ŽUTA KUĆA / La maison jaune
/ The Yellow House

Algeria, France
2007 / 87’ / 35mm

Directed by:
Amor Hakkar

Written by:
Amor Hakkar

Producer:
Celine Brotons

Cast:
Aya Hamdi, Amor Hakkar, Tounés Ait-Ali

Awards:
Valencia Film Festival, best film Locarno Film
Locarno Film Festival, oecumenical jury award.

Distribution:
SARAH FILMS
25000 Besancon
contact@sarah-films.fr
tel. +33 3 81 47 22 72
FAX +33 3 81 80 27 80

In a little mountain village in East Algeria a little girl Alya finds out that her brother Belkacem was killed in an accident. Their father Mouloud, a poor farmer, gets on his tractor and drives to the city of Batna to bring his son’s body home. When he gets to the morgue he is not allowed to take his son’s body, but he takes it anyway. Mouloud returns home and finds his wife Fatima grieving. Trying to cheer her up he takes an advice from the local pharmacist and paints their house yellow. He also gets her a dog but that doesn’t help either. Mouloud remembers a video tape their son made for them. He decides to show it to his wife so he buys a TV and a VCR. The only problem is there is no electricity.

Beautiful shots of nature dominate this simple story and capture the melancholy of the situation. Seclusion of the mountain gives a sense of tranquillity and hope despite the loss and desperation.

Amor Hakkar is a French director born in Algeria in 1958. He studied Science but later in his life discovered a passion for filmmaking. Bad Weather for a Crook (1992) was his first full-length feature film. After a long break his homeland became his inspiration. After visiting Aures, a region in east Algeria in 2002, he made a documentary and later wrote a script for Yellow House. Yellow House has been shown on numerous festivals including the one in Rotterdam and in Locarno, Switzerland where he won the Ecumenical Jury Prize.