Harkis
1972, in the south of France, deep in the forest, a family with meager luggage discovers the new camp where they will live. Despite the camp leader's overt paternalism, the Harkis lead a difficult life without real freedom. A life of poverty and guardianship that Leila, the Benamars' eldest daughter, rejects. She is at the age of rebellion, and also of her first love. For her, her father, Saïd, scarred by war and exile, accustomed to giving in, owes nothing to the French who enlisted him in the French army, then failed to protect them in Algeria. Thanks to her, with the help of a peasant couple, he will raise his head and the Benamars will leave the camp for a nearby farm.
Ma famille entre deux terres
1983, The Marchers for Equality
In the 1980s, young people of North African descent born in France and a priest from the Lyon suburbs organized the "March of the Beurs." Launched on October 15, 1983, by seventeen people from the La Cayolle neighborhood in Marseille following a racist crime, the march concluded two months later—on December 3—on the streets of Paris, with 100,000 participants. This movement demanded equal rights. Was their cry heard?
The Olive Trees of Justice
The son of a French colonialist in Algeria returns to Algeria after learning that his father is ill. Memories from childhood return. He also must deal with some problems involving the Algerian fight for independence.
Rumeur, etc.
Bachir, twenty-five, is looking to leave, perhaps to France. He waits every morning for the postman to come. The visa response is slow in coming. Bachir is bored, going around in circles. A rumor then fills this void: the possibility of changing the weekend. Saturday-Sunday is supposed to replace Thursday-Friday.
Perdus entre deux rives, les Chibanis oubliés
Their names are Abdallah, Ahmou, Mohamed, Ramdane, Salah, Sebti, and Tahar. They came from Algeria alone between 1951 and 1971 to work in France, intending to return home one day. The years have passed; they are now retired, yet they remain. Throughout these decades, they lived with one foot here and one foot there—a life defined by coming and going. Some were merely "remittance fathers," while others regret missing their children's upbringing. These men did not bring their families over, as they never intended to stay. Their attachment to their host country grew stronger than that to their homeland, even though the latter remains—at times—idealized. They migrated from one shore of the Mediterranean to the other without fully grasping the rupture this would cause. Neither fully of this place nor truly of that one—and after a disjointed working life and a fractured family life—they are now spending their final days in Marseille, alone.
Rosans, Bitter Honey
In 1963, Rosans, a village in the Hautes-Alpes region depopulated by the rural exodus, welcomed Harkis (military soldiers) forced to leave Algeria for supporting France during the Algerian War. Around thirty families settled in a camp below Rosans. Nearly half a century after their arrival, first- and second-generation Harkis and native Rosanais recount their experiences of this culture clash, often painful, sometimes happy. Language barriers, religious differences, living in barracks for 14 years, and unemployment were all obstacles to overcome in order to be accepted and then achieve mutual enrichment. Enriched with archive footage to explain the historical context of the time, the film seeks above all to express feelings and unspoken words.