Mina no longer goes to the beach to play with her friends.She has disappeared.Her father keeps her under lock and key, away from the prying eyes of the rest of the world. Mina is pregnant. Her lover can no longer “make up” for what happened. Mina has killed him and buried his corpse on the beach, under a mountain of salt. Her father keeps her locked up, but his love for his daughter simply grows. His second wife, considered to be stérile, now avenges herself by showing off her pregnancy about the town. Hearing the frightening screams which corne from the abandoned villa, the inhabitants of the small village on the cliffs overlooking the sea begin to lose their patience. When the secrets which must be held hidden are too overbearing, the screams in the night become suffocating. Neither the law of tradition nor her father’s love are sufficient to make Mina change her mind. When her child is born, she will find the strength to shout her version of the truth to the reste of the town.
“I wanted to tell a universal story that touches the heart of everyone regardless of their culture or origin. Concealment is not specific to the Arab tradition; the fear of scandal is shared by all societies. What interests me is the secret, the one between the daughter and the father, the one of the
the one between the daughter and the father, the one of the mother-in-law, the one of the inhabitants of the village who are involved in smuggling.
The sea is a secret, salt breathes a secret. While Arab cinema is rather talkative, I chose sobriety to bring the audience back to the essential, the truth of the characters.
I am a frustrated painter and a frustrated writer. Through the cinema, I bring together painting and writing. – Jillali Ferhati
