Papicha

Papicha (2019) is an Algerian-French drama directed by Mounia Meddour — watch it online on iFILM. Lina Khoudri plays Nedjma, an 18-year-old fashion student living in a university dorm in Algiers as the country slides deeper into civil war violence.

Armed Islamist groups patrol the streets and target women who refuse to cover up. Nedjma pushes back the only way she knows how: she and her friends — Wassila, Samira and Kahina — plan a fashion show inside the dormitory, sewing dresses from curtain fabric, rehearsing in secret, putting everything on the line. Not for a grade. For the right to exist on their own terms.

The film took the Caméra d'Or jury prize at Cannes 2019 (Critics' Week) and went on as Algeria's submission for the Academy Awards international feature shortlist. Meddour drew directly from her own generation's experience of the "Black Decade." The result lands harder than a political statement — it's a portrait of defiance that feels entirely personal. Stream Papicha (2019) online on iFILM.