Short film program

Al Djazira (The Island)
D: Amin Sidi-Boumédiène, Algeria 2012, 35 Min, English subtitles

A mysterious, bizarrely dressed man lands on the beach at daybreak and creeps through the deserted alleys of Algiers, accompanied all the while by an unsettling soundtrack. The film projects a utopian future in absurd science-fiction style. Best Short film at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival 2012

Garagouz (The Puppeteer)
D: Abdenour Zahzah, Algerien 2010, 22 Min, English subtitles

This film is clearly focused on the recent past. It portrays the odyssey of a puppeteer who, robbed of his puppets by the “devout,” resorts to playing all the characters together with his son – as an act of resistance.

Les jours d'avant (The Days Before)
D: Karim Moussaoui, Algerien 2013, 40 Min, English subtitles
(the director is present)

The film ventures into the “dark years” of the de facto civil war of the 1990s. Surrounded by the paralyzing threat of attacks and killings, the nonetheless bored youth of a southern backwater village look for a bit of excitement at a secret party…