On November 1, 1954, near Ghassira, a village lost in the Aurès mountains, a French teacher and his wife and a local governor became the fi rst civilian victims of a seven-year war that would lead to the independence of Algeria. More than 50 years on, Malek Bensmaïl returned to this Shaoui village, which has become ‘the cradle of the Algerian revolution' and spent the seasons there fi lming its inhabitants, its school and its children. Balanced between the present and the collective past, the film captures and Algerian reality in all its profoundly human, contradictory complexity.
Season by season, throughout the school year, this is a crhonicle of Ghassira, a village nestled in the Aurès Mountains, which, more than 50 years ago, became the "cradle of the Algerian Revolution".
The Algerian heartlands, larger than life, rich, poignant, confronted with its future.

Documentaire - Couleur - 120'
Réalisation / Direction : Malek Bensmaïl
Scénario / Screenplay : Malek Bensmaïl
Image / Directors of Photography : Malek Bensmaïl, Lionel Jan Kerguistel
Son / Sound : Dana Farzanehpour
Musique / Music : Kamel Zekri
Montage / Editing : Matthieu Bretaud
Production : UNLIMITED, CIRTA FILMS, INA, 3B PRODUCTIONS, ENTV

Contact : Daniela Elstner / DOC & FILM INTERNATIONAL (Paris / France)

FESTIVALS & AWARDS:
Festival des 3 continents (2008)
Dubai International Film Festival (2008)
Festival du cinéma d'auteur en numérique (2008)
Festival international de films de Fribourg (2009)
Festival International du cinéma mediteraneen de Tétouan (2009)
Documenta Madrid (2009)
Dok.FEST in Munich (2009)
Mumbai Film Festival (2009)