Silent Storms

Mysterious yellow dust brings back the dead in this Algerian low-fi sci-fi romance This sleek, low-fi dystopia builds upon the grief and bloodshed from the Algerian Civil War and the Black Decade of 1992-2002 to tell the story of Nacer, a journalist puzzled by a strange yellow dust shrouding a small village and its inhabitants. Initially inexplicably drawn to the phenomenon, the veteran writer sees it become personal when the yellow dust brings back his late wife from death, still preserved as a young woman and unaware of her untimely demise. In this ambitious feature debut, Dania Reymond-Boughenou plays with genre tropes to paint a modern ghost story of great political (and romantic) resonance as a grieving man is faced with an impossible decision.

Isra Al Kassi