Sherianne Bekhti

In the 1980s, a family of Algerian origin set off from Parisian Suburb Asnières-sur-Seine in France towards Marseille to take the ferry to Algeria. Lydia is spending her first summer without her big sister, who has just gotten married. The father promises his children that they will discover a wonderful country that he has always been homesick for. In the rickety vehicle they are travelling in, there is an atmosphere of joy and excitement, freedom and nostalgia. But the mood in the small, cramped van quickly turns negative as the father becomes more and more annoyed and patriarchal the closer they get to their destination.

Between 2009 and 2011, I filmed and edited Nassim Lachhab's very first skateboarding videos in Rabat, Morocco. In 2020, after having lived in France and Spain, Nassim became the first Moroccan and African professional skater in history. Ever since then, I kept wondering: What had it been like for Nassim to rise to the forefront of the international skate scene, all the while wrestling with the challenges of immigration? In what way did his groundbreaking trajectory resonate with the current state of Morocco's skate scene?