The Temple Woods Gang Le Gang des Bois du Temple
by Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche
World Premiere
Out of Competition 2022
Official synopsis
A retired military man lives in the Temple Woods housing project. Just as he’s burying his mother, his neighbour Bébé, who belongs to a gang of robbers from the area, is preparing to rob the convoy of a wealthy Arab prince...
In partnership with
The programmer’s eye
As if in a single stroke, “The Temple Woods Gang” draws an intense dramatic line with precious intensity. Yet it is in its back-and-forth movements, voluble gestures between geographies – from the Parisian suburbs to Marseille’s ring road, through the Bordeaux right bank – that the film comes to life. Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche invents a mythology for French banditry, which he places at the heart of a silent conflict between ungovernable people, and within a belief system inherited as much from Greek tragedy as from Rossellinian realism. If believing in God isn’t appealing, it is tempting to believe in Him.
Pierre Guidez
Biography and Filmography
Born in 1966 in Algeria, Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche arrived in France in 1968. He grew up in the Bosquets council estate in Montfermeil (Seine-St-Denis). After studying human sciences, he founded Sarrazink Productions in 1999. Since then, he has produced and directed seven films. His first film, “Wesh wesh, What’s Going on?” (2001) won the Louis-Delluc Prize, and he received the Youth Prize at the Cannes Film Festival for his second film, “Back Home” (2006). His following films proved very successful around festivals: Locarno in 2011 for “The Smugglers’ Songs” (Jean-Vigo Prize 2012) and Berlin in 2015 for “The Story of Judas”. He won the FIFIB Grand Prix for “South Terminal” in 2019.
2021 : THE TEMPLE WOODS GANG - Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche - Director and Screenwriter
2019 : SOUTH TERMINAL - Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche - Director and Screenwriter
2015 : THE STORY OF JUDAS - Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche - Director and Screenwriter
2011 : THE SMUGGLERS’ SONGS - Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche - Director and Screenwriter
2008 : ADHEN - Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche - Director and Screenwriter
2006 : BACK HOME - Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche - Director and Screenwriter
2001 : WESH WESH, WHAT’S GOING ON? - Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche - Director and Screenwriter
Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche
Régis Laroche, Philippe Petit, Marie Loustalot…
Sarrazink Productions
Reason8 Films
ANNKRIST, Sofiane Saïdi
by Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche
Born in 1966 in Algeria, Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche arrived in France in 1968. He grew up in the Bosquets council estate in Montfermeil (Seine-St-Denis). After studying human sciences, he founded Sarrazink Productions in 1999. Since then, he has produced and directed seven films. His first film, “Wesh wesh, What’s Going on?” (2001) won the Louis-Delluc Prize, and he received the Youth Prize at the Cannes Film Festival for his second film, “Back Home” (2006). His following films proved very successful around festivals: Locarno in 2011 for “The Smugglers’ Songs” (Jean-Vigo Prize 2012) and Berlin in 2015 for “The Story of Judas”. He won the FIFIB Grand Prix for “South Terminal” in 2019.
2021 : THE TEMPLE WOODS GANG - Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche - Director and Screenwriter
2019 : SOUTH TERMINAL - Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche - Director and Screenwriter
2015 : THE STORY OF JUDAS - Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche - Director and Screenwriter
2011 : THE SMUGGLERS’ SONGS - Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche - Director and Screenwriter
2008 : ADHEN - Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche - Director and Screenwriter
2006 : BACK HOME - Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche - Director and Screenwriter
2001 : WESH WESH, WHAT’S GOING ON? - Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche - Director and Screenwriter