(Un)Lucky

Director Fatma-Zohra Zamoum plays herself in this highly original and intriguing debut, interweaving a documentary-style account of her return to Algeria to shoot her film, employing members of her family along the way, with three mysterious, artfully-shot, fictional narratives. Alia, a photographer, is attempting to journey from Tunis to Constantine to see her sick father; Cherif, an aging writer, is grappling with the discovery of his own death via an announcement in the newspaper; their paths cross through Farid, the taxi driver, who guides them through a fraught Algerian landscape. Zamoun's stylish film heralds a significant new talent in Algerian cinema