Karim Traïdia

Directing

Karim Traïdia

Born 1949-01-01 · Algeria

Karim Traïdia (in Arabic: كريم ترايديا) born in 1949 in Besbes in Algeria is an Algerian-Dutch director and screenwriter. He has worked in the Netherlands since 1980. He studied sociology in Paris and cinema at the NFTVA, the Dutch Film Academy of Amsterdam, from which he graduated. His graduation film Impotence won several awards in Europe. He directed several short films before signing his first feature film, The Polish Bride, in 1998, presented at the "Critics' Week" at the Cannes Film Festival the same year and he won the Golden Calf for Best Director in other prestigious awards. Truth Tellers, his second feature film, also won numerous awards. Chroniques de mon village (Chronicles of My Village), in 2016, is his third feature film.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Irkalla – Gilgamesh's Dream poster
NR

In Baghdad's streets, Chum-Chum, a diabetic and dreamy nine-year-old, believes the Tigris hides a gate to Irkalla, the underworld where he can revive his lost parents. As his friend Moody is pulled into a militia plot, Chum-Chum must choose between myth and truth.

Irkalla – Gilgamesh's Dream

2025

The Gandhi Murder poster
5.5

Three Senior police officers in different parts of India, who, well aware of the intelligence that Gandhi’s life in under threat, must take key decisions that would eventually either save the Mahatma, or the country.

The Gandhi Murder

2019

The Polish Bride poster
6.1

Drama on the dawning love between a Polish woman and a farmer. Anna is forced to work in a brothel, but manages to escape. She's found, exhausted and scared, by Henk (the farmer) who offers her a place to stay, but her past chases her.

The Polish Bride

1998

De Avondboot poster
7.0

A group of holidaymakers descends on the West Frision Island Vlieland, where each of them is confronted with relational problems. Loneliness, surfacing secrets or a crisis; everyone gets their share.

De Avondboot

2007

Island Guests poster
7.3

"If only these walls could speak and tell us their stories" Based on the same name novel by Vonne van der Meer, the movie is set on the Dutch island Vlieland, telling the diverse stories of the people visiting cottage Duinroos (Dune rose) over the course of the summer. Against the background of the idyllic nature, the individual stories of the guests develop as their relational perils and personal moments of love, desire, loss and trust show the world as it is. Without knowing, and almost imperceptibly, the visitors' lives intertwine and join into one story.

Island Guests

2005

Speakers of the Truth poster
8.5

Algerian journalist Sahafi is faced with a dilemma. If he returns to Algeria, he's almost certain to be assassinated. If he takes political asylum in the Netherlands, he is treated like a pariah.

Speakers of the Truth

2000

Speakers of the Truth poster
8.5

Algerian journalist Sahafi is faced with a dilemma. If he returns to Algeria, he's almost certain to be assassinated. If he takes political asylum in the Netherlands, he is treated like a pariah.

Speakers of the Truth

2000

Chronicles of my Village poster
7.0

In 1960, nine-year-old Bachir dreamed of becoming the son of a martyr because he had heard that the children of martyrs would obtain everything after independence. He sets up a whole plan to get rid of a certain François, enemy of his country, while his father, Saddek, abandoned him with his mother and brothers. Through this fiction, the film looks at the life and visions of little Algerians during the War of National Liberation. Karim Traïdia looks back on his own childhood during the Algerian war (1945-1962). On a humorous note, it tells the adventures of a young child and his innocent friends against the backdrop of a raging merciless war.

Chronicles of my Village

2016

Chronicles of my Village poster
7.0

In 1960, nine-year-old Bachir dreamed of becoming the son of a martyr because he had heard that the children of martyrs would obtain everything after independence. He sets up a whole plan to get rid of a certain François, enemy of his country, while his father, Saddek, abandoned him with his mother and brothers. Through this fiction, the film looks at the life and visions of little Algerians during the War of National Liberation. Karim Traïdia looks back on his own childhood during the Algerian war (1945-1962). On a humorous note, it tells the adventures of a young child and his innocent friends against the backdrop of a raging merciless war.

Chronicles of my Village

2016