Lyes Salem

Acting

Lyes Salem

Born

1973-07-07 (53)

Place of birth

Alger, Algeria

Known for

Acting

Credits

62 titles

Lyès Salem (Algiers, 1973) is an Algerian actor and film director. His first film as director, Masquerades, won several prizes in France. Source: Article "Lyes Salem" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Known for

Highlander: The Series poster
7.4

Duncan MacLeod cannot die -- he is a 400-year-old immortal, who has seen his share of humanity's history. Still, he risks his life in battle against other immortals and tries to save people from harm.

Highlander: The Series

1992

Munich poster
7.1

During the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, eleven Israeli athletes are taken hostage and murdered by a Palestinian terrorist group known as Black September. In retaliation, the Israeli government recruits a group of Mossad agents to track down and execute those responsible for the attack.

Munich

2005

District B13 poster
6.8

Set in the ghettos of Paris in 2010, an undercover cop and ex-thug try to infiltrate a gang in order to defuse a neutron bomb.

District B13

2004

Maria poster
6.5

Maria Callas, the world's greatest opera singer, lives the last days of her life in 1970s Paris, as she confronts her identity and life.

Maria

2024

Just to Be Sure poster
6.4

Erwan, a strapping Breton who clears mines for a living, is shaken when he discovers that his father is not his father. Despite his affection for the man who raised him, he quietly sets out to find his biological father, and succeeds in locating Joseph, an endearing old codger he takes a liking to. Just when things look settled, another unexpected “bomb” hits Erwan in the form of Anna, an elusive nymph.

Just to Be Sure

2017

For My Country poster
6.2

Aissa, a young officer of Algerian origin, tragically loses his life during a fresher initiation ritual at the prestigious French military academy of Saint-Cyr. As the death tears through his family, controversy arises over Aissa’s funeral plans when the Army refuses to take responsibility. Ismael, his older, rebellious brother, tries to keep the family united as they fight to win justice for Aissa.

For My Country

2023

Film credits

2020s · 17 titles

Maria poster
6.5

Maria Callas, the world's greatest opera singer, lives the last days of her life in 1970s Paris, as she confronts her identity and life.

Maria

2024

For My Country poster
6.2

Aissa, a young officer of Algerian origin, tragically loses his life during a fresher initiation ritual at the prestigious French military academy of Saint-Cyr. As the death tears through his family, controversy arises over Aissa’s funeral plans when the Army refuses to take responsibility. Ismael, his older, rebellious brother, tries to keep the family united as they fight to win justice for Aissa.

For My Country

2023

Meet the Leroys poster
6.2

A man takes his wife and their teenage children on a road trip down memory lane while facing divorce.

Meet the Leroys

2024

DNA poster
5.9

A woman has a close bond with her beloved Algerian grandfather, who protected her from a toxic home life as a child; his death triggers a deep identity crisis as tensions between her extended family members escalate, revealing new depths of resentment and bitterness.

DNA

2020

Final Cut poster
6.7

Things go badly for a small film crew shooting a low-budget zombie movie when they are attacked by real zombies.

Final Cut

2022

The In(famous) Youssef Salem poster
6.4

Youssef Salem, 45, has always managed to miss his writing career. But the trouble begins when his new novel becomes a success because Youssef couldn't help but be inspired by his own, for better or worse. He must now avoid at all costs that his book falls into the hands of his family.

The In(famous) Youssef Salem

2023

A Family For 1640 Days poster
7.3

Anna happily lives with her husband, their two boys, and Simon, 6 years-old, who was placed with her by the Social Care services when he was only 18 months. When Simon’s father decides that he is ready to take his son back with him, the family’s balance is at stake. Anna is torn apart: how could she possibly let go a of child who has always called her ‘Mom’?

A Family For 1640 Days

2022

Ramdam poster
5.4

No synopsis available yet.

Ramdam

2020

What is Love? poster
6.1

Marguerite has no reason to refuse the church’s annulment of her marriage to Fred. She also has a new partner with whom she has a child. However, to convince the church that their previous marriage was doomed from the start, Marguerite and Fred must examine their shared past.

What is Love?

