Director
Djamila Sahraoui
Cast list
Ouardia: Djamila Sahraoui
Le gardien: Samir Yahia
Ali: Ali Zarif
Credits
Producer: Antonin Dedet, Olivier Guerbois
Assistant Producer: Sophie Mauger
Cinematographer: Raphael O'Byrne
Film Editor: Catherine Gouze
First Assistant Director: Boris Vassallo
Production Manager: Ludovic Leiba
Supervising Sound Editor: Guillaume D'Ham
Foly Engineer/Sound Re-recording Mixer: Mathieu Langlet
Colorist: Alexandra Pocquet
Assistant Editor: Xavier Sirven
Translator: Jennifer Gay
Title Designer: Stephane Medez
Synopsis
Yema starts out with an elderly woman named Ouardia (played by Yema’s very own Djamila Sahraoui) draggin the lifeless body of her son home. She then proceeds to bury him only to be stopped by a one-armed man at gunpoint stating that only men are allowed to bury the dead. After a struggle, Ouardia proceeds to bury her son. The film then pans out to a civil war caused by Algeria’s government and fundamentalists. It is revealed that Ouardia’s son was killed by insurgents on the orders of his older brother Ali, who was also the one who sent the one-armed man to stop Ouardia from burying her son and has ordered him to keep her prisoner at her own home. The film takes an emotional rollercoaster as Ouardia tends to her garden as a way to rebuild her life.
Reviews
Weissberg, Jay. ‘Yema’ Variety (online magazine)
Barlet, Oliver. Yema by Djamila Sahraoui (review). Black Camera, Volume 5, Number 1 (Fall 2013)