Film 1994
Bab El-Oued City
A baker’s impulsive act unsettles an Algiers neighbourhood.
- Country collection
- Algeria
- Original title
- Bab El-Oued City
- Director
- Merzak Allouache
- Year
- 1994
Editorial profile. Availability on LAREINE TV has not been confirmed.
Story, without spoilers
After the unrest of October 1988, Boualem works nights in a bakery and struggles to sleep during the day. His response to a rooftop loudspeaker provokes a search led by Saïd. Boualem’s secret relationship with Saïd’s sister Yamina makes the conflict personal.
Context & recognition
Merzak Allouache’s Algerian-French drama screened in Un Certain Regard in 1994 and shared the FIPRESCI prize at Cannes. The neighbourhood becomes the setting for a story about private lives under public pressure.
Main characters
Boualem
A young bakery worker.
Yamina
Saïd’s sister, secretly in love with Boualem.
Saïd
The leader of the group pursuing the culprit.
