French sales outfit Alpha Violet has acquired the rights for Algerian horror film “Roqia,” written and directed by Yanis Koussim, which will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival as part of International Critics’ Week.
Virginie Devesa and Keiko Funato, co-founders of Alpha Violet, said they had been struck by the film’s “visceral portrayal of historical trauma through gripping mise-en-scène and haunting imagery.”
In 1993, a car crash leaves Ahmed with amnesia. He returns to his village where nothing seems familiar. His youngest child, disturbed by Ahmed’s fully bandaged face, harbors a deep fear of him.
Each night, mysterious visitors torment Ahmed, whispering litanies in an incomprehensible language. Who are these strange figures? And why does his so-called friend, the neighbor, make him feel so uneasy?
In the present day, an aging Raqi, a Muslim exorcist, struggles with Alzheimer’s disease. His forgetfulness and erratic behavior alarm his disciple. As violence intensifies in the city and the possessed speak in an unknown tongue, the disciple begins to fear the worst.
While Ahmed, in the past, dreads regaining his memory, the disciple, in the present, fears that his master’s decline will unleash an ancient evil.
Koussim said: “I grew up during Algeria’s bloody 1990s, and the trauma and fear from that time still linger beneath the surface of daily life. With ‘Roqia,’ I use horror, grounded in realism and memory, as a tool to confront that past, preserve it, and ensure it is never forgotten.”
“Roqia” is produced by Farès Ladjimi for Supernova Films, in co-production with 19 and Mulholland Drive Production. Jean-Marie Delorme served as the director of photography; the editors were Sarah Zaanoun and Maxime Pozzi-Garcia.
Koussim has directed several short films, including “Khouya,” which was awarded at Locarno and Amiens, and was part of the official selection at Clermont-Ferrand. He later contributed to the documentary “A Summer in Algiers: the Night,” and co-wrote the screenplays of “I Still Hide to Smoke” by Rayhana Obermeyer, and “El Zahia,” the next feature of Adila Bendimerad and Damien Ounouri.