'Fadhma N’Soumer' to kick off Algerian Film Days

AMMAN — The fourth Algerian Film Days in Amman opens on Sunday with a screening of the film "Fadhma N’Soumer" at the Royal Film Commission (RFC).

The screening will be followed by a discussion with the director, Belkacem Hadjadj, according to the RFC, which is organising the film days in cooperation with the Algerian Agency for Cultural Influence.

The two-hour feature follows Fadhma, who "goes from one transgression to another" to defy "archaic rules governing the 19th century Kabyle society" and leads the resistance against French expansion in the region. 

The film won the “Silver Horse” Award at the Pan African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou, according to the RFC.

Monday will feature the crime thriller "Rani Miyet" (I'm Dead), followed by a discussion with the director, Yacine Mohamed Benelhadj.

In this 95-minute film, Omar, a father and a husband facing difficult financial conditions, steals a car and "soon finds himself entangled in a mafia group" that is out to hunt him.

The film received the Muhr Special Mention for Best Fiction Feature at Dubai International Film Festival. It also won the Jury Prize for Best Fiction Feature at the Arab Film Festival of Oran, the RFC said.

Lotfi Bouchouchi's narrative feature "Le Puits" (The Well) will be screened next Tuesday, while the documentary "Algeria from the Sky" caps off the film days next Wednesday.

Bouchouchi will be present for a discussion with the audience after the screening of "Le Puits", which takes place in 1960, when the French army besieged a village in southern Algeria in search for the "mujahideen" who killed a group of French soldiers.

Introduced by Nabila Rezaig from the Algerian Agency for Cultural Influence, "Alegeria from the Sky" is a journey throughout the country as seen from above, filmed by French photographer Yann Arthus Bertrand.

All screenings start at 8pm and are free to the public.