2026

Honey Cigar poster
5.8

Paris, 1993. Selma, 17, lives in a bourgeois and secular Berber family. When she meets and is strongly attracted to Julien, a dashing young man, she realizes for the first time the heavy rules of her patriarchal family and how they affect her intimacy. As Islamism takes over her country of origin and her family crumbles, Selma discovers the power of her own desire. She must resist and fight. Through the strength of her people, she starts walking down the path of what it means to become a free woman.

Honey Cigar

2020

Rodrigue in Love poster
6.2

A struggling actor, Stéphane arrives with his troupe at the Avignon Festival to perform a boulevard play. There, he meets Fanny, a renowned actress, and falls under her spell. Taking advantage of a misunderstanding to get closer to her, Stéphane sinks into a lie that he will have to keep going for the duration of the festival... but which will quickly overwhelm him!

Rodrigue in Love

2025

Paternal poster
6.3

In a small town in central France, Simon is a priest devoted to his parish. During a mass, Louise, whom he hadn’t seen since his seminary years ago, reappears. She introduces him to Aloé, an 11-year-old child, who is his son. This news will disrupt his daily life: can he be a good priest for his parishioners and a good father for his child? Simon will try to convince the highest authorities of the Church that his vocation is compatible with paternal love.

Paternal

2024

The Fragile Colossus poster
7.0

Sébastien is a former rugby player and a true colossus. Between the ages of 12 to 16, he was a victim of rape by a beloved relative. Thirty years later, he has failed to speak out. After he meets a little colossus like him, he is compelled to make the right choice.

The Fragile Colossus

2022

The Madness Express poster
4.3

Sébastien, a conscientious and professional train inspector, dreams of being transferred to the South of France. To validate his transfer, he has to make one last routine run under the supervision of Madeleine, a slightly sociopathic inspector who won't let him go. That's when everything goes wrong: between a driver who thinks he's driving a fighter jet, a jealous colleague and passengers who are each crazier than the last, what was supposed to be a formality turns into the worst trip of his life.

The Madness Express

2023

Ma part de Gaulois poster
5.3

It's the year of the baccalaureate for Magyd, a little Arab from rue Raphaël, northern districts of Toulouse. A formality for the French, a seismic event for the “native”. Just think, the first Arab ferry in the city. The end of a tunnel, the climax of a long standoff with fate, under the incessant loving pressure of the all-powerful mother and the jeering quelibets of the gang. Because it is not good to pass for an “intellectual” after school, in the periphery of “living together”; Magyd and his inseparable friends, Samir the activist and Momo the chat artist, experience it on a daily basis.

Ma part de Gaulois

2024

Abou Leila poster
5.8

Algeria, 1994. S. and Lotfi, two friends from childhood, travel through the desert looking for Abou Leila, a dangerous terrorist on the run. Their quest seems absurd, given that the Sahara has not been affected by the wave of attacks. Lofti has only one priority : to keep S. as far from the capital as possible, knowing his friend is too fragile to face more bloodshed. But the closest they get into the desert, the more they will be confronted with their own violence.

Abou Leila

2020

Free Drum Kit poster
5.0

Lila welcomes her friend Agathe, who is moving in as a roommate. Lila must also get rid of the bulky drum kit left behind by her ex. Should she sell it or give it away? To whom and how? Agathe and Lila share their ideas. Lila decides to be generous and gives it away on an online platform, unaware that this simple gesture will lead her into a series of adventures.

Free Drum Kit

2025

2010s · 18 titles

Just to Be Sure poster
6.4

Erwan, a strapping Breton who clears mines for a living, is shaken when he discovers that his father is not his father. Despite his affection for the man who raised him, he quietly sets out to find his biological father, and succeeds in locating Joseph, an endearing old codger he takes a liking to. Just when things look settled, another unexpected “bomb” hits Erwan in the form of Anna, an elusive nymph.

Just to Be Sure

2017

My Afternoons with Margueritte poster
7.0

An illiterate and lonely man bonds with an older and well-read woman.

