Soula

Synopsis: Soula, a young single mother, is rejected by her family in the name of honour. Having nowhere to go when her father throws her out of her home, she calls upon many friends and relatives for help. As she embarks on a tumultuous 14-hour long journey, Soula’s sole goal is to spare her baby daughter her pain and struggles. But everything and everyone around her represents a potential threat and the line is often blurry between those who want to help her and those who pull her further into a spiral of violence. From Batna to Annaba, the young woman hops from one car to another swaying in between moments of exhilarating relief and banality with friends and moments of great angst and solitude. Against a backdrop of soothing landscapes, in a dystopic yet breath-taking road trip, Soula heads towards her inevitable destiny.

Director’s Biography: Salah Issaad is an Algerian director who was raised in a family of publishers. After receiving a bachelor's degree in Literature and Foreign languages in 2008, he joined the Law School of Batna in Algeria. He moved to France to complete his film studies for two years at the University of Paris VIII. Afterwards, he joined the ARFIS Audiovisual school in Lyon, then the Factory School in Villeurbanne where he obtained his Cinema director diploma. He has made several short films, where he deployed his passion for telling stories that appreciates human relationships. He likes to explore different narrative forms and film genres like drama, tragedy, stories inspired by real events, as well as comedies. Soula is his first feature-length film and is inspired by real events.