Directors Adila Bendimerad and Damien Ounouri share directing credits for Kindil, a mid-length feature that threads battles, politics and personal ambition across a vivid historical landscape.
Artists lined up include Adila Bendimerad, Dali Benssalah, and Imen Nouel, with Bendimerad also taking a central acting role alongside a dynamic ensemble that brings the era to life through expressive performances.
Year: 2022
Premiere: 8/11/23
★★
French-Algerian filmmaker Damien Ounori and Algerian performer Adila Bendimerad teamed up to co-write the mid-length film Kindil, a project born from a shared passion for history retold through contemporary eyes. Set on a shoreline where the sea seems to swallow the living, the film crystallizes a moment of upheaval and transformation. Ounouri not only directs but also acts, guiding the action with a confident hand, while Bendimerad steps into a dual role as writer and lead performer. The collaboration carries a pedigree that spans Algeria, Taiwan, and France, and the production palette reflects a bold international cooperation. The result is a cinematic undertaking that embraces large-scale sequences, a crew of extras, and battle scenes that aim to recapture the texture of a distant past while grounding it in present-day sensibilities.
At its center, Kindil tells a candid, sometimes blunt story about ambition, political intrigue, loyalty, and betrayal. Bendimerad embodies Zephira, the last queen referenced in the title, holding court in Algiers during 1516. The narrative opens as Barbarossa, a pirate figure whose exploits reshape the regional order, frees the kingdom from Spanish domination only to seize the opportunity to topple the Algerian king and press for control. Yet Zephira refuses to bow to the obvious power plays. She negotiates, allies, and manipulates where necessary, pursuing a path that might save the country and protect her son, even as she navigates suspicion and danger. The film is inherently political and feminist, presenting a historical epic that also acts as a reflective commentary on power, gender, and resistance. The production’s grandeur invites debate about scope and spectacle, while the human drama invites reflection on contemporary issues—an ongoing dialogue that the images themselves struggle to settle and that keeps audiences thinking long after the credits roll. This tension between a sweeping historical panorama and intimate, modern-day interpretation lies at the heart of Kindil, making it a work that seeks to bridge eras while remaining fiercely relevant to today’s conversations about leadership, autonomy, and national identity. The combination of epic visuals and a pointed social lens invites audiences to reconsider how history is told, who tells it, and which voices rise to the surface when a culture looks back on its past to define its future. With Zephira at the center, the film tests loyalties, questions the cost of alliance, and invites viewers to witness a queen’s resolve as she navigates the treacherous currents of conquest and reform. The result is a cinematic fresco that thrives on bold production choices and a provocative, contemporary reading that keeps the debate alive beyond the screen.