THE TRIAL GARDEN

In a tropical-like park in Algiers, Samir, a young director, helps his actors rehearse. His next movie tells the tale of young people of a besieged city. While they are working, the film crew is faced with the same questions as their characters.

Obstacles to filmmaking become the seeds for new forms of creativity in this hybrid film. Set beneath the boughs of lush trees in Algiers’ Botanical Garden, Dania Reymond-Boughenou’s meta-commentary on the state of new North African cinema intertwines fairytale and documentary to wondrous ends.