Three young friends—a girl (Asma) and two boys (Fawzi and Ramdane)—bound by a loving friendship, lead a carefree life. The riots of October 1988, the repression, the democratic explosion, and the Islamist drift that followed turn their lives upside down. Fawzi, a journalist involved in the independent press movement, and Ramdane, a doctor sensitive to the concerns of ordinary people, drift apart, separate, and find themselves caught up in a confrontation that is beyond their control. Asma tries in vain to prevent the trio from breaking up... But none of the three emerges unscathed...
Acting
The trio's chemistry crumbles devastatingly across decades.
Direction
Hadjadj captures Algeria's chaos through intimate domestic spaces.
Writing
Friendship as political tragedy—rarely this nuanced.
Director
Belkacem Hadjadj
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 1988 October Riots depicted were Algeria's real 'Berber Spring' moment—Black October killed 500+ and directly triggered the 1991-2002 civil war that killed 150,000.
Director Belkacem Hadjadj spent years in exile during the civil war; this was his return to filmmaking and is considered the definitive cinematic account of the era.
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