Yema
Djamila Sahraoui / DZ, FR, AE, 2012
The director herself plays the role of a mother who has to witness a tragic event when her eldest son is killed by her youngest son. Sahraoui was awarded the Fipresci International Film Critics prize for her film about the problems Algeria is facing today. Sahraoui belongs to a new generation of Arab female filmmakers whose work is currently screened in EYE.
“Yema” means “mother” in Berber, and it”s the mother figure who plays a central role in this taleabout the still unresolved conflict between extremists and the Algerian government.
Ouardia (Sahraoui) lives in a remote and arid region where the soil is poor. She tries to keep her garden, her only source of food, flourishing as best as she can. The news that her eldest son Tarek has been killed by extremist rebels is a terrible shock to her. It transpires that her youngest son Ali, a fundamentalist, pulled the trigger and was seriously wounded in the event.
The family drama is set against the larger backdrop of the civil war – unofficially ended in 2002 – that threatens to tear Algeria apart.
This is part of
Details
Director
Djamila Sahraoui
Production year
2012
Country
DZ, FR, AE
Original title
Yema
Format
DCP - encrypted
Part of
Where Do We Go Now?
‘Powerful, poignant, vibrant and provocative’, is how guest curator Ludmila Cvikova – Head of International Programming at the Doha Film Institute in Qatar from 2011 to 2014 – qualifies her selection of award-winning films.
Share your love for film and become a member of the Eye Society.