution.

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.

Rachid, a retired colonel and former freedom fighter, mysteriously disappears carrying a rifle from his past, while Djamel, a young man from a working-class neighborhood, sets off on an unexpected night adventure. On a remote rural road, their paths cross in a strange encounter that unfolds into a series of absurd and comedic situations, where memory collides with reality in a journey full of surprises.

After a 1993 crash, amnesiac Ahmed returns home bandaged. His child fears him, and nightly visitors speak in strange tongues. His neighbor makes him uncomfortable, leaving him questioning everything.

In the rocky desert Algerian border country, Fethi and his fellow villagers eke out a living smuggling goods – mostly petrol – into Tunisia, working at night and paying off the local crime lords. Saad, a film-maker trying to raise money to finish his movie, has worked for a year with Fethi. He lives in his family’s shed, included as part of a loving household as well as their risky business. At the same time he is obviously an outsider: smartly dressed and prepared to talk back to anyone, including the imam. Tough, gritty but also moodily atmospheric, its tension sustained by a tumultuous soundscape, theis remarkable film delves deeply into the complexities of family, friendship and daily survival.