The patient ones are rewarded in this stern second film by the former photographer Teguia. He focuses on a remote corner of his Algeria plagued by backwardness, war and fundamentalism. Urban topographer, lonely in the endless Sahara, meets an African woman who is even further from home.

With his second feature, after Rome Rather Than You (2006), Tariq Teguia proves himself to be the most important new director in Algeria. The film was screened at the Venice Film Festival while still in digital form. In Inland, he links two important causes of alienation: the influence of terror on local populations and the migration of men without prospects.
The intriguing protagonist is the topographer Malek, who takes on a surveying job in a remote region of Algeria. He moves into a sober base camp in the desert and is viewed suspiciously by the local population and the authorities. His isolated position improves slightly when he finds a friend among the farmers, who have returned to their village after being chased away by Islamic fundamentalists. Yet his position is vulnerable and the surroundings are dangerous thanks to the many minefields.
Teguia creates a sharp contrast between Malek's former urban intellectual surroundings and the barren, unpredictable Sahara, where silence predominates. When explosions are suddenly heard at night, Malek discovers he is not the only stranger. An African woman flees to his hut. Malek decides to help her, but she chooses an unusual route. Teguia films sparsely, hard and yet not heartlessly, with a firm hand. He strips human adventures of romance. Reduced to the core, they become grand, lonely odysseys. (GT, Rotterdam Film Festival 2009)


Algeria / France, 140'

with
Abdelkader Affak, Ines Rose Djakou, Ahmed Benaïssa, Fethi Ghares, Kouider Medjahed, Djalila Kadi-Hanifi


Director: Tariq Teguia
Producers: Yacine Teguia, Phillipe Carcassonne
Scenario: Tariq Teguia, Yacine Teguia
Photography: Nasser Medjkane, Hacène Aït Kaci
Editor: Rodolphe Molla, Andrée Davanture
Length: 138'

PRODUZIONE/PRODUCTION:
Mr Yacine TEGUIA
Neffa Films (ALGER)

COPRODUZIONE/CO-PRODUCTION:
Mr Phillipe Carcassonne
Cine@ (PARIS)

_________________


regie: Tariq Teguia | ALG/F 2008 | 140 min | OmeU

Der Landvermesser Malek nimmt einen Job im westlichen Algerien an. Im Basiscamp angekommen, hört er in der Nacht Explosionen und findet heraus, dass sich ausgerechnet in der Nähe ein Minenfeld befindet. Er trifft auf eine junge Afrikanerin, die nicht mehr in den Norden fliehen sondern in den Süden zurückkehren will.


FESTIVALS / AWARDS / SCREENINGS

2009 | Festival du film Francophone de Tübingen | TÜBINGEN-STUTTGART, Germany
* Selection Wettbewerb (World Competition)