Algeria today. Past and present collide in the lives of a newly wealthy property developer, a young woman torn between the path of reason and sentiment and an ambitious neurologist impeded by wartime wrongdoings. Three stories that plunge us into the human soul of a contemporary Arab society.

Mourad has become a wealthy and important businessman. He tries to avoid any problems in his life, in which the priorities are, in his view, his work, his wife and his son.
Aïcha wants to put the past behind her and devote herself to a new life as a married woman. Accompanied by her father and a neighbor, she sets out on a journey to her new family on the other side of the country.
Dahman is a doctor and he, too, hopes to start a new chapter in his life. He wants to marry his cousin and is waiting patiently for the promotion which will allow him to attain a new level of social status.
All three will have to face the consequences of a choice made in the recent past.

A film by Karim Moussaoui

Algeria / France / Germany / Qatar, 2017, Fiction, 1h53' · Color ·

with MOHAMED DJOUHRI, SONIA MEKKIOU, MEHDI RAMDANI, HANIA AMAR, CHAWKI AMARI, HASSAN KACHACH, NADIA KACI, SAMIR EL HAKIM and the participation of AURE ATIKA

First Feature

Year of production : 2017
Country : FRANCE, GERMANY, ALGERIA, QATAR
Length : 113 minutes

Directed by : Karim MOUSSAOUI

Director's note
In the 1990s Algeria went through an unprecedented civil war. For ten years there was conflict between armed groups and the military. The fighting left 200,000 dead, and tens of thousands displaced from their homes in high-risk zones. In addition the country's economy, already strained by the sharp drop in oil prices, collapsed completely.

This grim situation lasted to the onset of the 2000s, but for us the new decade brought with it hopes of change. Could we get over this national tragedy? We decided to believe we could - having seen death close up, we were going to cling to life. We wanted to work, sow the seed and reap the harvest, laugh and love.

I thought it would be enough for us to love life, for it to love us, too. The years 2000-2010 saw oil prices reach all-time highs. Consumer goods were imported in record quantities and Algerians discovered the pleasures of shopping and mass consumption. Despite financial prosperity and a previously unknown standard of living, however, another kind of distress persists unchanged - the kind that lingers on forever, never learning from the mistakes of the past. We are caught up all too quickly in the new delights discovered despite (or because of) globalization, and so we gorge unstintingly on anything that can make us forget the traumas of the recent past.

This is the background against which the stories in my film play out. First and foremost they are social stories, about ordinary people living ordinary lives. The screenplay develops a series of portraits of men and women coming to terms with everyday life and the recent history of Algeria. It brings to the screen people's aspirations for a better life (through their desire, will and strategy), set against the actual accomplishment of such aspirations. The idea is to allow the viewer to glimpse the kind of social stalemate that can result from a purely functional system and from self-contradictory thinking. At the same time, the intention is to portray the relations between men and women, their individual places within society, and to single out their responsibilities in building modern Algerian society and working towards changing it for the future.

My characters are at a turning point in their personal lives, yet they are not and do not want to be actors for change.
Karim Moussaoui

Director: Karim Moussaoui
Script / Dialogue: Karim Moussaoui & Maud Ameline
Based on Original screenplay
David CHAMBILLE - Director of Photography
Hamid BOUGHRARA - Set decorator
Thomas MARCHAND - Film Editor
Arnaud MARTEN - Sound

Cast
Mohamed DJOUHRI - MOURAD
Sonia MEKKIOU - Lila
Aure ATIKA - Rasha
Mehdi RAMDANI - Djalil
Hania AMAR - Aïcha
Chawki AMARI - le père d'Aïcha
Hassan KACHACH - Dahman
Nadia KACI - La femme
Samir EL HAKIM - Le frère

Producers
Jaber Debzi, David Thion, Nicole Gerhards

Production:
Les Films Pelléas (France),
Prolégomènes (Algeria)
NiKo Film (Germany)
ARTE France Cinéma (France)

with the support of
Aide aux cinémas du monde 2016 (CNC / Institut français)

