Sulayma, a young shepherd, lives in the so-called clay rocks (l'argile) of Morocco in harmony with nature. At the outbreak of World War II, he is conscripted into the French army. Faced with the atrocities of war, he decides to preserve his human dignity at all costs.

Les hommes d'argile highlights an important but forgotten part of WWII history. In total, some 950,000 Africans, Asians and people from the Pacific fought on the French side, including in Belgium. 330,000 of them were Moroccan soldiers. The film highlights these forgotten war events, such as the first modern battle in 1940 in Gembloux where Moroccan infantrymen were used as cannon fodder against German armoured tanks.

Les hommes d'argile is a poetic war film about the forgotten struggles of North Africans on the side of the Allies during World War II. But don't expect raw action violence or violent dialogue: the film is not a reconstruction of forgotten war events but rather a reflection of the search for pure beauty amidst pure horror.

The film is introduced by heritage and audience worker Ahmed Zizaoui. He talks about the deployment and importance of Moroccan soldiers during World War II.

This activity is part of the heritage project Littekens van Borgerhout (Scars of Borgerhout). This year in May we celebrate 80 years of the end of WWII. The district is organising a lot of activities under the title Verlies en Verzet (Loss and Resistance). For more information, please visit www.borgerhoutbewaart.be

LES HOMMES D'ARGILE, 2015, BELGIUM/MOROCCO/FRANCE, 109 MIN
DIRECTION: MOURAD BOUCIF
CAST: MILOUD NASIRI, MAGALIE SOLIER, TIBO VANDENBORRE, MOURAD WAGLI, MOHAMED ZAHIR, CHRISTIAN CRAHAY, ABDELKRIM OISSI, JEAN-BAPTISTE IERA, MAHJOUB BENMOUSSA, RAFIK BOUBKOEUR, RACHIDA CHBANI, JAWAD ELBE
LANGUAGE - SPOKEN: FRENCH, ARABIC. SUBTITLED: ENGLISH