August 2021

A short that discusses life away from home and how it can tempt us away from family and stability. The film revolves around Saleh, who lives in his small hut with his mother, living off the apple tree next to his house. Yet, he always watched the city on the mountain and dreamt of visiting it. When the apple tree loses some of its yield, the city tempts him to leave his mother and his livelihood and head to the city. Once he realises his alienation and longing, he tries to return home, but it’s too late.

Farid and Amal are an elderly childless couple, they are a high-end bourgeois family and are very concerned with the words and looks of society. Farid suffers from episodes of amnesia and loss of perception, which makes him wander in his own world, free of societal chains, loving exceptionally, all amidst continuous bursts of public dancing. What will Amal choose as a woman of her age? True and innocent love? Or will she choose to be held down by the burden of acceptance from the world around her?

On the outskirts of town, in a traditional house, 26-year-old Aicha leads a monotonous lifestyle. During the day, she does household chores and cares for her elderly, bedridden mother. In the evening, Aicha leaves home and awaits crossing the possible path of a lorry driver.

Yasmina, a young Egyptian woman, is suddenly called by her Hungarian friend Yoko to assist her with her secret departure from Cairo in the aftermath of an Italian student’s mysterious death. Trying to cope with the tense situation, they spend their last few hours together in denial and anger of their unpleasant reality.

In a mythical Sudanese village between the desert and the Nile, a young boy enjoys an idyllic childhood, taking pleasure in the fertile fruits of the land and basking by the river. But the boy's precious world begins to unravel when he learns the disturbing truth behind his family's fortune, and a certain farmer's inevitable demise.

Najla is still living in her childhood: the last images in her memory are 8 years old. War, childhood, and passion for cinema, all these phases are mixed in her heart and brain. Nothing can awaken them except Ziad who takes care of her and who decides to use cinema in order to let her memorise and remember one of the turning points in her life: her holy communion.

1956. Algeria is a French colony. Fernand and Helene are madly in love. Fernand is an activist, fighting for independence alongside the Algerians. Helene is fighting for Fernand’s life. History will irrevocably change the course of their destiny.

After 62 years of living together, Lina’s grandparents, Aïcha and Mabrouk, have decided to separate. Together, they came from Algeria to Thiers, a small medieval town in the middle of France, over 60 years ago. Side by side, they have experienced this chaotic immigrant life. For Lina, their separation is an opportunity to question their long journey of exile and their silence.

Narrated by Ahmed, the author, “The Fifth Story” is a long emotional journey spanning four decades of wars and conflicts in Iraq.