ROQIA - FRESH BLOOD AWARD

After a serious accident, Ahmed returns to his family like a figure from a nightmare: his face is completely bandaged - and his memory erased. Then a voice in a foreign language whispers incantations in his ear, and a dark secret from his past resurfaces. Thirty years later, two experienced demon exorcists are confronted with a series of inexplicable outbreaks of violence. Is there a connection between Ahmed's fate and the current disturbing events?

With his feature film debut, Yanis Koussim develops his very own vision of the exorcism genre; eerie, fascinatingly different and bursting with mysticism. He takes his time to develop his characters and imperceptibly draws us deeper and deeper into the spell of a story about guilt and possession, the final force of which is reminiscent of WHEN EVIL LURKS.

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After an accident, Ahmed returns home completely bandaged and having lost his memory. A voice in a foreign language begins to whisper to him, and a dark secret from the past comes to the surface. Thirty years later, two experienced exorcists are confronted with a series of cases of violence. With his feature film debut, Yanis Koussim develops his own unique vision of the exorcism genre: eerie, fascinatingly different, and brimming with mysticism.

Film: Roqia (Algeria, France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia 2025)
Director: Yanis Koussim
Starring: Ali Namous, Akram Djeghim, Mostefa Djadjam, Hanaa Mansour, Lydia Hanni, Abdelkrim Derradji
Screenplay: Yanis Koussim
Duration: 89 min
Language version: Arabic OmeU

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