Their Algeria
Fall Grants 2019
Lina Soualem / Feature Documentary / France, Algeria, Switzerland, Qatar / 2020 / 70 min / Original Language: Arabic, French / Interests: Creative Documentary
Synopsis
After 62 years of living together, Aïcha and Mabrouk, my grandparents, are separating. They now live in two separate buildings, facing each other. I didn’t understand their separation. No one explained it to me. I don’t know their story. No one told it to me. Their silence troubled me. Aïcha and Mabrouk got married in 1952, in the village of Laouamer in Algeria, without knowing each other. Two years later, they settled in Thiers, a medieval French town where they have been living for over 60 years. Mabrouk worked his entire life as a polisher in a knife-making factory. Aïcha followed a husband she did not know and started a family with him. As I try to understand their separation, it leads me back to Algeria and to the silence that exile has imposed on two generations, my father’s and mine. I discover the persistent suffering of their uprooting. An uprooting they can’t describe. With them, and with the help of my father Zinedine, I’m off to search for this story of exile, of bonds that are unmade, of suffering and pride—which profoundly affected my grandparents and an entire generation of Algerians who immigrated to France.
Credits
- Director
- Lina Soualem
- Screenwriter
- Lina Soualem
- Producer
- Marie Balducchi
- Production Company
- AGAT Films / EX NIHILO
About the Director
Lina Soualem is a French-Palestinian-Algerian filmmaker and actress born and based in Paris. She pursued her education in history and political science at La Sorbonne University. Following her studies, she began her career as a programmer for the International Human Rights Film Festival in Buenos Aires. Lina’s debut feature documentary, ‘Their Algeria’, premiered at the Visions du Réel International Film Festival in 2020. The documentary garnered acclaim, receiving the First Film Award at the CINEMED Montpellier International Festival of Mediterranean Film, the Best Arab Documentary Award at the El Gouna Film Festival, and the Best Documentary Award at the Cinemania Film Festival, among a dozen other accolades. As an actress, Lina has appeared in three feature films directed by notable filmmakers Hafsia Herzi, Hiam Abbass, and Rayhana. Her second documentary film, ‘Bye Bye Tiberias’, debuted at the Venice International Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival in 2023. It was also nominated to represent Palestine at the Oscars 2024. Currently, Lina is engaged in writing fiction films, documentaries, and TV series, including contributing to the writing room of the series ‘Oussekine’ on Disney+
Awards and Festival History
Festivals
"Visions du Reel 2020 (WP – online edition)
Cinemed 2020
El Gouna FF 2020"
Contacts
-
Main Contact
Marie Balducchi
- Company:
- AGAT Films & Cie
- Email:
- marie.balducchi@agatfilms.com
-
Main Contact
Lina Soualem