Samir in the Dust
In a mountainous and arid region, Samir lives off oil smuggling. He transports the merchandise on the back of a mule from his Algerian village to the Moroccan border. Filmed by his uncle, Samir gradually reveals his aspirations, and his desire for a different life. He has resigned himself and seems, a little paradoxically, via a complex connection with the region where he grew up, to be imprisoned by the horizon. This portrait of Samir finds its reflection, in the negative, in that of the director Mohamed Ouzine, and his equally ambiguous, although opposing, relationship with this territory. He lives in France, and has come back to these lands to find answers, to understand where he comes from.
Mohamed Ouzine returns to the region of his forefathers, to the dry mountain village where his nephew Samir still lives. Samir makes a living smuggling oil. He transports the goods by mule from his Algerian village to the Moroccan border. Mohamed, who lives in France, is nostalgic for this land that he’s never known, and films Samir as a double, the man he could have been. But the mirroring is complicated… Little by little, Samir reveals his frustrations and his desire to leave too. The beauty of the film lies in this tenuous common thread between them, this ambivalent relationship with the land – an arid landscape of sand and rocks that represents Samir’s life and Mohamed’s dream.
Annick Peigné-Giuly
Artistic director of Corsica.Doc Festival
- Soutien Tenk
- Sacem
- CNC
Mohamed Ouzine returns to the region of his forefathers, to the dry mountain village where his nephew Samir still lives. Samir makes a living smuggling oil. He transports the goods by mule from his Algerian village to the Moroccan border. Mohamed, who lives in France, is nostalgic for this land that he’s never known, and films Samir as a double, the man he could have been. But the mirroring is complicated… Little by little, Samir reveals his frustrations and his desire to leave too. The beauty of the film lies in this tenuous common thread between them, this ambivalent relationship with the land – an arid landscape of sand and rocks that represents Samir’s life and Mohamed’s dream.
Annick Peigné-Giuly
Artistic director of Corsica.Doc Festival
- Soutien Tenk
- Sacem
- CNC