My Afternoons with Margueritte

2010

Nobody Else But You poster
6.3

The ambiguous suicide of a local beauty, weathergirl, cheese model, and Marilyn Monroe look-a-like finds an eager sleuth in David Rousseau, best-selling crime novelist. When Rousseau visits a remote Alps village for the reading of his friend's will he unwittingly, but irresistibly, gets caught in the tangled web of murder and small town politics in this off-beat mystery.

Nobody Else But You

2011

I'm All Yours poster
5.4

Charming thirty-year-old Hanna Belkacem has inherited the gene from her parents: she is unable to say no. And as she is the Director of Human resources of a big firm such infirmity is not without its problems, particularly when she has to fire someone. The only solution she has found to be forgiven is to... get l* with the men she lays off!

I'm All Yours

2015

Rock the Casbah poster
6.3

The whole family is reunited when Sofia comes back for his father's funeral. Quickly, inner problems are revealed.

Rock the Casbah

2013

Sparring poster
5.9

Steve Landry, an aging boxer with more losses than wins, accepts to become a sparring partner for an emerging champion in a last-ditch attempt to stay relevant.

Sparring

2017

Burners poster
NR

Amine, a young Algerian, rents a camcorder and films souvenirs on his way to Eldorado.

Burners

2011

Top Floor Left Wing poster
6.0

Like every morning, François Echeveria, a bailiff, should have been able to make a seizure in a suburban city, then quietly return home. But that day, fate decided otherwise. Due to a misunderstanding, he is taken hostage by an impoverished father and his wild son...

Top Floor Left Wing

2010

Unveiled poster
5.8

Three women, three generations, two secrets. In the early 1970s, a bomb exploded on board the Swissair flight 330 to Tel Aviv. Isabelle's husband also died. The young, very pregnant widow feared that her lover, the Palestinian activist Djibril, might be entangled in it ... Now, 47 years later, Isabelle finds out that her granddaughter Anaïs has converted to Islam. But why does the young student keep her new faith secret from the family? Anaïs's mother, Léa, immediately rings the alarm.

Unveiled

2018

Carole Matthieu poster
5.8

Isabelle Adjani is Carole Matthieu – a workplace physician employed in a call centre who has become emotionally involved in the suffering of her humiliated co-workers.

Carole Matthieu

2016

Nefta Football Club poster
7.1

In the south of Tunisia, two football fan brothers bump into a donkey lost in the middle of the desert on the border of Algeria. Strangely, the animal wears headphones over its ears.

Nefta Football Club

2018

Il était une fois... peut-être pas poster
6.2

No synopsis available yet.

Il était une fois... peut-être pas

2012

In the Game poster
6.4

A rebellious teenager must travel the country with his sick grandpa to get to his basketball game.

In the Game

2018

L'Oranais poster
7.4

During the first euphoric years following independence, two friends, Djaffar and Hamid, are promised a bright future in a free Algeria until one day when betrayal separates them.

L'Oranais

2014

Young Girls in Black poster
6.2

Noémie and Priscilla, two teenagers from a modest background, nurture the same violence, the same revolt. They seriously worry their families, who feel that these girls are capable of anything...

Young Girls in Black

2010

Le Silence Du Sphinx poster
9.0

As usual, Slim goes to the Point Ephémère bar in Paris to have a last drink. As is often the case, he finds Lily there, an eccentric and intriguing character, then Seiko, whom he knew as a child soldier, once in Sierra Leone. While he listens to Lily tell him a few stories, Slim watches the Seiko ride, tracked and soon arrested by two plainclothes police officers.

Le Silence Du Sphinx

2010

My Story Is Not Yet Written poster
10.0

Jacqueline Gozlan - who left Algeria with her parents in 1961 - nostalgically retraces the history of the Algiers Cinematheque, inseparable from that of the country's Independence, through film extracts and numerous testimonies; notably that of one of its creators, Jean-Michel Arnold, but also of filmmakers such as Merzak Allouache and critics such as Jean Douchet. A place of life for Algerians, the Cinémathèque was the hub of African cinemas. Created in 1965 by Ahmed Hocine, Mahieddine Moussaoui and Jean-Michel Arnold, the Cinémathèque benefited from the excitement of Independence. The Cinematheque becomes a meeting place for Algiers society, future filmmakers find their best school there. In 1969, the Algiers Pan-African Festival brought together all African filmmakers, and from 1970, Boudjemâa Kareche developed a collection of Arab and African films.

