Omar La Fraise
Fall Grants 2019 - Production Stage
Elias Belkeddar / Feature Narrative / Algeria, France, Qatar / 90 min / Original Language: French / Interests: Comedy, Drama, Music, Identity
Synopsis
Omar Zerrouki, better known by his street name Omar la Fraise, is an old school gangster. Forced to flee from France to Algiers, he now lives off petty scams alongside with his sidekick Krimo. But the axe falls: the French courts sentence him to 20 years of jail time. To stay in Algiers, away from French prisons, Omar must now clean up his act. But so far he has known little else than a life of crime and violence: transitioning to normal human relations governed by a social contract and healthy communication will be easier said than done. Not to mention earning an honest living. Omar manages to find a job in a pastry factory. But quiet daily routine is not Omar’s way: deprived of the adrenaline of his former life, he relapses and starts mixing with a gang of violent kids from the streets of Algiers. Factory boss by day, thug by night: Omar thinks he has found some kind of balance to cope with this newfound life on the straight path… until he meets Samia. As he will discover, violence and petty crime are incompatible with love. The death of his friend Krimo will make him aware of his vital need for change. With the help of Samia, Omar will finally free himself.
Credits
- Director
- Elias Belkedar
- Screenwriter
- Elias Belkeddar, Jérôme Pierrat, Thomas Bidegain
- Producer
- Mourad Belkeddar, Yacine Medkour, Salem Brahimi
- Production Company
- Iconoclast Films
About the Director
Elias Belkeddar is a Franco-Algerian producer, director and writer. In the past five years, he has produced music videos, short films and feature films at Iconoclast Films. He co-wrote the first feature film of director Antoine de Bary ‘My Days of Glory’, which was screened at the Venice Film Festival in 2019. The film stars Vincent Lacoste and Emmanuelle Devos. In 2018, he directed his first short film ‘A Wedding Day’, selected at the 57th Semaine de la Critique where he won the Canal+ Award. The film was also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).