Viva Algeria

The film is set in Algeria as it is now. At its centre are three women. Goucem is a young woman who works for a photographer, and she is involved with a wealthy doctor. Her mother Papicha used to work on the cabaret stage. The third is Fifi, Goucem’s closest friend, who works as a sex worker. All three live in a hotel in the centre of Algiers. They are caught between modern life and religious fundamentalism. They move between wanting to decide for themselves and depending on others. Their situation, hard already, is made harder by the growing influence of religion. Friendship between women is the strand that carries the account. Lubna Azabal and Biyouna take the leads, with Nadia Kaci and Jalil Naciri also in the cast, in Nadir Moknèche’s Algerian and French coproduction of 2004.