My Story Is Not Yet Written

2017

Les Justes poster
NR

Today, immense confusion reigns over the quest for the absolute, revolt and fury, violence and its appendages. And many people plunge back in Albert Camus' work to find answers. In the foreword to his play, the philosopher and writer summarizes the intrigue as follows: "In February 1905, in Moscow, a group of terrorists, belonging to the Socialist Revolutionary Party, organized a bomb attack against the Grand Duke Serge, Tsar's uncle ”. The rapper and slammer Abd Al Malik offers with this "musical tragedy" a contemporary staging of "The Just", a complete creation, faithful to the text of Camus, but reinventing a scenic and musical language resolutely inscribed in our time.

Les Justes

2019

2000s · 12 titles

Munich poster
7.1

During the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, eleven Israeli athletes are taken hostage and murdered by a Palestinian terrorist group known as Black September. In retaliation, the Israeli government recruits a group of Mossad agents to track down and execute those responsible for the attack.

Munich

2005

District B13 poster
6.8

Set in the ghettos of Paris in 2010, an undercover cop and ex-thug try to infiltrate a gang in order to defuse a neutron bomb.

District B13

2004

The First Day of the Rest of Your Life poster
7.5

A sprawling drama centered on five key days in a family's life.

The First Day of the Rest of Your Life

2008

In Your Image poster
4.8

Ridden by guilt for not being able to have a child, wife decides to conceive by cloning. The daughter she gives birth to is therefor almost identical to her. The child starts to grow rapidly and slowly replaces mom in the household.

In Your Image

2004

Only Girls poster
6.3

After a shoplifter finds herself unexpectedly released on parole, she pays a call on the judge at her flat. The judge, Carole Rewinsky, does not tell Tina that her elease was only a clerical error. The two find they share things in common other than the judicial system, like a mutual interest in shoes. Carole allows Tina to crash on her chesterfield... Carole spots a pimp trolling for young girls at a café. Carole failed to put him away the last time, but now, with Tina agreeing to be the bait, she has a chance for better luck... The two find they complement one another well, like champagne and cassis. Carole needs to go to Annecy to crack a crooked casino case. Annecy happens to be Tina's home town... Written by David Carless

Only Girls

2003

Alex poster
3.0

Alex is a liberated, apparently sturdy yet vulnerable woman in her thirties. She earns her living as a market trader and with building work - she has no trouble matching up to the men. She works on renovating an old dilapidated house, high up and lonely in the mountains of the Ardèche, in the hope that her teenage son Xavier, who was not brought up by her, will move in. The walls she is restoring are like her life, which she wants to build up bit by bit. Because it's clear that she has just lived through some difficult years - in her own defensive words, she says to her son: 'I was unstable.' She is still easily upset and can become angry and aggressive.

Alex

2005

Cousines poster
9.0

Driss, an Algerian emigrant who has settled down in France, is back to Algiers for his month's holiday. What joy it is to hug his relatives and friends, to get to know Nedjma, his cousin Amrane's promised wife and to rediscover the white beauty of his childhood town ! But, a dramatic news suddenly interferes. A fourteen-year-old girl has just been killed for refusing to wear the "hidjab". A spontaneous demonstration is organized, to which the women of the house decide to go. With one exception though : that of Nedjma banned from going by her future husband.

Cousines

2004

The ben barka affair poster
1.0

Moroccan politician Mehdi Ben Barka arrives in Paris to prepare for the Tricontinental Conference where he is accosted by the police and taken into custody, never to be seen again.

The ben barka affair

2008

Good Night Malik poster
NR

Malik raises his little brother and works as a doorman.

