Algerian-French director Amine Adjina is presenting his new comedy at the 38 edition of RCC in Cannes

The Cannes Cinema Meetings-Les Rencontres Cinematographiques de Cannes is celebrating the 38 edition and taking place 17-23.11 in Cannes. While the organizers are describing the film festival as not beeing international, the selection it surely is. Just before the movies releases in France the films are screened in the 6 movie theaters of Cannes and Cannes La Bocca, giving cinephiles a rare chance of an avant premiere and even meeting the cast, directors or screenwriters of the films. In collaboration with majour distributors, the organizers are upstaging the best films from A-rated film festivals like Cannes itself, Venice or even Deauville, the famous film festival for American movies, independent aswell as majour Hollywood productions. 

And there are also series showcased like the popular and the Canal+ most successful French series "Validé" with one of the creators Charles Van Tieghem attending and taking his time after the screening of two episodes from season 3 for an intense Q&A.

On day 3 of the festival Algerian-French director and comedian Amine Adjina presented his debut film " La petite cuisine de Mehdi" to the Cannes audience. 

Mehdi is living a precariously balanced life: he pretends to be the perfect Algerian son to his mother Fatima while hiding his relationship with Léa and passion for French cuisine and wine, which he pursues by working as a chef in a bistro. When Léa can no longer tolerate his secrets and concealments and demands to meet her mother-in-law, Mehdi finds himself backed into a corner.h

This so entertaining comedy is a mix of love and cuisine, ethnicities and generations, flavours and feelings. The great actress Hiam Abbas, the greateast, herself of Palestinien originals is part of the cast. This film is marked by strong women, the director is breaking prejudices about the Arab woman, portrayting them as fierless, strong and independent.

During the afterwards Q&A the director stated:

My first film is both an act and a declaration of love. It is fuelled by desire, as is every creative act. My dual Algerian-French citizenship influences everything I write; perhaps that is why I wanted this love to also be dual, ambivalent, rooted in two cultures. Without otherness, there can be no transformation; I believe in encounters that have the power to transform, genuine encounters that demand otherness.

These days, however, we are becoming more insular: there is a severe lack of otherness. I am passionate about the world of cooking. It is a powerful cultural arena, which I even find to be cinematic, closely linked to affection and memory with its sensorial nature. It all adds up.