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THE ROOFTOPS

ES-STOUH (LES TERRASSES)

By Merzak ALLOUACHE

Drama - Completed 2013

From dawn till dusk, paced by the calls to prayer, a surprising crowd wanders about on the rooftops of Algiers. Closed spaces, that have become open air mirrors to the contradictions, the violence, the intolerance of the endless conflicts that mar the Algerian society.

- Year of production
- 2013
- Genres
- Drama
- Countries
- ALGERIA, FRANCE
- Languages
- ARABIC
- Director(s)
- Merzak ALLOUACHE
- Writer(s)
- Merzak ALLOUACHE
- Cast
- Adila BENDIMERAD, Nassima BELMIHOUB, Ahcene BENZERARI, Aïssa CHOUAT, Mourad KHEN, Myriam AIT EL HADJ, Akhram DJEGHIM
- Producer(s)
- Merzak ALLOUACHE (Baya Films), Marianne DUMOULIN (JBA Production), Jacques BIDOU (JBA Production)
- Synopsis
- Algiers. An overcrowded city, with its endless traffic jams, its chaotic crowd, its rundown buildings, its old apartments piled up with families trying to survive...
  In this suffocating city, the rooftops, progressively transformed into living spaces, they too, over time, become effervescent spaces where smiles cross the hurt, life and death.
  The Casbah, Bab el Oued, Belcourt, Notre-Dame d’Afrique, Telemly.
  Five historic neighborhoods of the Algerian capital.
  Five rooftops beautifully open to the city, the bay, the sea, and the horizon far away.
  Five stories independent of each other, that mingle and clash in the span of one day. From dawn till night, paced by the five calls to prayer coming from the numerous mosques of the city.
  Hamoud, Adlan, Halim, Layla, Larbi, Selouma, Aïcha, Assia, Neïla, Hakim, Branki, Krimo, Akli, Cheikh Lamine, Hadj Mouloud and all those who surround them have no fear of heights, all are busy trying to solve their inextricable problems.
  «The rooftops», with its multiple tales playing out in this natural space, both private and public, is an open air mirror, ruthless, of the contradictions, the violence, the intolerance, the conflicts acting out and bringing down Algerian society.