Hocine Filali is a forty-something taxi driver in the port city of Algiers. His day-to-day routine has him snaking through thick morning traffic, bustling boulevards, and the occasional military checkpoint. In the distance, the sound of the call to prayer mixes with the crash of ocean waves as they bring word of what life might be like elsewhere, across the bay, in Italy.
You see, Hocine is a dreamer.

An amateur photographer whose skills are well known from the alleys of the Casbah to the big boulevards downtown, it seems as though everyone knows who he is. And for a good story, or a nice bottle of Italian wine, Hocine will take the most amazing portrait for you to hang proudly on your wall. Hocine's sister Safia, however, has been pushing for him for years to set sail for Europe where he might bloom and live a glamorous dream in the name of all those back home less talented, or less fortunate. But sunrise after sunrise, hocine watches the ferries leaving Algiers' harbor without him.
As his ramshackle taxi drives past the port in search of a passenger, perhaps this will be the day he finally sets sail.

A film by Hamid Saïdji and Jonathan Mason

Algeria, 2016, Fiction, 20 mins, Drama/ Comedy

starring Mouni Bouallam, Samir Saidani, Moussa Chikh, Saïd Aït Ali Saïd, Anis Bossli, Tewfik Rays

Producers
Tewfik Rays (Une chambre à soi productions),
Claire Mazeau Karoum (Une chambre à soi productions),
Jonathan Mason (Maji Films),
Hamid Saidji (Maji Films)

Directors
Jonathan Mason, Hamid Saidji

Screenwriters
Hamid Saidji, Jonathan Mason

Director of Photography
Hamza Sahraoui

Sound Artistic Director
Elliot Thompson

Music
Aniss Bosli

Editor
Jonathan Mason

Mixing
Elliot Thompson

CAST
Mouni Bouallam,
Samir Saidani,
Moussa Chikh,
Saïd Aït Ali Saïd,
Anis Bossli,
Tewfik Rays

Production
Une Chambre à soi Productions
Majï Films

with support from
Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC),
Institut Français d'Alger
Rowan University

PRIX / AWARDS
- Prix Canal+ Court-Métrages - Cinemed 2016
- AFAC Cinema Grant.
- Cultural Development Grant from Institut Français d'Algerie.
- Rowan University Seed Grant