My Josephine. 2003. USA. Written and directed by Barry Jenkins. DCP. In Arabic, English; English subtitles. 9 min.
Wesh wesh, qu’est-ce qui se passe ? (Wesh, Wesh, What’s Happening?). 2001. France. Directed by Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche. Screenplay by Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche, Madjid Benaroudj. With Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche, Ahmed Hammoudi, Brahim Ameur-Zaïmeche. DCP. In French, Arabic; English subtitles. 83 min.
In his extraordinary directorial debut, Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche stars as Kamel, a young man who returns to the outskirts of Paris after serving a five-year prison sentence in Algeria and being banned from living in France for two years. Shot on low-resolution digital video, Wesh, Wesh, What’s Happening? eschews sensationalism to deliver one of the most truthful, sensitive portrayals of the immigrant experience, its marginalized multicultural territories, and the sense of alienation among those who inhabit them. In his student short film My Josephine, written shortly after 9/11, Barry Jenkins follows two young people—Aadid and Adela—who work night shifts in a laundromat washing American flags while discussing their unconfessed love in Arabic.