Algeria

In the middle of the Algerian sahara, in her relay, a woman writes her History. She welcomes, for a cigarette, a coffee or eggs, truckers, wandering beings and dreams... Her name is Malika.

Alger. Houria (25) is a gifted dancer with dreams of joining the Algerian National Ballet. To make ends meet, she works as a cleaning lady during the day and bets in clandestine fights overnight. After winning a final, Houria is assaulted by Ali, who is determined to get his money back. When she wakes up in a hospital, the prognosis is grim: she is unable to speak and will certainly never dance again. Refusing to abandon her dream, she throws herself, heart and soul, into her physical recovery. At her rehab center, she meets other women damaged by life. Houria resolves to help them transcend their wounded bodies and stand tall - by teaching them how to dance.

Algiers, Bab el Oued, 2016. 16-year-old Habib dreams of becoming a veterinarian. But because he has no formal education, he decides to train a ram named 'El Bouq' to become a sheep fight champion. Samir, 42, doesn't have dreams anymore, other than surviving the hardships of daily life by selling sheep. As the Eid celebration approaches, Samir has a unique opportunity to maximize his profits, since everyone in the country will buy a sheep to be slaughtered. But for Habib, it's another story: Will 'El Bouq' become a champion? Or will he face a more tragic destiny?

Bab El-Oued, a popular district of Algier, in 1989, a few months after the riots. Young Boualem works six nights a week in a French bakery. On the rooftop of his apartment building the fundamentalists have installed a loudspeaker which is now broadcasting the Imam's word and the fundamentalist's hateful propaganda and therefore preventing Boualem from sleeping. Unable to stand the noise any longer, in a fit of madness, he destroys the loudspeaker and throws it into the sea. But he's quickly filled with guilt and apprehension for what he has done. Desecrating the property of the mosque is a sin, and now he finds himself in a relentless pursuit. The blunder is taken as a pretext by the Islamists to put the district under their control...

Algeria, 1516. The pirate Aroudj Barbarossa, together with King Salim Toumi, drives the Spanish occupiers out of Algiers. But the peace is short-lived: rumour has it that Barbarossa has murdered the king and declared himself ruler. When everyone from the royal court flees, only Queen Zaphira stands up to him. Between history and legend, her rebellion tells of the personal and political turmoil she endures for the sake of Algiers. The cinema spectacle from Algeria is the first of its kind and reproduces the multilingual and diverse world of the Maghreb at historical sites. Told for the first time from a female perspective, "The Last Queen - El Akhira" breaks with tradition and creates space for a woman who becomes a heroine in adversity.