Masquerades

Comedy, France/Algeria 2008, 92 min, Arabic with English subtitles

Mounir is the laughing stock of his entire village on the edge of the Rif Mountains of the Sahara because his sister Rym is always falling asleep. Naturally, everybody thinks she is doomed to a life as a spinster because of her illness. One day, on a drunken binge, he boasts that a rich man from the city has asked for her hand, setting in motion a chain of lies and absurd situations. And it all could have been so easy: Rym is already as good as engaged with Mounir’s best friend. Then again, it’s not about her … . In his debut as a director, actor Lyes Salem, who also plays a leading role in “Masquerades“, addresses the restrictions imposed on women in Algeria with a healthy dose of irony. The film won awards at the International Film Festival in Cairo, the Journées Cinématographiques de Carthage in Tunis and the Tribeca Film Festival.