Director: Narjiss Nejjar

Apatride

Henia will give anything to mend her broken past and find her mother, from whom she has been separated since the conflict between Morocco and Algeria during the Black Demonstration of 1975. After being given an opportunity to assist an elderly blind man, she accepts the offer and eventually finds herself agreeing to marry him. For Henia, this is a chance to get the necessary papers for her return to Algeria. For the old man, it’s a chance to start over. For his son, it is a disgrace.

Cry No More

Moroccan filmmaker Narjiss Nejjar makes her feature debut with the drama Cry No More. Former prostitute Mina (Raouia) is released from prison after a 25-year sentence. Bus driver Fahd (Khalid Benchegra) returns her to the isolated Berber village of prostitutes. Because the only men allowed in are customers, Fahd pretends to be Mina's son. Fahd falls for Mina's angry daughter, Hala (Siham Assif), who wants to stop the village curse. Hala has a daughter of her own, Zinba Rafiqua Belhaj, who's about to undergo a traditional loss-of-virginity ritual. As she forms a plan to stop the sex work-cycle, Mina doesn't let Hala know her real identity, although the village elders in the mountain cliffs remember her. Cry No More was shown during the Director's Fortnight at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.