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Algerian filmmaker Abdelkrim Bahloul writes and directs the drama The Assassinated Sun, based on actual events in the newly independent Algeria of the 1970s. Following the country's liberation in 1962, the police didn't take kindly to gay poet Jean Senac (Charles Berling). Nevertheless, he was appreciated by a large liberal audience. The police also don't approve of writing student Hamid (Mehdi Dehbi) who writes and stars in a French-language play during a national theater competition. Senac, however, enjoys the play and proceeds to develop a friendship with Hamid. Even though the two were never publicly declared lovers, Hamid becomes the main suspect when Senac is found murdered. The Assassinated Sun won awards at the 2003 San Sebastián International Film Festival and the 2003 Montréal World Film Festival.