Make-Believe Horses

The film focuses on an ill-matched group of individuals who meet up in Tangier, all nursing hopeless dreams of going to Europe: Mohamed to see a horse race, Ali to have an operation to restore his sight, Fatima to rejoin her mother. Mohamed enters a fantasy world, pretending to his wife that he is already in Paris, and steals to pay for his visa. Ferhati creates a suffocating world, reminiscent in some ways of the French poetic realism of the 1930s: the enigmatic blind man, rain-swept and darkened streets, characters prevented from achieving their dreams, the opportunity to escape always in view but always just out of reach.

Directed by Jillali Ferhati, Make-Believe Horses leans on a strong ensemble — Souad Ferhati, Mohamed Timoud, Fatima Loukili — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about screen titles of 1995.