On set: a day of shooting Soumeya

Summer 2024. For about a week, an entire crew devoted itself to a single film: Soumeya, Aghiles Rebrab's first film. Here is what a day looks like on a set like this one, from preparation to the last take.

First, the story. Soumeya is 27 and has a job interview that could change everything. The day before, a pregnancy test upends her plans. Supported by her flatmate Lynda, she looks for a way out and runs into the silence, then the rejection, of those around her. At 30 minutes, it is the longest of the four films of edition 5.

Before the first take comes preparation. The production team opens up the location, the crew sets up the equipment provided by the programme, the art department finishes dressing the space. In a film that follows a young woman in her everyday life, everything has to ring true: a lived-in place, not a catalogue set.

Then comes blocking. The director and the actresses work out the scene: who speaks, who stays silent, when silence becomes louder than words. In a film about other people's silence, directing the actresses often comes down to these details.

Meanwhile, each department prepares its part. Camera looks for the light and the frame, sound checks every microphone, and someone notes everything that will need to match from one shot to the next: a half-full glass, a lock of hair, a door left ajar.

Then comes the moment when the whole set falls silent. Roll, action. One take, two takes, sometimes many more. A movement, an intonation, a light gets adjusted, and they go again.

On a set, time is the scarcest resource. About a week of shooting for a 30-minute film forces choices. Every scene must be ready, every change of location anticipated, every minute counted. That is what the shooting schedule is for, prepared well before day one.

What makes this set special is its crew. The edition 5 shoots brought together volunteer technicians and trainees from film professions. The trainees do not watch from a distance: they work alongside the heads of department, in camera, sound, art or production. Giving trainees a real shoot is one of the programme's goals.

The lunch break is a moment apart. People go over the morning, prepare the afternoon, get to know each other. Building cohesion at every stage is another of our goals, and it is also built around a table.

In the afternoon, work resumes. The most intimate scenes often call for a closed set: fewer people around the camera, more space for the actresses. Filming a young woman facing a decision bigger than herself means accepting to slow down and let the scene breathe.

At the end of the day, everything is packed away, the rushes are backed up, and the crew reviews the next day. Nothing must be lost: what was shot today will go on to the edit. And the next morning, it all starts again.

After the shoot, Soumeya moved on to post-production: editing, colour grading, sound mixing, subtitling. Its release is planned for September 2025 with the other films of edition 5: a premiere in Algiers, then a tour through the network of cinémathèques and the branches of the Institut français d'Algérie.

Want to live a day like this from the inside? Let's Make Your Film calls for trainees and castings open when the shoots are being prepared. Keep an eye on our Internships and Casting pages: your place on the next set may be waiting for you.