THE UNKNOWN SAINT

Synopsis: Moments before his capture by the Moroccan police, Amine digs a grave to hide his stolen bag of money and disguises it as a modest tomb. When he is released from prison years later, he returns to the same spot to retrieve the buried cash. He finds a shrine dedicated to an unknown saint built directly over the spot, and a new village subsists on the pilgrims who visit the mausoleum. Amine settles into the village and begins plotting. But with the loot now hidden in a holy place, retrieving it becomes much more complicated. 

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Director’s Biography:Trained at ESAV Marrakech and INSAS in Brussels, Alaa Eddine Aljem directed several short films, among which “The Desert Fish” (2015), which gained the Critics, Screenwriting and Grand Prize at the Moroccan National Film Festival. In 2016, Alaa was named by “Screen International” as one of the Five Arab Stars of Tomorrow.  “The Unknown Saint” is Aljem’s debut feature and it premiered at Cannes International Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Critics’ Week Grand Prize.