A Roundabout in My Head

A quietly profound slice of workers’ lives in and around an Algiers slaughterhouse, this documentary illuminates the entire region. Through gorgeously shot verité footage and (increasingly in the second half) one-on-one interviews, Hassen Ferhani offers fascinating interactions between people and the spaces they happen to occupy. With humor and candor, his subjects address what are often generationally specific issues: the plight of the Kabyle people (an ethnic minority in Algeria), the Arab Spring, migration to Europe… or how know you’re in love with a girl. Save for one scene, the film is safe for those made squeamish by animal death.