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THE ROOFTOPS

by Merzak Allouache

synopsis

Bab el-Oued, a working-class neighborhood of Algiers. On one side the bay, on the other the city. While time is marked by the muezzin’s call to prayer, five stories intersect, even if only for a moment, on the same number of terraces over the course of a whole day. A man is tortured because he doesn’t want to sign a mysterious document, under the cynical gaze of someone who is in reality very close to him. Only the little girl of an intransigent family tries to have a “normal” relationship with her uncle, shut up in a cage on the roof for reasons kept secret. The owner of the building disappears after having attempted once again to expel an old woman who is living illegally on the terrace—a decidedly peculiar former police officer investigates. A group of young men uses the roof for rehearsals prior to a musical performance, until the tragedy of a young woman is acted out on the adjacent terrace. At the least opportune moment, a small television crew finds itself in the wrong place.

international title: The Rooftops
original title: Es-Stouh (Les Terrasses)
country: Algeria, France
sales agent: Elle Driver
year: 2013
genre: fiction
directed by: Merzak Allouache
film run: 94'
screenplay: Merzak Allouache
cinematography by: Frédéric Derrien
film editing: Sylvie Gadmer, Adila Bendimered, Nabil Asli, Nassima Belmihoub, Ahcene Benzerari, Aïssa Chouat, Mourad Khen
producer: Jacques Bidou, Marianne Dumoulin, Yacine Djadi
production: JBA Production, Baya Films
distributor: Les Films de l’Atalante

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