Staff Writer
An Algerian film — The Last Queen — will bring the curtain down on the International Images Film Festival on 2 December 2023.
Directed by Adila Bendimarad the film will be the highlight at the closing and awards ceremony of the 20th edition.
The event is scheduled to start at 1700 hours.
The Last Queen (2022) is an exciting Arab take on a classic historical epic, with all the grandeur, thrilling swordplay and sumptuous costuming we expect of the sword-and-sandals genre, given the fresh twist of a woman’s point of view.
Set in 1516, Algerian king Salim Toumi accepted the help of feared pirate Aroudj Barbarossa to liberate Algiers from Spanish occupation, only to die in mysterious circumstances in his own hammam once the city was secure.
The next day, Barbarossa proposed marriage to Salim’s Queen Zaphira, having already vowed to his crew that he intended to take Salim’s palace, horse and wife. Zaphira – who may or may not have existed but whose passion and determination became the stuff of legend – proved more than a match for him.
Adila Bendimarad, who plays Zaphira, co-directs with Damien Ounouri; the cast, drawn mainly from the theatre, use their stagecraft and linguistic skills to accentuate the film’s poetic language. The film is supported by the Red Sea Fund.
The IIFF 2023 ran under the theme: Women of Hope and it was supported by European Union through Culture Fund Trust of Zimbabwe, ICAPA Trust and Australian Embassy.
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