
REIMAGINED VOLUME 1: NYSSA
Other movies

BIN U BIN, ELSEWHERE THE BORDER
Director: Mohamed Lakhdar Tati
In the rocky desert Algerian border country, Fethi and his fellow villagers eke out a living smuggling goods – mostly petrol – into Tunisia, working at night and paying off the local crime lords. Saad, a film-maker trying to raise money to finish his movie, has worked for a year with Fethi. He lives in his family’s shed, included as part of a loving household as well as their risky business. At the same time he is obviously an outsider: smartly dressed and prepared to talk back to anyone, including the imam. Tough, gritty but also moodily atmospheric, its tension sustained by a tumultuous soundscape, theis remarkable film delves deeply into the complexities of family, friendship and daily survival.

BLACK DOG
Director: Guan Hu
While China buzzes in anticipation of the Beijing Olympics, Lang returns from a decade in prison to his home town to find it largely deserted, its crumbling concrete blocks being torn down to make way for a new industrial city. The exodus of humans means that the area is now overrun with stray dogs; Lang, needing a job, joins a hastily assembled extermination team supposed to round them up but, when a dog suspected of having rabies adopts him, he realizes his real mission is to save the animals, including the ones at the nearly deserted local zoo.. In a riveting, almost wordless performance, Eddie Peng shows Lang recover his humanity, even as the landscape around him becomes increasingly desolate.

QUIET LIFE
Director: Alexandros Avranas
Sergei and Alina, both teachers, have fled persecution in Russia with their two daughters to Sweden, where they have applied for asylum. They do their best to fit in: the parents work hard, the children throw themselves into their Swedish school lives and the family welcomes regular inspections, proving what excellent Swedish citizens they would be. It is a shock when their application is rejected, after which the younger daughter Katja collapses into a coma caused by Child Resignation Syndrome, a well-documented phenomenon among refugee children. The callousness of the authorities and its institutions, which seem designed to strip everyone of humanity and hope, is chilling, only just trumped by the film’s core values of justice and resilient love.

FRONT ROW
Director: Merzak Allouache
Zhola Bouderbala and her five children wake up at dawn on a hot day and prepare to spend their first summer’s day at the beach. It is imperative to get there early, in order to get a spot in “the front row”, with an uninterrupted view of the beautiful sea. As the first to arrive, the family settles at the water’s edge; an idyllic day beckons. Then, when another family arrives, there is an unexpected disaster. Merzak Allouache, whose earlier film Omar Gatlato marked a turning point in Algerian cinema, gives us characters with wit, zest for life and an and endearing innocence. His ongoing exploration of contemporary Algeria, in all its charm and complexity, confirms his status as a cinematic pioneer.