ARTCENA collects documentary resources for each text selected by Contxto network : an English-subtitled interview of the author and a documented file in English to help artistic groups who want to know more about those texts.
Hakim Djaziri
Thrown
Translated by Simon Scardifield
In Fleury-Mérogis prison, one man is haunted by a single thought. Him, aged four, on the day of his birthday. Images of his native Algeria float back up to the surface of his mind. But the memory of his happy childhood quickly dissipates, with darker visions emerging to take its place: the rise of fundamentalism, fleeing to France with his parents, and arriving at the Cité des Trois-Mille estate in Aulnay-Sous-Bois, one of the roughest neighbourhoods in France’s Seine-Saint-Denis area.
Veering from one disappointment and disillusionment to the next, he finds himself turning to violence. Despite a loving home life, he withdraws, slipping into delinquency and radical Islam as his parents watch on helplessly...
He knows that it didn’t have to be like this. He knows that he could have chosen a different way. But arriving at a crossroads, he decided to tread the path of hatred.