Alpha Tango Studio

Up bright and early with their pet in tow, Zohra Bouderbala and her five children are heading to the beach. This is not a drill! In Algiers, the coveted front row spot waits for no one, but it’s not this family’s first time having to beat the summer seaside crowds. The unmotivated and out-of-luck masses who arrive too late will be left to a viewless laze in the sun, the alleged horizon blocked by a fortress of parasols and flowing canopies.

Kabylie, in the north of Algeria, is a region where Berber culture is still very much alive. The residents know that life can be hard, but last summer was exceptional: fires reduced entire hillsides to ashes, and even ancient olive trees perished.

Salim, a young bookseller in Oran, discovers a black-and-white photo torn in two of a woman with a mysterious smile inside a vinyl record. He pieces the two halves of the image back together, a fragment from the past, and places it beside him as a witness to his future encounters.