Horror story of Nour, a single mother accused of witchcraft

Tonight at 9.20pm, for the first time on television, Rai 4 will broadcast the film Hood Witch-Roqya. This film is marked by the directorial debut of the French-Algerian Saïd Belktibia. Presented in the ACID section of the Cannes Film Festival, the horror-thriller film tells the story of Nour, a single mother from the Parisian suburbs who survives by smuggling exotic animals and managing an app to connect people in the neighborhood with healers. When a client dies during a ritual, Nour is accused of witchcraft and falls into a vortex of fear and suspicion, trying to defend her son and understand who is framing her.

In the protagonist role of Hood Witch-Roqya there is Golshifteh Farahani, a leading interpreter of international cinema (Exodus, Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge), supported by Denis Lavant and Jérémy Ferrari. The screenplay, written by Belktibia with Louis Penicaut, moves between urban realism and mystical suggestions, fusing thriller and social drama in a story about marginality and superstition. Produced in France by Iconoclast Films and Lyly Films, with the participation of Ladj Ly, the film had a run at international festivals – from Sitges to SXSW – where it was noted for its visual intensity and for Farahani’s performance, defined as “magnetic” by critics.

Hood Witch-Roqya uses the thriller form to tell the vulnerability of those who live on the margins and the fragility of a society that confuses faith, fear and prejudice, transforming the news into a modern witch hunt.