Variety has reported that French sales outfit Alpha Violet has acquired the rights for Roqia, an Algerian horror film written and directed by Yanis Koussim. The horror movie appears to be Koussim's feature film debut and will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
In 1993, a car crash leaves Ahmed with amnesia. He returns to his village where nothing seems familiar. His youngest child, disturbed by Ahmed’s fully bandaged face, harbors a deep fear of him.Each night, mysterious visitors torment Ahmed, whispering litanies in an incomprehensible language. Who are these strange figures? And why does his so-called friend, the neighbor, make him feel so uneasy?In the present day, an aging Raqi, a Muslim exorcist, struggles with Alzheimer’s disease. His forgetfulness and erratic behavior alarm his disciple. As violence intensifies in the city and the possessed speak in an unknown tongue, the disciple begins to fear the worst.While Ahmed, in the past, dreads regaining his memory, the disciple, in the present, fears that his master’s decline will unleash an ancient evil.
The multi time period set up is intriguing, for sure, specifically setting part of their film during Algeria's Black Decade, a time of civil war in the country. It is to give Algerians an opportunity to revisit the past, and outsiders like myself the opportunity to learn more about that time period.
Koussim said: “I grew up during Algeria’s bloody 1990s, and the trauma and fear from that time still linger beneath the surface of daily life. With ‘Roqia,’ I use horror, grounded in realism and memory, as a tool to confront that past, preserve it, and ensure it is never forgotten.”
Also, if you look up a definition of the word roqia, you will find information about an exorcism ritual for the purpose of expelling jinns. Neat.