Melissa Benyahia

Two parallel stories. In the present day, the disciple of an old Raqi (a Muslim exorcist) fears that his master’s dementia will unleash evil. In 1992, after a car accident that left him with amnesia, Ahmed returns to his village, where nothing seems familiar to him: neither his wife nor his children. His youngest son, frightened by Ahmed’s bandaged face, is deeply afraid of him.

Suburb of Algiers, 1994. Anya, 7 years old, lives her life as a little girl, largely unaware of the tensions of the civil war tearing the country apart. She has only one wish: for her father, a journalist on a mission, to return in time for the Mouloud celebration. But the harsh reality gradually seeps into her daily life, causing her childhood innocence to waver.