Movies by Mohamed Fellag
What the Day Owes the Night
Algeria, the 1930s. Younes is nine years old when he is put in his uncle's care in Oran. Rebaptized Jonas, he grows up among the Rio Salado youths, with whom he becomes friends. Emilie is one of the gang; everyone is in love with her. A great love story develops between Jonas and Emilie, which is soon unsettled by the conflicts troubling the country.
Monsieur Lazhar
During a harsh Montréal winter, an elementary-school class is left reeling after its teacher commits suicide. Bachir Lazhar, a charismatic Algerian immigrant, steps in as the substitute teacher for the classroom of traumatized children. All the while, he must keep his personal life tucked away: the fact that he is seeking political refuge in Québec – and that he, like the children, has suffered an appalling loss.
Hassan Niya
The story of Hassan, the handyman in the inn of his sister Aïcha, widowed and childless. A whole series of incidents, misunderstandings, will punctuate his daily routine in which we find him in turn driver, waiter, welder, etc. But, he refuses to submit to anything that does not conform to the idea he has of society and things...
Where Fig Trees Grow
An ensemble piece set in a North African neighbourhood in Toulon.
Sons of the Earth
"Hijos de la tierra" presents a drama set a little before the 1920s, in which scattered news, stories and rumors spread the presence of a new wealth, oil, leading to the suspicion that a great change was about to take place.
Lumières
Long quest for a director specializing in commissioned films, who after a depression rediscovers his loved ones, his Casbah district, himself. Taken in hand, for a while, by his Islamist neighbor, it is above all the meeting with an old projectionist giving him a censored history of cinema and Algeria, which helps him to change, and to accept his own fantasies, embodied by Marilyn Monroe and the Andalusian.
Voisins, voisines
The Mozart Residence is home to several "new owners" of all origins: a new concierge, Paco, of Spanish origin, who has just been released from prison, arrives at the residence. Around it, the hall and the mailboxes, the "ballet" of the Residence Mozart is organized.
Barrières
Tahar, son of a wealthy family, is trying to preserve his privileged status despite the social changes brought about by the revolution. Tinted with historical symbolism, the film tells of the disaggregation of a feudal family when the father died.
Je vous ai compris
Ni reprise, ni échangée
Juliette, a mother of wealthy family and a little snobbish, has gradually developed a kind of generalized contempt against his fellows. One day a bunch of little naive thugs manages to remove it. Because it is often obnoxious with his entourage, his family decided not to pay anything for her release. Shocked, Ellie began to join her captors in order to concoct a revenge more expensive. The unsympathetic billionaire turns against her will in a sort of Robin embittered and vengeful wood. Soon, his family is forced to pay more attention to his ...