Sofiane is an Arab immigrant who lives in the US away from religion, customs, and traditions of his native land. His life is turned upside down as his American wife; Heather, starts making drastic changes in her spiritual beliefs and lifestyle. Although not really excited about Heather's decision, Sofiane puts an act in front of her to look supportive. But as time goes by, Heather's religious practices start to brings back to him old memories of painful experiences, and threaten to unearth a past Sofiane thought was buried forever.
Led by Daoudi, a disenchanted architect, a group of Constantines return to their village in deep Algeria where a young man delivers to them words of boyish wisdom inherited from his deceased grandfather..
Seen through the filtered lens of boyhood memories, award-winning director Mohamed Lakhdar-Hamina crafted this half-fictional, half-autobiographical account of a brief period in the history of an Algerian village. It is 1940, and the quiet town is ruled by French colonialists appointed by the Vichy government. Algerians are being called up for service in the Vichy military, and Jews in the village are in danger of deportation. A beautiful young schoolteacher named Claire Boyer (Veronique Jannot) arrives in town and turns every male head within miles, including 14-year-old Mouloud (Merwan Lakhdar-Hamina, the director's son). Simon Attal (Michel Boujenah), a fellow teacher and a Jew, is also attracted to Claire, and so is Mouloud's older brother. Suddenly two murders occur in the village, Simon is in danger of being deported, and the tone shifts from the dreams of boyhood to the realities of manhood.
A police office in Algiers sometime after independence. Mr Rachid, father, around fifty years old, former colonial official transferred to the cinema annex library. Mr. Rachid, disappointed and exasperated by his sad life, faced with an inspector who questions him, tries to explain: why did he kill his former department head after a long night of wandering?
Hadj Smaine Mohamed Seghir, (often credited Hadj Smaine) born October 29, 1932 in Constantine, and died September 6, 2021 in Los Angeles, is an Algerian actor and director. At that time, Constantine was considered a place giving great importance to religion, culture, art, and Algerian Arab-Muslim traditions. Hadj Smaine grew up in Constantine with his family and friends who loved art and culture in general; cinema, music, scouting, sports such as swimming in Sidi M'Sid. With his scout friends, Hadj Smaine played sketches inspired by the films they watched in the city's theaters. With friends, they went to the Constantine film club (ex. Université Populaire, Abdelhamid Ben Badis Center currently). The Popular University, which was at the same time the conservatory of the city of Constantine, had premises allocated to associations for musicians, for amateur theater, among others for scouts. The Popular University also had other administrative functions because it depended on a state structure; the French Colonial Administration. Over time, Hadj Smaine had joined the theater troupe Les Milles et une Nuits with other friends of scouting; Hassan Belhadj (1st director of Algerian Cinema, great actor, patriot and former collaborator of M'Hamed Yazid) and Abdelkrim Menaï (former scout of Muslim scouts). After several years of theater practice, Hadj Smaine left the troupe Les Milles et Une Nuit in order to create a theater without "sketch", similar to that which was practiced in Europe and in the Arab world (in Egypt more particularly). Among others, Hadj Smaine was a member of the following theater troupes: Les Milles et Une Nuits, Les Compagnons du Vieux Rocher, The Algerian theater team before Independence (from 1957 to 1958), The troupe of the Youth House of Hussein Dey (before 1962), Les Capucines d'Alger (before 1962), The National Theater of Algeria (at Independence). He died on September 6, 2021 in Los Angeles (USA).
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