Directed by Nadja Anane
Imagine an oasis: there it is in the desert, a thousand years old but forgotten. A grain of sand in the universe. This oasis is Figuig. Once a hub of Saharan trade, Figuig was cut in two when France traced (sliced?) the border between Morocco and Algeria in 1903. The border also drew a line between two generations, and put an end to millennia of oral transmission. Director Nadja Anane carries on this tradition of storytelling using 21st-century technology. In a beautiful and uniquely personal blend of archival footage and experimental visualization, Anane’s feature essay/documentary retells (imagines?) the history of Figuig. Berber music intensifies the drama revealed in interviews Anane conducts with family members in both France and Morocco, including with her grandfather Boualem, who died at the age of 104, and was considered one of ‘the memories of the oasis’.
A director and writer, with extensive experience as a cinematographer, Nadja Anane has an atypical career path that has brought her into contact with both the young and offbeat worlds of the web and platforms, and the more traditional worlds of Fémis and the CNC, the National Cinema of France. After gaining recognition as part of the collectives Golden Moustache and Studio Bagel, whose videos have garnered millions of views, she then directed television series, mainly fiction, including Like Me (12x26), a series broadcast on France 4 and Belgian and Swiss television, and Les Impunis, broadcast on Canal+. She has also directed documentaries, including the series Digital Revolution, and How I Hacked My Intestines. Among her other active activities, Nadja was a featured guest on the podcast SheCannes, and a creator as well as mentor for the "#Ellesfontyoutube" residency. She is also a member of the CNC's Short Film Production Support Committee.
