Samir dans la poussière
Mohamed Ouzine
France, Algeria, Qatar | 2015 | 60 min
International Premiere
Language : Arabic
Subtitles : English, French
In a mountainous and arid region, Samir lives off oil smuggling. He trans- ports the merchandise on the back of a mule from his Algerian village to the Moroccan border. Filmed by his uncle, Samir gradually reveals his aspirations, and his desire for a different life. He has resigned himself and seems, a little paradoxically, via a complex connection with the region where he grew up, to be imprisoned by the horizon.This portrait of Samir finds its reflection, in the negative, in that of the director Mohamed Ouzine, and his equally ambiguous, although opposing, relationship with this territory. He lives in France, and has come back to these lands to find answers, to understand where he comes from. The camera’s fascination for the landscapes is met by the incomprehension of Samir, who sees in them only sand and rocks. Impressionist images draw a line between the two, leading from the shadows to the light, from the trivial to the sublime, and perhaps reveal what keeps Samir, in spite of everything, in the infiniteness of these landscapes.
Mourad Moussa
Trailer
