Faouzi Bensaïdi
The members of a debt-ridden family reunite in an evanescent Tangier, running away from painful memories but at the same time clinging to a past they do not want to forget. Their childhood home and its magnificent estate are due to be sold in early autumn; increasingly, summer days fade into distant memory.
Under the impacts of a changing climate, the world changes, it has already changed. In a distant and near future, both fantastic and absurd, men and wo-men survive as they can. Following a man, a slender figure between Tati and Buster Keaton, we discover through scenes of his daily life how devastating the effects of climate change are on humans and nature. How do we barricade against excessive heat or cold? How will it be to go to a supermarket, or a zoo filled with different animals and species? A disturbing and hilarious ride in the future, that is already our present.
Composed by eleven short-movies. Started in 2018, the project explore in a sensible and creative way the position of humankind and nature. The key stories illustrated by the eleven internationally recognized filmmakers reflect the intertwined relations between human society and natural environment that are aggravated by climate change on multiple dimensions and scales, hinting at possible solutions.
Algiers, a few years after the civil war. Amal and Samir have decided to celebrate their twentieth wedding anniversary in a restaurant. While on their way, their share their views on Algeria: Amal talks about lost illusions and Samir about the necessity to cope with them. At the same time, their son Fahim and his friends Feriel and Reda are wandering about in a hostile Algiers about to steal their youth.
Volubilis is a tale of love in a world of despair, of beauty among the ruins. In the Moroccan city of Meknès, recently married Abdelkader and Malika struggle to make ends meet. They dream of leaving the family house and finally starting a life of their own together. But one day at work, Abdelkader gets mixed up in a violent incident that will turn their lives upside down.
Three people who have lost everything, a soldier tired of fighting, a young woman and a little girl, pose as a family to escape the civil war in Sri Lanka. They emigrate to France and settle in a chaotic neighborhood on the outskirts of Paris, where apparently the law no longer exists; but they, who barely know each other, struggle to survive there, even when the ghosts of war begin to haunt them again.
Tangier. Dounia decides to sell on the black market the antiques uncovered on the building site she manages. She hopes to raise enough money to be able to leave Morocco with her son, who she hardly ever sees since her divorce. The death of a worker disrupts her plan...
In Tetouan, at the northern edge of Morocco, three young men decide to rob a jewelry store. The heist goes awry, and their destinies part drastically.
Casablanca, a city of contrasts, modern and traditional. Kamel is a murderer for hire who receives his encrypted assignments online. After his executions, he usually calls Souad, an occasional prostitute. But the phone is always answered by her friend Kenza, traffic officer and responsible for the largest roundabout in the city. Kamel soon falls in love with that voice and begins to seek her. Meanwhile, Hicham, a computer hacker, who dreams of emigrating to Europe, is infiltrated by chance in Kamel plans ...
1981, Morocco. A village in the Atlas mountains. A city in the distance. A child. A family facing its destiny.
Tahar is a retired blacksmith living with his son from his first marriage. After seeing his late second wife in a dream, he decides to visit her grave, in Azemmour. In the trip, he meets Driss who is going to Essaouira, looking for his mother whom he has never known after receiving a letter about her. The two men go to Marrakech together where Driss gets a combination motorbike that Tahar calls "wind horse". And they begin their journey together, first to Azemmour, then to Essaouira, looking for their past.
Serge is a long distance lorry driver between Morocco andEurope. In Tangier, he tries to reconcile with his former girlfriend, Sarah. She has refused to have anything to do with him since her mother’s death and intends to join her brother in Canada. Serge appeals to Sarah’s protector, a young Arab named Saïd, to allow him to meet up with Sarah, promising in return to smuggle Saïd into Europe...
Longtime friends, Mehdi and Hamid, work for a collection agency. They crisscross the villages of southern Morocco in their old car and share double rooms in shabby hotels. They are exactly the same size, and wear the same suits and ties, as well as the same shoes. Paid nearly nothing, they try to play hard to make good figures. One day, in a gas station planted in the middle of the desert, a motorcycle parks in front of them. A man is handcuffed to the luggage rack, threatening. It’s the Evader. Their meeting marks the beginning of an unforeseen and mystical journey.