Good Night Malik

2006

Mascarades poster
6.6

Mounir Mekbek lives with his family in a small village in the heart of the Algerian countryside. Very proud and sure of himself, he has only one dream- to finally be appreciated by his fellow villagers. Screwing up his carefully maintained image is his headstrong, narcoleptic sister Rym who falls asleep anywhere and whom the village is convinced will end up a spinster. One evening, Mounir returns from town drunk and announces that he's found a suitor for his sister. The fake story snowballs and snowballs until the suitor morphs into a rich, blonde Australian. The village begins preparing for the wedding in earnest - but without a bridegroom in sight.

Mascarades

2008

Délice Paloma poster
5.9

Atop 17 flights of stairs, Madame Aldjeria rules over a crew of beautiful young women with the help of faithful son Riyad and clever lawyer Djaffar. Madame Aldjeria can set up a lonely old man with companionship or destroy the reputation of whomever the client wants humiliated. But when Riyad grows attracted to a beautiful new girl, Paloma, and a potentially huge new project runs into trouble, Aldjeria could lose everything she's worked for.

Délice Paloma

2007

No artwork available
10.0

Marie, a pretty young woman, wanders through the aisles of a futuristic supermarket where everything, from the miracle pill to the virtual man, is for sale. Tonight, she's having a birthday party. She's invited a few old friends and their virtual companions. Everyone is young, beautiful and meek.

Bliss

2001

Series credits

Behind the camera

Cousines poster
9.0

Driss, an Algerian emigrant who has settled down in France, is back to Algiers for his month's holiday. What joy it is to hug his relatives and friends, to get to know Nedjma, his cousin Amrane's promised wife and to rediscover the white beauty of his childhood town ! But, a dramatic news suddenly interferes. A fourteen-year-old girl has just been killed for refusing to wear the "hidjab". A spontaneous demonstration is organized, to which the women of the house decide to go. With one exception though : that of Nedjma banned from going by her future husband.

Cousines

2004

Cousines poster
9.0

Driss, an Algerian emigrant who has settled down in France, is back to Algiers for his month's holiday. What joy it is to hug his relatives and friends, to get to know Nedjma, his cousin Amrane's promised wife and to rediscover the white beauty of his childhood town ! But, a dramatic news suddenly interferes. A fourteen-year-old girl has just been killed for refusing to wear the "hidjab". A spontaneous demonstration is organized, to which the women of the house decide to go. With one exception though : that of Nedjma banned from going by her future husband.

Cousines

2004

L'Oranais poster
7.4

During the first euphoric years following independence, two friends, Djaffar and Hamid, are promised a bright future in a free Algeria until one day when betrayal separates them.

L'Oranais

2014

L'Oranais poster
7.4

During the first euphoric years following independence, two friends, Djaffar and Hamid, are promised a bright future in a free Algeria until one day when betrayal separates them.

L'Oranais

2014

No One Will Be Any the Wiser poster
NR

Hired by a woman who thinks her husband cheated on her, a fumbling crook has to kidnap and punish the mistress in question. With one of his friends, he sets up a scheme to pocket the money easily. But the day of the confrontation, things take an unexpected turn.

No One Will Be Any the Wiser

2015

Mascarades poster
6.6

Mounir Mekbek lives with his family in a small village in the heart of the Algerian countryside. Very proud and sure of himself, he has only one dream- to finally be appreciated by his fellow villagers. Screwing up his carefully maintained image is his headstrong, narcoleptic sister Rym who falls asleep anywhere and whom the village is convinced will end up a spinster. One evening, Mounir returns from town drunk and announces that he's found a suitor for his sister. The fake story snowballs and snowballs until the suitor morphs into a rich, blonde Australian. The village begins preparing for the wedding in earnest - but without a bridegroom in sight.

Mascarades

2008

Mascarades poster
6.6

Mounir Mekbek lives with his family in a small village in the heart of the Algerian countryside. Very proud and sure of himself, he has only one dream- to finally be appreciated by his fellow villagers. Screwing up his carefully maintained image is his headstrong, narcoleptic sister Rym who falls asleep anywhere and whom the village is convinced will end up a spinster. One evening, Mounir returns from town drunk and announces that he's found a suitor for his sister. The fake story snowballs and snowballs until the suitor morphs into a rich, blonde Australian. The village begins preparing for the wedding in earnest - but without a bridegroom in sight.

Mascarades

2008