World Sales: MK2 FILMS

Production

LES FILMS PELLEAS - 25 rue Michel le comte 75003 PARIS CEDEX 03 FRANCE - T: +33142743100 - lesfilmspelleas@pelleas.fr - LFP LES FILMS PELLEAS

NIKO FILM - GERMANY

PROLEGOMNES - ALGERIA

Distribution
AD VITAM - T: +330155289700 - http://www.advitamdistribution.com/ - contact@advitamdistribution.com

French press
Karine DURANCE - T: +33 (0)6 10 75 73 74 - Karine DURANCE - durancekarine@yahoo.fr

International press
INTERNATIONAL RESCUE - T: +33 (0)6 63 76 31 13 - www.internationalrescuepr.com/ - Manlin STERNER - manlin@manlin.se

International sales
MK2 FILMS - T: 1 44 67 30 30 - www.mk2.com - juliette.schrameck@mk2.com
Un Certain Regard 2017
BEAUTY AND THE DOGS



Shooting format : HD
Shooting location : Algeria
Shooting start date: 06/2016
Budget: 1.381.989 Euro


2017 | Cannes Film Festival, France
* Selection Un Certain Regard
* Première Mondiale / World Premiere
www.festival-cannes.com/en/festival/films/en-attendant-les-hirondelles

2016 | Festival del film Locarno
* Selection - Open Doors (Film projects)
www.pardolive.ch/pardo/professionals/open-doors/film.html?fid=795361&eid=68


Until the Birds Return
Fall Grant 2015 - Production Stage
www.dohafilminstitute.com/financing/projects/grants/till-the-swallows-return

___________

DE
Im Algerien der Gegenwart finden sich drei lose verknüpfte Menschen lebensverändernden Entscheidungen gegenüber gestellt und geraten dabei in einen Konflikt aus Tradition und Moderne. Der korrupte Bauunternehmer Mourad steht vor der Frage, was für ein Mensch er sein möchte, das Mädchen Aicha muss sich entscheiden, ob sie ihrem Herzen folgt und der junge Neurochirurg Dahman wird mit seiner düsteren Vergangenheit konfrontiert.

Ein Film von Karim Moussaoui

F, D, ALG 2017, Spielfilm, 113min, HD, Farbe, Drama

Mit Mohamed Djouhri, Sonia Mekkiou, Hania Amar, Mehdi Ramdani, Chawki Amari, Saadia Gacem, Hassan Kachach, Nadia Kaci und Aure Atika


Produzenten
David Thion, Philippe Martin

Koproduzenten
Nicole Gerhards, Jaber Debzi

Regie
Karim Moussaoui

Buch
Karim Moussaoui, Maud Ameline

Kamera
David Chambille

Schnitt
Thomas Marchand

Ton
Arnaud Marten

Produktionsdesign
Hamid Boughrara

Kostüm
Maya Benchikh

Maske
Anke Thot


Produktion
Les Films Pelléas, NiKo Film, Prolégomènes, ARTE France Cinéma, MK2 Films, CADC

gefördert von:
Aide aux cinémas du monde, Aide à la coproduction franco-allemande, Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée, Institut français, d'ARTE France, La Fondation Gan pour le Cinéma, Ministère algérien de la Culture, Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Filmförderungsanstalt, Nordmedia - Film und Mediengesellschaft, World Cinema Fund, Doha Film Institute, Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, Eurimages

Weltvertrieb: MK2


©Les Films Pelléas / Prolégomènes/ NiKo Film/ Arte France Cinéma/ MK2 Films / CAD;
www.nikofilm.de/de/filme/fertiggestellt/en-attendant-les-hirondelles/

_________________

IT

Regista
Karim Moussaoui

Produzione
Taj Intaj
Les Films Pelléas
NiKo Film

with the support of
Aide aux cinémas du monde 2016 (CNC / Institut français)

World Sales: MK2 FILMS