Houria

Mounia Meddour:  الحرية / Houria (DZ/BE/FR 2022) with Lyna Khoudri as Houria.

الحرية

    2022

Badass / Identity / Female Stories / Art / Dance House Helsinki

Theme: African Express

Country: Algeria, Belgium, France

Director: Mounia Meddour

Screenplay: Mounia Meddour

Starring: Lyna Khoudri, Rachida Brakni, Nadia Kaci, Hilda Amira Douaouda, Meriem Medjkane

Production: Xavier Gens, Grégoire Gensollen, Patrick André, Mounia Meddour / The Ink Connection, High Sea Production

Duration: 98 min

Rating: K16

Pannuhalli, Dance House Helsinki, Kaapelitehdas, Love & Anarchy: Helsinki International Film Festival (HIFF), 13 Sep 2023

Omar Fasolah (HIFF 2023): " Jokaisella on vapaus valita suhtautumisensa elämään ja vastoinkäymisiin. Vapautta päähenkilön arabiankielinen nimikin tarkoittaa. "

" Houria kertoo kunnianhimoisesta tanssijasta, joka siivoustyönsä lomassa haaveilee urasta Algerian kansallisbaletissa. Hänen toinen suuri haaveensa on ostaa äidilleen auto, jota varten hän kerää rahaa lyömällä vetoa öisin järjestettävissä eläintappeluissa. Kun Houria saa vihdoin tarvittavan summan kasaan, hänen peräänsä lähtee hävinnyt vedonlyöjä, joka vaatii saada rahansa takaisin. Raivostunut mies käy hänen kimppuunsa ja jättää hänet tajuttomana kadulle makaamaan. Herätessään sairaalassa Houria ei pysty enää puhumaan eikä liiemmin tanssimaankaan. Sisukas nainen kieltäytyy hylkäämästä unelmiaan ja taistelee toipuakseen. Kuntoutuksen aikana hän tapaa muita kovia kokeneita naisia, joiden kanssa hän voittaa vaikeudet. Kaunis selviytymistarina ylistää yhteistyötä. "

" Esikoisohjauksellaan Papicha (R&A 2019) hurmannut Mounia Meddour on kuvannut yleismaailmallisen tarinan, jossa samalla sivutaan algerialaisen yhteiskunnan ajankohtaisia kysymyksiä siirtolaisuudesta aina islamistitaistelijoiden armahduksiin. Tanssielokuvan soundtrack saattaa olla festivaalin menevin. " Omar Fasolah

Quoted by HIFF 2023:  " An aspiring ballet dancer is forced to change the course of her life when she’s attacked on her way home one night in Houria, a drama bursting with female energy and power (…) In some ways it feels like part two of director Mounia Meddour’s notable Papicha, which won a French César for best first feature and was selected as Algeria’s 2020 Oscar submission. " Deborah Young, The Film Verdict

" Meddour’s second feature film peers even further behind the vigorous snapshot of the place occupied by women (notably youngsters) in Algerian society which the director offered up in Papicha (the film-revelation of the 2019 Cannes Film Festival). Hers is an in-depth examination at the crossroads of realism and expressive symbolism, which is filtered through the body by way of dance (…) "

" Focusing on striking visual angles centring on the body, great camera proximity, the expressiveness of gestures (sign language) and faces (along the lines of Marie-Claude Pietragalla’s work La danse, théâtre du corps, which Houria is reading), and the intensity of the night/day opposition, Mounia Meddour delivers a touching story and offers a wonderful role to her brilliant lead actress. " Fabien Lemercier, Cineuropa

Language: Arabic, French

Subtitles: Finnish

Distribution: Angel Films

Print source: Angel Films

Cinematography: Léo Lefèvre

Editing: Damien Keyeux

Music: Yasmine Meddour, Maxence Dussere

Sound: Olivier Ronval

Production design: Chloé Cambournac

Costume design: Charlène Bouyer

In collaboration with Tanssin talo / Think Africa / Ubuntu Film Club

AA: A powerful, tragic, sensual, passionate story of Houria, a brilliant Algerian dancer who is fatally injured during a furious chase and assault by an ex-terrorist-turned robber. Her leg is broken, she is invalidized, she loses her power of speech, and her beautiful face is bruised and battered. Back in the starting block, she has to relearn from scratch to move and communicate.

An account of the joy of dance and a tale of painful rehabilitation where Houria enables and empowers a community of woman to new levels and dimensions of expression. 

Her best friend Sabrina dreams of escape from Algeria to Alicante on Spanish territory but is drowned during the night crossing in a rubber boat in the Mediterranian. 

There is an electrifying tension in the movie between the life-affirming and joyful community of the women and the violent desolation of the male-dominated society. Even the police force, including its female commanders, and the formidable female experts in medical profession have been cowed and intimidated to resignation in the face of male terror and abuse.