The Daughter of Keltoum

Colour, 35mm
France, 2001, 106 min
Section: Maghreb

Synopsis

The young and beautiful Rallia decides to search for her mother Keltoum who abandoned her when she was a child. She leaves the west and sets off for the hinterland, to the place of her birth in the desolate and hostile African desert. All she discovers from her relatives is that her mother works in a hotel in a large town. Accompanied by her half-mad aunt, Nedjma, she sets off on a painful journey into the past, a journey taking her through a merciless and hostile landscape, wretched and terrorised by the intolerance, violence and despair born of unimaginable poverty. A journey which will take her to Keltoum and the destructive truth she seeks. The film was screened at the Toronto IFF in 2001.

About the director

Mehdi Charef has been a successful film director since the early 1980s. Filmography: Thé au harem d’Archimed (1984), Miss Mona (1986), Camomille (1987), Mohamlet amour Sans (1989), Peggy Soul (1991), Aux Pays des Juliets (1991), Momo (1993), Marie-Lyne (2000) The Daughter of Keltoum (2001).