Family, Youth, Dream: Films by Halima Ouardiri and Ryuji Otsuka & Huang Ji

玲玲的花园 Lingling's Garden
Ryuji Otsuka/Huang Ji, China 2009, 58 Min.  

Mokhtar
Halima Ouardiri, Canada/Morocco 2010, 16 Min.

Clebs 
Halima Ouardiri, Canada 2020, 18 Min.

Lingling's Garden is the story of a pupil named Lingling who is always late. One summer, her class plans to go mountain climbing. But Lingling can only go if she can overcome her constant lateness. One night, she sees an advertisement about a magic pillow. But it’s too expensive. Her mother doesn’t let her buy it, so she finally decides to make her own magic pillow. Mokhtar tells the story of a young boy in a remote Moroccan village. One day he adopts a fallen owl, even though owls are considered a bad omen. Clebs shows the routine of a stray dog shelter in Morocco. Time seems to stand still for the large number of animals waiting to be adopted. The short film creates socio-political parallels under the burning North African sun.