The activities of the 13th edition of the Malmö Arab Film Festival in Sweden concluded with the award of the film’s heroine, the Algerian actress “Sola Bahri”, with the award for best actress in the festival.
The events of “Sola” revolve around the story of a young Algerian girl who gave birth to a child out of wedlock, and found herself with her daughter, expelled from the family home, trying to find a place to hide on a dark night.
The film is produced by Esaad Film Production, and it is the first fictional work in the director’s path. It has previously won eight out of 14 awards after participating in the international “Final Cut” program organized by the Venice Film Festival.
Amid the distinguished presence of Arab filmmakers in Malmö, the feature film jury, which included Egyptian director Hani Lashin, Lebanese actor Georges Khabbaz, Syrian actor Jamal Suleiman, Saudi actress Ahed Kamal and Moroccan producer Rachida Saadi, expressed their admiration for the Algerian film, which entered the official competition. Which included 31 feature films from 14 Arab countries.
Promising exit bet
Sola is considered one of the most prominent Algerian independent films, which dealt with a tale inspired by a true story with intensified close-up scenes; Filmed inside the cars, it highlights the scenes of oppression experienced by this young single mother in a conservative and ruthless society.
Director Esaad Salah told Sky News Arabia: “I decided to make the film revolve in one night, and the script scenes were inspired by the true story experienced by the film’s heroine, Sola Bahri.”
The film falls under the category of road movies, and the director confirmed that his goal is to make the events take place in twelve hours inside the cars, in order to focus on the features of the characters closely and the psychological conflict that was taking place between the heroes of the film (acting by actor Idir Ben Aibouche, Actor Djilali Boudjemaa, actress Amina Belabed).
real heroine
In order to bring the viewer closer to the truth and give the work greater credibility, the director decided to give the title role to the original character, Sola Bahri, and did not use an actress to play this role, although he had many options.
In this regard, the heroine of the story, Sola Bahri, explained to Sky News Arabia that the film is part of her story, with the cruelty of life that unforgiving those who make mistakes, and she hopes that people will not view all women as culprits, but as victims of society.
“Sometimes we are victims of misfortune, escape is not easy and people’s feelings are fatal, and this is a difficult night in the life of a single mother,” Sola said.
The heroine of the film stressed that the goal of this type of work, which puts viewers in the midst of heaps of influential feelings, aims to push them towards sympathy, awareness and thinking about many things that happen in society and not to comment on them in silence.
Sola’s coronation comes at a time when independent cinema in Algeria still suffers from many difficulties and obstacles.
The former director of Cinematheque Algeria, critic Salim Aqar, confirmed that this type of film still faces many challenges, both at the level of support and local celebration.
Agar said, “Algerian cinema’s view of independent cinema is still unclear, whether in Algerian cinemas or during the administration’s dealings with directors of this type of film when it comes to granting work and filming visas.”
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