Rallia, a young Swiss woman, returns home to her birthplace in Algeria hoping to find her mother, Keltoum. Waiting for her mother to return, Rallia tries to participate in her extended family's daily life and encounters the hardships of the desert. Finally, she decides she can no longer wait, and sets out on a trek into the desert with her mentally challented aunt, Nedjma, to find her mother.

Airdates: No airdates currently scheduled.

Directed by Mehdi Charef

Arabic and French with English subtitles               
Algeria, 2001, 101 minutes
 
Rallia, a young Swiss woman, returns home to her birthplace in Algeria hoping to find her mother, Keltoum. She meets a weathered old man who she learns is her grandfather (Brahim Ben Salah), who warmly welcomes her and tells her that her mother works far away in a luxury resort, but that she returns home each Friday. Rallia also meets her aunt Nedjma (Baya Belal) who is mentally challenged and ostracized by the community. Waiting for her mother to return, Rallia tries to participate in the family’s daily life and encounters the hardships of the desert. Finally, she decides she can no longer wait, and sets out on a trek into the desert with Nedjma to find her mother.

About the Director
Mehdi Charef was born in 1952 in Maghnia, Algeria, where he lived until his family left in the early 1960s to live in France, where he was trained as a mechanic and worked in a factory. In 1983, his first novel Le Thé au Harem d’Archimède (“Tea in the Harem”) was published. The book was soon optioned by filmmaker Constantin Costa-Gavras and made into a film, winning a César, the Jean Vigo and SOS Racisme prizes, the Silver Hugo in Chicago, and the Special Jury Prize at the Madrid International Film Festival. Charef’s own films, La Maison d’Alexina (1999) and Pigeon vole (1996), were adapted from his novels of the same name. Medhi Charef currently lives in France and continues his work as a novelist and filmmaker.

LEARN MORE:

More information about Link's Global Lens series.

Visit the Global Film Initiative.

Buy Daughter of Keltoum here.

For educational resources regarding Daughter of Keltoum (Bent Keltoum) please click here.