Algeria, France and Lebanon / 2016 / 20mins / Comedy / Arabic, French and Italian

Hocine Filali is a forty-something year old taxi driver in the port city of Algiers. His day-to-day routine has him snaking through thick morning traffic, bustling boulevards, and the occasional military checkpoint. In the distance, the sound of the call to prayer mixes with the crash of ocean waves as they bring word of what life might be like elsewhere, across the ocean, in Italy.

Jonathan Mason

Based in New York and Philadelphia, Jonathan Mason earned his M.F.A from Columbia University, and served as Creative Director for New York’s Belladonna Productions (Cold in July, Dhuktar) and Bullet Pictures (4:44 Last Day on Earth). His short film, L’échappée (2016), co-directed with Hamid Saïdji, has played at forty festivals in seventeen countries and is a recipient of the Canal+ Short Film Prize. The screenplay for the feature version of the film was selected for the Sundance Institute's Screenwriting Intensive in Philadelphia, in addition to winning the ATLFF Pilot Screenplay Competition in 2018 for the pilot The Order. Learn More

Hamid Saïdji

Hamid Saïdji earned his MFA in film from Columbia University in New York and has created non-fiction and narrative media in Europe, North Africa, and the United States. In Algiers, Hamid founded Midafilms, which produced commercials and documentaries. He also directed the short Not in the Mood, which played at the International Mediterranean Festival, Tangiers. Hamid co-wrote Houria which won best short film at the International Arab World Film Festival, Oran. His film, L’échappée, co-directed with Jonathan Mason, has played at thirty festivals in twelve countries and is a recipient of the Canal+ Short Film Prize. The screenplay for the feature version of the film was selected for the Sundance Institute's Screenwriting Intensive in Philadelphia. Learn More